Conducting a Criminal History Survey of Tenants

When renting a rental property, the landlord or real estate manager should seriously consider conducting a criminal history investigation as part of the rental process. The landlord is responsible for knowing exactly which type of tenant will move to the rental property by conducting a thorough background check on all prospects. Background checks not only help prevent illegal activity in your home but also help maintain the value of your property by keeping your neighbors safe.

Many of us misunderstand that criminals looking for a place to engage in illegal activities tend to live in low-income, devastated areas, but this assumption is false. Many of today's criminals are much smarter and choose to live in high-end parcels with middle- and upper-class homeowners as a better way to blend in and hide their criminal activity. Dangerous criminals may live in our neighborhood unaware of the potential dangers they pose unless proper preliminary background checks are conducted.

As a landlord, when renting to a potential tenant, it's always worth the time to conduct a criminal history investigation as a precautionary measure to protect your property and the nearby community. When renting, you should not just focus on occupying the available rental property. Moving someone in it can seriously damage the appearance and value of the property and can cost far more than the five minutes it takes to perform a brief Tenant criminal background check of a potential tenant. understand.

Landlords can do their own preliminary rental background checks at very minimal cost, without hiring an external agency, which can often cost more. In the past, criminal history investigations were primarily conducted by outsourced agencies, but the Internet and new online technologies allow anyone to conduct their own background checks from anywhere within five minutes. Most background checks can be done at the state or federal level, as many criminals tend to move from state to state to escape their criminal history.

This article does not mean that not everyone with a criminal history will be a good resident or member of the community, but some do not. As landlords or real estate managers, we are responsible for conducting appropriate background checks on ourselves and our community when making rental decisions. Landlords and property managers may tend to occupy vacant rental space on a first-come, first-served basis, but there are additional steps to take to protect the best interests of everyone.

Currently, most apartments are checking their criminal history against prospective tenants. This wasn't a common practice just ten years ago, but recent crucial events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks have tilted the landlord's way of doing business. Currently, it is common to conduct a background check of tenants. Landlords can conduct background checks on prospective tenants by contacting a local court or hiring the services of a data screening company.

The data screening company will charge a fee to perform a background check on prospective tenants. There was a time when many companies had this fee high enough to avoid this exercise altogether. Even today, it is not uncommon for some landlords to avoid conducting background checks, especially when subleasing. However, the cost of conducting a background check on prospective tenants is nothing compared to the loss that an apartment could incur in the event of damage due to improper selection of tenants.