After successfully marketing your home and attracting plenty of potential residents for your Los Angeles rental property, you now need to turn your attention to the next step, which is screening tenants effectively.
It is essential to select the best renters to reduce property damage and earn a consistent income. You also want to attract reliable tenants that will stay in your property long-term, so you can avoid vacancies.
How To Pick Top Quality Residents
You can start the tenant screening process of your Los Angeles rental property by creating a solid list of criteria to ensure a good renter match.
Take time to assess the following conditions of a tenant candidate.
- Can they afford to pay the rent?
- Do they have a stable job or source of income?
- Do they have a good rental history?
How to Screen Tenants
To make the tenant screening a smooth process, you should already know the details of what you are looking for in your Los Angeles rental property renter. This makes it efficient in guiding you toward a candidate that best fits your standards.
Pre-screen Tenants
As a busy landlord, you will want to apply a quick but effective tenant screening process. Part of this procedure is conducting pre-screening. You can craft a listing that provides crucial information right away to filter the candidates.
For example, instead of a prospective tenant going through the process of filling out an application form, they can already learn from your listing that your Los Angeles rental property does not accommodate pets. This helps them save a lot of time.
When handling an in-person property tour, you can also discuss the potential tenant’s key expectations. You can find out right away and weigh if you can adjust your rental policies. It helps to communicate a lot with prospective residents to learn more about them and eliminate future problems.
A comprehensive tenant screening procedure can also be tedious for unqualified renters, which is advantageous for you. You can also identify the interested tenants since they are more likely to comply with the screening requirements.
Evaluate the Rental Application
Make sure that your Los Angeles rental property application form will provide answers to basic renter information, such as:
- Their contact information.
- Current residential address, including their current landlord’s name and contact information.
- Former residential, including their former landlord’s name and contact information.
- Current place of employment and former workplace.
- Job title, salary, years of employment, and a list of their contact references.
- Credit and background checking authorization.
Landlords must check and verify the employment information since you need to know if they can meet the rental dues and make timely payments.
Although some landlords may require a salary that is triple the rental rate, this isn’t necessary since some may earn a lot but have several debt obligations, while others may earn lower but have no monthly payments to meet.
You also want to find out if a candidate is providing accurate information. Some may write down fake references just so they pass your tenant screening and live in your Los Angeles rental property.
Contact Former Landlords
Even if you have requested a lot of information to be shared on the application form, some of the details require more evaluation. In this case, you can reach out to the current and previous landlords of a candidate.
Both landlords may share information that’s crucial in deciding whether to accept a candidate or reject their application to stay in your Los Angeles rental property. You need to learn why a prospective renter left or is leaving the former and current rentals.
You will also want to discover if the candidate committed property damage and how they handled the issue. In addition, it is best to also learn if they paid the rent on time.
Past landlords tend to be more transparent in sharing information since they won’t have any hidden agenda, whereas a current landlord may want the renter to move out sooner to avoid an eviction.
Why You Should Review Tenant Credit Reports and Conduct Background Checks
Seeing a potential renter’s credit score or listed evictions, brings peace of mind to landlords. Additionally, credit reports will help you see whether a candidate has healthy finances and manages their financial responsibilities well.
Accepting residents with low credit scores can expose you to risks. Reviewing credit reports and running background checks is crucial to safeguard your rental from damage, unpaid rent, and potential crime.
How To Approve or Reject Tenant Applications
After wrapping up the tenant screening process of your Los Angeles rental, you will need to decide to accept or reject the prospective renter’s application. If you plan to approve a candidate, you can call or email to guide them to the next step, which is signing a lease agreement.
However, if you intend to turn down a candidate, you can write or send them an email of disapproval. You can keep the documents as evidence in case you need to show proof in the future. Landlords are not required to list down the reason for rejection but if a renter makes a request, you can let them know.
More importantly, ensure that you review the Fair Housing Act to avoid any discrimination issues.
Bottom Line
Performing thorough and detailed tenant screening requires that you put in considerable effort. However, it is worth having a strict tenant screening process for your Los Angeles rental property. It will save you from bad renters who don’t make timely payments, those who damage your property, and resist complying with your property policies.
A great way to save time and effort in screening potential tenants is by working with a reliable property management company. At Ratner Property Management, we provide top quality service to all of the landlords, tenants, and properties under our care. Get in touch with us today to learn more.
