Some criminals choose house rentals or homestays to keep a low-key profile. Hence, as a landlord or property owner, you must initiate tenant screening checks on current and prospective tenants. Credit checks and/or background searches greatly help in accepting only the most trusted applicants or tenants.
Tenant checks are vital to ensure you’ll be entrusting your properties to reliable and safe occupants. By searching for further information about applicants, you will protect yourself and other tenants from contact with a convicted criminal or sex offender. We’ll be sharing today the basic processes of conducting tenant background checks and some tips to ensure efficient background searches.
Why Do You Need To Do A Tenant Background Check?
Landlords and rental property owners must be privy to how to do a background check on a tenant. Conducting tenant referencing checks is one of the expert recommendations by kiwisearches.com. This is because Kiwi Searches, being a trusted and reliable people search engine, is well-aware that several house rental applicants aren’t who they say they are.
Below are some benefits of searching applicants or background-checking tenants.
To Protect Yourself
As landlords or owners, it’s your responsibility to protect yourself while conducting any transaction or deal. Be extra careful when accepting applicants as you’re not only entrusting them your rental property but your reputation and safety. Screening/searching them is an effective precautionary measure to protect yourself and your loved ones.
To Protect Your Property
Some tenants use rental properties as if they own them, resulting in damages. Most of them forget they’re renting the location, they don’t own it. To preserve your properties and avoid late rental fees, initiate tenant credit checks or searches.
To Protect Your Other Tenants
Aside from protecting your property, it’s your responsibility as a landlord or owner to protect other tenants within the site. This is true for apartment buildings or multi-unit accommodations. Utilizing tenant background check services can help ensure that you do not let criminals or malicious applicants stay on your property.
Tenant Screening Background Checks: Terms and Laws
Background checks for tenant screening is a wise strategy for landlords and rental property owners. If you’re a lessee, bear in mind to not mindlessly search through applicants or credit check them. This is because certain laws are governing rental property applicant background searches.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
This federal law governs all forms of background searches – tenant background and credit checks included. The FCRA aims to protect consumers and applicants from abusive landlords, employers, interviewers, or owners.
Federal Fair Housing Act
This law is specifically created for tenant screening background checks. In general, it mandates it’s illegal to reject applicants or dismiss tenancy solely based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin.
Other State Laws
Other laws vary per state which also govern tenant searches and checks. Such state regulations aim to balance the powers and rights of landlord/owner and renters alike.
How To Run A Background Check On A Tenant
Now that we’ve established how important it is to screen rental property applicants or tenants, let’s talk about the ways such searches can be performed.
Basic Manual Checks
Landlords/owners can always use provided details on signed forms or contracts to check on applicants. They can contact their previous landlords to see if they have an eviction history or search them on social media platforms.
Third-Party Search Engines
Trusted people search engines like Kiwi Searches offer reliable tenant background check services for landlords or land/property owners. Reports from such sites provide complete and accurate information about the applicant including their living and criminal history.
State Agencies
You may request tenant credit and background checks from your state agency, usually with the state police, assigned to handle such requests.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
The FBI provides more thorough and detailed background searches. Though it takes longer and costs more, tenant screening credit checks through the FBI provide everything a landlord/owner needs to effectively screen rental property applicants.
How Kiwi Searches Can Help You Verify A Tenant3
Kiwi Searches is a reliable and efficient people search engine that any rental property owner or landlord can utilize. We leverage technology to offer fast and high-quality outputs. Using our streamlined methods and digital processes, you get to acquire full tenant screening reports within minutes.
Fast and Hassle-Free Searches
We maintain a streamlined and well-organized database that will provide you the desired reports quickly. Our tenant credit background checks service is designed with multi-layered algorithms and codes to function properly and quickly. The interface and reports are programmed in a way that less tech-savvy landlords or landowners can easily navigate them.
Reliable Background Checking
We regularly update our database with the newest and latest information from various reliable sources. Hence, rest assured that all background check outputs are complete, accurate, and up-to-date.
Affordable Tenant Background Checks
Our tenant screening background checks service can be availed of by landlords and landowners at a reasonably affordable price. Plus, with the convenience and quality of rental property applicant reports we offer, you’ll surely get great value for your money.
