Selecting Tenants For Your Rental Property

By Karen Solemen


We all want to find the best tenants possible; people who are considerate of your property, are respectful, and of course, pay the rent when it's due. If a landlord ends up with tenants who cause damage or other problems in the unit, it can be very difficult to have them evicted, and then there are the costs of repairing the unit. How does a landlord ensure that they get the highest quality tenants?

Have an application form

A quick telephone interview is a good place to start. Ask how many people would be living there. Landlords can ask about employments status, if there will be pets, and other things, but a lot of the time the prospective tenant will voluntarily mention these things in the conversation. If they pass the telephone screening, you can arrange for them to look at the property. If there is a lot of interest in the home, you may want to set up viewing times, on specific evenings.

A full length application form should be filled out for people who are interested in your rental unit. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation suggests asking questions to determine if the tenant is suitable, while staying within your province's Human Rights codes during your screening process. Landlords can ask questions pertaining to things like if a tenant smokes, if they have pets, where they work and income, and the names of everyone who would live in the residence.

Ethnic or religious background, marital status, if family will visit, sexual preference, if they will have children in the future, and to provide their social insurance number are examples of things that landlords are not allowed to ask about.

The background checks are important, so make sure you do your research, even if you are short on time to rent out your suite. This process will save you lots of money in the future if you take the time to do it properly now. Your rental application should include a release allowing you to obtain information from employers, previous landlords, and credit bureaus. After the form is completed, you can't assume all of the data on it is accurate. Get in touch with their previous landlords and employers.

Landlords in Canada can contact Equifax Canada or Trans Union Canada for credit checks after obtaining consent from the prospective tenant. Another way to check up on the tenant is to get in touch with the Rent Check Credit Bureau, which is only concerned with housing.

Employment: Contact the prospective tenant's employer to confirm their employment status. How long have they been employed? What position do they hold? How many hours do they work? What is their salary amount?

Be sure to check rental history and other references. Obtain information to contact their previous landlord, and when possible, the last 2 or 3 landlords of your prospective tenant. When did they live in your rental property? When did they move out? Have they been late on rent payments? Did they own any pets? Other than normal wear and tear, did they damage the rental unit? Did they give you proper notice when they were moving out? Would you rent another unit to this person?




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