Tips on Screening Prospective Tenants in Los Angeles

Placing a well-qualified tenant in your Los Angeles rental property is a critical first step in any successful investment experience. Bad tenants only bring stress and higher expenses, while well-qualified tenants can be trusted to pay rent on time every month, take care of your property, and consistently follow the terms of your lease agreement.

When you’re looking for the best Los Angeles tenants, it’s important to implement a good screening process. There are several things we do when we screen tenants, and we’re sharing those tips with you today.

Establish Rental Standards for Fair Housing Compliance

There’s no point in screening tenants who will not be qualified to rent your home. If you provide a written set of rental standards and criteria, you’ll let your potential applicants know exactly what you’re looking for before you approve a tenant. This demonstrates that every applicant is treated fairly and consistently and held to the same standards.

Before a tenant applies for your home, make sure he or she is familiar with your rental criteria and understands the documentation they’ll need to provide. This will also protect you from fair housing claims. California laws are only getting stricter when it comes to protecting tenants against discrimination.

Conduct National Criminal and Credit Checks

Check for criminal history. Search databases nationwide, and look for past evictions as well. Review a prospective tenant’s credit score and credit report. You may have a difficult time finding a tenant with perfect credit, so don’t hold your applicants to impossible credit standards.

However, you do want to attract a tenant who takes financial responsibilities seriously. Review past debts and make sure no money is currently owed to former landlords or management companies.

Verify a Potential Resident’s Employment and Income

You are looking for tenants who can afford rent. Moving in a tenant who doesn’t earn enough money to meet their obligations will only result in disaster. Don’t set them up for failure. The standard best practice in Los Angeles property management is to look for income that’s at least three times the monthly rent. Ask for verification in the form of pay stubs, tax forms, or bank statements.

Remember that source of income cannot be considered when you’re screening tenants in California. You have to consider any source of income, and that now includes housing vouchers. If a tenant applies to rent your property and the income that’s provided is what they take in from the Section 8 program, you have to consider it. This is a law that was just implemented this year, and it’s easy to make a mistake. You cannot deny applications from Section 8 tenants simply because their source of income is that housing voucher. This is an easy area to make an expensive mistake – be cautious.

Investigate an Applicant’s Rental History

You’ll need to understand a tenant’s rental history, and you want to make sure landlords have had positive experiences with this tenant in the past. The way a tenant has treated landlords and properties in the past is a good indication of how they perform in your property.

Ask for landlord contact information, and talk to them about whether rent was paid on time. Ask if there was any property damage beyond wear and tear and if the tenant had pets. Find out if the lease terms were followed and if enough notice was given before the tenant moved out. Always ask if the landlord would be willing to rent to that tenant again.

Once you have all the data you need from your screening process, you can make a decision about whether the applicant meets your requirements. A good screening process allows you to find the right tenant and protects you from hassles and problems in the future.

If you’d like some help with screening tenants or you have any questions about Los Angeles property management, we can help. Please contact our team at MGMT Group, Inc.