|
| |
What are
Your Landlord Legal Right for
Tenant Screening? Landlord Tenant Rights
Knowing
your landlord tenant rights is critical for handling your renters
smoothly and staying out of trouble. Master your landlord legal right
quick and easy with our plain English guide to your landlords rights.
This page
deals mainly with your landlord tenant right when screening tenants -
Click here for your landlord
legal right or tenant legal right on other matters.
When
it comes to choosing and screening tenants, the major issue here is
knowing how to avoid tenant
discrimination according to the federal fair housing laws
and what are the legally valid reasons to reject someone as your
tenant. To make life easier for you, we have listed the most important
and common landlord rights below:
What
are Your Landlords Rights When it Comes to Choosing Tenants?
- You can
choose tenants who will most likely be able to pay the rent
on time.
- You can
choose tenants who will most likely be able to meet the
requirements and terms of your rental agreement.
- You have
the landlord tenant rights to carry out background and credit
checks on your tenant applicants as long as you have their
written permission.
- When you
reject someone as your tenant, you do not have to inform
him although it will be polite for you to do so.
- However If
you reject someone due to his credit report, you are required to give
him an Adverse Action Notice.
- You can
take as long as you need to choose your perfect tenant
although you will be losing rental income if you take too long.
To
make sure your potential tenants are able and willing to pay you rent
on time, it's highly recommended that you run a credit check on them
with a reputable screening website such as Tenant Verification Service
or E-Renter. Their
credit reports will reveal how much debt your tenants owe and whether
they have been paying on time.
What
are the Valid Reasons for Rejecting Someone as Your Tenant?
In most countries, it is within your landlord tenant right and landlord
legal rights to reject
someone as your tenant for the reasons given below:
- The person
is unable or willing to complete the tenant application
form. As long as it's allowed by the law, you have the landlord legal
right to demand
that your rental application form is accurately and fully completed.
- You can
reject someone based on negative information in his credit report such
as poor credit scores or bad debt history.
- The
person's
previous landlord gives him or her poor feedback. This may include
issues as as the person not paying his rents on time, failing to keep
the property clean tidy and not getting along well with the
neighbours. It is
within your landlords rights to contact his former landlord for
references.
- In most
areas, it's within your landlord tenant rights to reject
someone if his total income is too low compared to the rent payments.
As a general thumb of rule, his income should be at least 3 to 4 times
more than the rent.
- The person
will be housing too many occupants for your property size.
For example, if you are renting a two bedroom apartment, you can refuse
renting your property to a family of seven.
- You have
the landlords rights to refuse someone as a tenant if he has a
pet who will be living
on your rental property. However, you general cannot reject his pet if
it is
essential for his well being. An example will be guide dogs for the
blind. Click
here for more details on pets in rental properties.
- If you find
that the person has a glaring attitude problem such being
too demanding or unreasonable, you have the landlord legal right to
reject him.
- The person
is not able to afford all the necessary costs including the
first month's rent and security deposit when it's time to sign
the rental agreement.
However in
most places you cannot reject someone due to their race,
language, ethnic origin, national origin, civil status, sex,
sexual orientation, religion, social conditions
and physical disability.
Do you want to learn MORE must-know facts on
your landlord tenant rights?
Return from
this Landlord Tenant Rights page to our Landlords Rights
guide
|
|
