With its excellent public schools, superb weather, and countless outdoor activity opportunities, it's not surprising that Niche.com ranked Palm Harbor, FL, as one of Pinellas County's best places to live. So, even though the median rent here is higher than the U.S. median ($1,567 vs. $1,268), it remains a popular spot for renters. Indeed, one in four people here rent their homes.
So, if you've been planning to turn your Palm Harbor property into a rental, know that it could be a financially sound decision. However, you should still practice care and conduct a comprehensive tenant background check on each applicant.
PMI Pinellas has shared property management advice and discussed the steps you must take during the rental screening process, so please read on.
1. Create a Screening Checklist
For your screening process to be comprehensive, take a page out of the book of professional tenant placement service providers and conduct the following steps:
- Income and employment verification
- Credit score and credit report review
- Eviction history check
- Previous landlord verification for renter history insights
- Criminal background check
Including all the above steps in your lease applicant evaluation process lets you gauge a prospective renter's financial, ethical, and moral responsibility. You can then use this information to weigh how likely they are to pay rent on time and be a good tenant.
At the same time, you can learn about "high-risk" applicants. For example, those with histories of repeatedly breaking lease terms or multiple evictions in Palm Harbor or elsewhere.
2. Give Applicants a Consent Form
Before performing any tenant background check on rental applicants, you must obtain their consent. You can ask for their permission by including a written consent letter that they can sign in the rental application form. The letter must indicate all the background checks you intend to perform and the applicants' rights.
Please don't skip this step, as it is a legal requirement under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Also, if you plan to charge rental applicants with screening fees, please ensure you explicitly indicate the costs in the rental application form. Don't forget to remind them that the payment is non-refundable, whether their application gets approved or denied.
3. Enforce Fair and Uniform Tenant Background Checks
You should have a uniform background check process for all your rental applicants. The screening steps you enforced on one applicant must be the same for everyone else. Otherwise, you could face legal repercussions for having discriminatory housing practices, which are against Florida fair housing laws.
Want to Simplify Your Tenant Background Check Process?
Conducting a tenant background check isn't rocket science, but given all the legal regulations surrounding it, it can be complex and time-consuming. So, if you want to simplify the entire process, look no further than our property management firm, PMI Pinellas.
Our full-service solutions include marketing, tenant placement, lease management, property maintenance, and rent collection, to name a few. We're locally owned and operated but are also a proud franchise member of PMI, a larger company with over two decades of industry expertise and manages over $5 billion in real estate assets.
Drop us a line today to request your complimentary property analysis!
