If you rent a home, you already know how difficult it can be to find the right tenant. Most of the time it’s hard to judge whether an applicant is reliable or trustworthy. That’s why the best thing to do when you’re in this situation is to try to learn as much as you can about your potential future tenant.
You might be wondering what sort of inquiries to do while screening tenants. Asking questions that will help you determine whether a candidate will live up to your expectations and vice versa will help you screen out unsuitable prospects and discover a solid long-term tenant.
Top Landlord Concerns About Tenants Are.
There are many worries in a landlord’s mind when they are preparing to rent their property. Do not let the tenant screening process keep you awake! Keep in mind the following points as the main red flags that you should avoid in a tenant.
Red Flags to Avoid in Tenants:
- Financial Issues.
- Prior Eviction History.
- Prior Criminal Background.
- Fabricated Information on The Application.
- High Maintenance Requirements.
- Moves Frequently.
Using a tenant questionnaire to vet potential tenants is the greatest approach to keep bad tenants from renting your property.
What Is a Rental Application?
Before granting a prospective renter the lease for a property, landlords will evaluate their background using a rental application, also known as a tenant application form.
The questionnaire covers all the crucial information regarding a prospective tenant’s background, enabling you to narrow down your pool of applicants to only serious and reliable people.
Why is Important to Ask Tenant Screening Questions?
Because there may be multiple applicants for a rental property, screening is crucial for landlords and property managers. To determine who the better candidate is, it may be necessary to get to know them better and inquire about their renting history. After all, you wouldn’t want someone with a serious criminal history residing in your rental home.
You can tell good tenants from bad ones with the use of tenant screening. Unfortunately, many landlords are unsure of the right inquiries to make or the best ways to thoroughly screen a tenant. To ensure that only the best tenants occupy your rentals, let’s go over some fundamental tenant screening principles.
What Inquiries Should Be Made in A Questionnaire for Tenants?
Make sure that the questions you ask during the tenancy application process are pertinent and important. These should paint a comprehensive picture of how suitable the individual is for your property.
The Information You Need to Identify the Ideal Tenant for Your Rental Home.
Basic Information:
You will need their name, address, and phone number as well as details about why they are moving and why they are specifically interested in your property. Keep it brief and sweet! In this section, you will discover why they are taking the decision to relocate and their quality as a potential tenant.
Occupants Information:
Naturally, you’ll need to be aware of the number of people they’re bringing if you’re going to contemplate taking on a tenant.
You don’t want your property to be sublet or occupied by more people than it can accommodate. If a home is rented out to more individuals than is ideal, this will only harm the interior spaces.
Background Details:
These questions and answers can help you learn more about the person’s personal history, giving you an extra line of defense against troublesome tenants.
Everything is about understanding the lifestyle of the person who will rent your property or what stage of his life they are now since for example, a young couple who is trying to establish their life in comparison with some university students who are in a stage of partying and discovering themselves.
The more information you have, the better prepared you’ll be to choose the tenant who will ultimately live in your home.
History Of Eviction:
Background checks seldom reveal evictions, therefore it’s vital to look into it individually. Choosing tenants who haven’t been evicted before is frequently a great preventative strategy and can help you stay away from those who might wind up repeating their offenses.
A Good Credit Rating:
If you want to have a little more security so that your future tenant can pay rent on time, it is because he has a good credit score. From the landlord’s perspective, a decent credit score is often 700 or higher.
In the same way, this is not a guarantee of anything, the world changes a lot and in one way or another you can find yourself in a bind with your tenant, but it is better to have all the necessary green flags before signing the lease.
References From Previous Landlords:
The biggest green flag for potential tenants can have been a positive recommendation from prior landlords. This can help you feel more confident about your character.
In this way, you can already know that a potential tenant is a responsible person with whom you can have a good landlord/tenant relationship.
Consistent Work History:
While it is more than comforting to know that a renter has previously had stable and continuous employment and won’t suddenly lose their job and be unable to pay the rent, this one is frequently near the top of the list for many.
Creating a questionnaire that covers all the necessary details for your rental home tenants is essential to securing the best possible applicant.
Keeping your questions tailored to what you need for an ideal tenant will help you to select the perfect person to occupy your rental property. At the core of it, is an effective questionnaire that captures all the essential information regarding prospective tenants. Below you will find a free tenant questionnaire template to use as a guide and create a comprehensive questionnaire that ticks all the right boxes!
Free Tenant Questionnaire Template
In this free tenant questionnaire template, I’ve listed out general questions that you can use for inspiration when creating your own:
-Full Name of The Tenant: -Phone: -Cell Phone: -Email Address: -If So, Where Do You Currently Rent? -For How Long Have You Resided in Your Present Residence? -Why Are You Trying to Find a New Home? -When Would You Prefer to Move In? -What Is Your Work Area? -What Is Your Annual Income? -How Many Individuals Would You Be Sharing a Home With? -How Many Residents in Your Home Smoke? -If You Were to Rent Here, How Many Parking Places Would You Need? -The Number of Animals You Own? -What Type of Animal Is Your Pet? -Do You Anticipate Receiving good word from your Existing Landlord? -Has your existing landlord been made aware of your plans to move? -Can you recall ever being evicted? -Do you know how to apply for a rental? -Are there any concerns I should be aware of before I conduct background checks on all the individuals living in the home? -Have you recently filed for bankruptcy? -If you submit the application, are you willing to pay the $amount lease application fee? -Can you pay the security deposit in the amount of $ amount at the lease signing? -Would you be willing to sign a one-year lease? -Do you have any inquiries for me regarding the procedure?
This template will help evaluate your applicant’s qualifications and allow you to get them approved as fast as possible.
What Tool Should I Choose to Make My Tenant Survey With?
If you’re a landlord or property manager, chances are, you’ll need to make use of an application form at some point. It seems like every day there’s a new tool for creating tenant screening reports and checklists.
While these tools are convenient in theory, most of them don’t have everything that’s required for something important, such as collecting a full credit report or tenant history. Other times there might be something available within the tool but it’s overly complicated or requires you to pay extra for something that should be included with your account.
File Request Pro simplifies the information-gathering process for you and your future tenant!
Simple Form Builder and Document Collection Software.
With File Request Pro your potential renters may start filling out their rental application and sending the document needed right away, without needing to sign up for anything.
It’s so simple to use, that there is no learning curve. You can send your first request in minutes and start letting your customers fill out their information with this simple tool. Potential tenants can leave and return to the questionnaire without losing any data, so they can fill out the questionnaire at their own pace. It also automatically sends the information and files that have been collected into arranged folders on the cloud storage service you already use, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
You can also set automatic reminders so that the potential tenant does not forget to send their documentation and information in the established period. We demonstrate how to set up file requests and reminders in the video below:
Conclusion.
The truth is that having the right tenants will make a significant difference in the quality of your rental business. The most successful rental property owners understand this impact and take the necessary steps to ensure they have the best renters in full view. Following a thorough tenant screening process with a rental application and questionnaire can easily equip you with all of the information you need to make an informed decision.
Now that you know what to look for when reviewing your applicants, snatch up these valuable insights to find a great renter! Use our free template questionnaire to get started on your tenant screening journey. With everything taken into account, attracting top-notch tenants using a reliable tenant survey system can help save money, time, and lots of frustrations further down the line.
Don’t wait any longer, create a rental application so you can ensure that your next tenants will be excellent!
