The Landlord Lens - Rental Applications

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

In this episode of of Be A Better Landlord, Samantha explains to TurboTenant's CEO, Seamus Nally, what a rental application should include and what it shouldn't. They discuss the importance of gathering information about potential tenants, such as their rental history and job history, so that you can make an informed decision about who you wish to rent your property to.  

I'm Seamus Nally, CEO of Turboretinent, joined by Samantha. And she's here to help me be a better landlord. So, Samantha, I've got a vacancy coming up in the next couple of weeks. I've got a bunch of interested renters, and I have no clue how to run the rental application process. Why do I even need a rental application? So a rental application is a great way for you to collect details about the interested renters, not just their contact information, like their name and phone number, but also details about their previous and current rental history, their job history, other occupants in the home, if there are pets and animals in the home, so that you can make a qualified decision on who's going to rent your home.

That makes sense, but it sounds like a lot of information. Why do I need to know their previous rental history? So it's important to know how they've treated their previous homes, and if there are things like a past due balance that are owed to the current landlord or past landlord, it's important to know if they had damages at the home when they moved out and if they had any legal. lease violations or perhaps were evicted. You'd want to know those things before allowing someone into your rental and your investment. Am I actually allowed to reach out to that previous housing provider and ask those questions? Absolutely. On most rental applications, you'll have a application authorization that the renter will sign, giving you permission to ask additional details of the people listed on the application. You also mentioned that I should get job history. What exactly am I looking for there? So you have a rental property that is going to have expenses. So you

want to make sure that you can pay your expenses monthly, your mortgage, utilities, contracts, things that you have to keep your business running. And you want to make sure that the renter you select is going to be able to support the monthly rental payments to help you support your expenses. Gotcha. Should I worry about the kinds of income that they mention on that? Or is it really just, do they have enough income to meet the rent? So you'll set your own income requirements when you're going through your screening criteria. It's important to look at verifiable sources of income like a pay stub, bank statements, tax documents, things. like that to ensure that they're not fraudulent documents when you're qualifying renters.

All right. And I'm allowed once again to collect those documents right alongside the application? Absolutely. Yeah, you can ask the renters to submit those documents to you when they're submitting the application. And you can provide a supervisor's phone number on the application that you can call and verify their employment. Okay, so so far I have an application. It has their contact information. I've got some previous rental history and some income and job history. What else should be on that application. You should definitely ask if there will be other occupants or people in the home so you understand how many persons will be occupying the home. So not just the leaseholders or adults that will be on the lease, but also any minors or dependents that would be in the home as well. Okay, let's talk about

those little critters that every landlord loves pets. Can I ask about pets on the rental application? Yes, you can ask about pets and animals on the rental application. You can ask how many. You can state your pet policy if you have one. You can ask the age and the breed and the type of animal that you have and if it's a pet or an emotional support animal as well. All right. With all of that, what are some things I actually should make sure I am not asking on an application? So the first thing is just to make sure that you're asking all the same questions of all your applicants to avoid discrimination. So using a standard rental application, streamlining in the process with an online application is even better. But you want to make sure that you're not customizing questions

or personalizing questions for an individual. You also want to make sure that you're avoiding seven protected classes of fair housing. So that you're not discriminating. So that you're not discriminating. against anyone. Well, you'll have to excuse me, but I don't know what the seven protected classes are. You mind walking me through them? Yeah, so the seven protected classes are race, religion, national origin, familial status, sex, color, and disability. And in some places asking things like source of income is also locally not permitted per discrimination laws. I'm also curious, you mentioned to make sure I'm not asking different questions to any applicants, but let's say there are partners that are applying to live in the property. Do both of them need to fill out an application? Yes. So as it relates to things like the income, it can be a

combined income if you have two people, whether that's a married couple or roommates or whatever the case may be, you can combine their income to ensure they qualify. But when it comes to things on the screening report like the credit and the background, the eviction history, even housing details and employment history is going to differ on the individual. So you want to make sure you collect the same information from everybody. All right. So with all these tips, I now have to sit down at Word and create my own application. Are there places I can go to actually get an application that abide by all of these

standards that you're mentioning? Yeah. So you can find plenty of downloadable resources online. You can find principal applications. But the best way to make sure you're following all the guidelines is to use an online platform that's going to streamline and keep all that information together for you for easy access. It's also helpful when using online software like TurboTenet, where we'll collect things like

the Social Security number on your behalf, send that to TransUnion so that you're not responsible for that private information of the renter. That sounds incredible. All right, so now that I've got an online application, I don't have any of that private information tucked away in my desk. What do I do next? So the next step is to look at all of your applicants, consider them with that rental criteria that you should have established at this point and move forward with the screening process. Want to tell me a little bit more about the screening process? Yeah, in the screening process, you can collect the credit, the background, and the eviction history of the renter to determine and if they're going to be qualified for your home.

Awesome. That sounds like a lot to dive into, so we'll do it another time. That sounds great. Thanks a lot, Samantha. Yeah, of course. Thanks for talking with me today and making me a better landlord. TurboTenant is the all-in-one platform for landlords to manage their rental properties. From vacancy to tenancy, we have you covered with industry-leading tools and expert advice. Landlord better from anywhere for free at turbotenant.com.