Allison McMillan rented out her property to a seemingly trustworthy family with two small children.  She didn’t think it necessary to order a tenant background check on them.  Later on after the family fell further and further behind on the rent she had her property inspected and found significant damages.  She admitted her mistake was not running a tenant background check on this family, a mistake that cost her $16,000.  Don’t make the mistake Allison did, perform a complete and thorough background check on all renters regardless of how trustworthy they appear to be.  A thorough tenant background check should include a credit check, criminal history check, renter fraud warnings and renter identity verification.  Employing a third party tenant screening company that offers all these benefits is important and TenantScreeningUSA.com is one of these companies.

To read more about how to take the guesswork out of renting and how to avoid ending up in a situation like Allison’s read recent press release found at: http://tenantscreeningusa.com/tenant-screening-news/tenantscreeningusa-com-taking-the-guesswork-out-of-renting/

Professional tenant background checks that include criminal history checks have proven to reduce crime in rental neighborhoods. Some cities in the USA over the past few years have enacted new law making it mandatory for landlords and property managers to perform tenant background checks including a criminal background check on all new renters prior to signing a lease. One such city in Utah noticed up to a 30% reduction in calls for police and fire services in high rental neighborhoods since making tenant background checks mandatory.

Of course the USA is a free country and people enjoy their freedom and don’t like being forced into anything especially the government telling them how to run their business. But the bottom line here is good tenant screening performed by a professional background screening company which includes a criminal history check should be performed on potential renters anyway, mandatory or not, that is just common sense.

To read more about mandatory tenant background checks and how such programs enacted at the local government level have fared in recent years and why adding criminal history checks to tenant screening programs makes sense whether it is mandatory or voluntarily please read recent press release found here.

As the housing market continues to favor the renter the need for thorough tenant screening becomes paramount. As renter household formation surpasses new owner occupied homes property managers, realtors and landlords see a rise in applications for their vacant units. With more applicants the opportunity to pick the low risk highest qualified tenants presents itself to property managers and leasing standards rise. However, with so many potential tenants looking to rent it is critical that landlords and property managers don’t slack on their tenant screening. Properly and fairly performing background checks on all rental applicants needs to be a priority for all leasing agents. This includes abiding by fair housing laws, the FCRA and other legislation governing the apartment management industry or multi-family industry.

As filling vacant apartments becomes easier, filling them with low risk non criminal high quality tenants becomes the challenge and partnering with a professional and thorough tenant screening company is the way to meet that challenge.

For more information on how a professional tenant screening company can help you fill your empty units with the best possible candidates while keeping in line with the law visit TenantScreeningUSA.com. To read more about the current USA Housing Market, its effects on property management and how sound tenant screening can help vet the increasing rental application pool read recent press release found at: http://tenantscreeningusa.com/uncategorized/housing-market-changes-but-tenant-screening-doesn%e2%80%99t