Tenant Verification Services provides landlords and property managers with a variety of screening options. Select a market to sign up or learn more.
A reference from an applicant's previous landlord is a crucial step to effective tenant screening. But sometimes landlords get into trouble by asking the wrong questions. It's important to have a plan, in order to avoid discrimination claims or violations of privacy...
Tenant screening documents, particularly a rental application and tenant credit report, contain sensitive information about an applicant's identity. Placed in the wrong hands, this information can be used to cause significant harm through identity theft and...
Q: Can I reject an applicant because they smoke or drink? - TVS Landlord Nonsmoking Rentals Generally you can reject a tenant for any sort of behavior so long as you are not violating discrimination rules. There is a common perception that landlords must...
Q. I allowed my tenant to have a dog. Apparently, it died, and now he wants the $500 pet deposit back. Do I have to return it? -TVS Landlord Generally, pet deposits are treated like security deposits. So, yes, in all likelihood you will have to return any unused...
Are you ready to fill your next vacancy? Worried that if you don't get someone right away, you'll lose rental income? Here's an unfortunate fact: it will cost a landlord more money to rent to a bad tenant than if they wait to find the right tenant. How can a...
If you run a tenant credit report, and get back a report showing "no credit score available", or "no credit history found", you may have trouble on your hands. When There Is No Credit Score Available If there is "no credit score" (and you ordered a scored credit...
Saskatoon's Point2 Technologies, Inc., has been purchased by Yardi Systems of Santa Barbara, California. Point2 develops, markets, and supports online marketing software solutions for the real estate industry. The company also develops, markets, and supports inventory...
Toronto Real Estate Board tracked rental housing for the period of May-to-August 2010, and members reported 6,712 leased condominium apartments and townhomes, up 18 per cent from 5,673 transactions recorded during the same time-period last year. The average rent also...
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows, but in this case, it's the economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is investigating an interesting demographic twist: more singles are pairing up than ever before. Analysis of demographics over the past couple of years...
Q. Can you comment in your newsletter about the legality of rejecting students as tenants? D.W. The answer may depend on where your rental properties are located. Students - people enrolled in higher education courses, generally are not protected by discrimination...
"We just had to hire a lawyer to help us with an eviction. Long story short, we did not screen this tenant. We have no idea how to go about getting credit checks. What information do we need from tenants?" - P.W. from Hawaii You are not alone. This is an issue that...
What do you do when your tenant screening reports turn up a negative history, but the applicant denies it? For one property manager, there is no "innocent before proven guilty" when it comes to applying for a rental. The burden stays with the tenant to prove the...
Q: "I find that many of my better rental applicants have pets. Should I rent to them?" - Canadian landlord Unless the pet is a service animal, it is generally up to the discretion of a residential tenancy landlord whether to allow pets. One advantage of allowing...
Q. My tenant did not pay this month's rent. What do I do now? The short answer: Serve a notice to end the tenancy. But be very careful of the time lines, or as you will see below, you may not be able to evict this tenant on the first try. Outsmart Bad Tenants...
Discrimination can result from all phases of tenancies, including improper restrictions in rental ads, inappropriate tenant screening, or bad property management policies. Often times a landlord does not realize they may be breaking the law. The Alberta Human Rights...
Just Say No To Vacancies Meadows Real Estate Development and Property Management has 25 years experience building and managing properties for lower-income residents and under-served groups such as grandparents raising grandchildren, frail seniors, and others. As a...
The terminology can be confusing for landlords trying to credit check tenants. For instance, some websites offer free credit reports. Only consumer credit reports are free. The credit reporting agencies do not offer landlord credit reports for free. The only way for a...
A Realtor near Youngstown, Ohio was murdered last week at a vacant home she was showing. Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder. Later the same day, a Realtor was murdered at a property he was showing about 40 miles from Youngstown. The police ...
Forming a community with other landlords is paramount to success in the rental property business. Jane Schweitzer, the Assistant Moderator for Ontario Landlords Association, points to one of the most crucial reasons for joining a landlord association: strength in...
No doubt something has to be done about the bedbug pandemic. Landlords who encounter the pests suffer from unhappy tenants and others are stepping up inspections and cleaning efforts to reduce outbreaks. Yet, when it comes to eradicating bedbugs all eyes seem to...
