Tenant Screening

With rent growth hampered by increased regulations, it's more important than ever for landlords to minimize potential losses. Tenant fraud, property damage, and tenant defaults are the main reasons for income loss. Here are three strategies that can help minimize...

Are you a landlord or a banker? The distinction may not be so clear to your tenants. With increasing rental regulations and political rhetoric painting tenants as victims and access to rental housing as a right, bad tenants are emboldened to take advantage by signing...

Showing a rental property can be a time-consuming exercise, one that a landlord does not want to have to repeat several times before securing a new tenant. Here are some tips that can maximize effectiveness and efficiency when it comes to property tours: Prequalify...

Facebook is changing its rental ad platform after a barrage of lawsuits claiming housing ads on the social media site are discriminatory. Landlords who advertise on Facebook should be aware of potential liability for discrimination that can occur when selecting groups...

Portland, Oregon lawmakers are proposing a new rental reform that could force landlords there to adopt a "low-barrier" tenant screening policy and diminish landlords' rights with respect to security deposit deductions. The measure, dubbed "FAIR", would limit what...

Previous landlord references are a staple of tenant screening. But are landlords taking advantage of this tool? One landlord says this: "I’ve probably had 10 separate former tenants in my property in the past 10 years, including families and roommates. Two...

Recent reports from landlords detail a tenant who abandoned the property and turned off the heat, causing all the pipes to burst, a tenant who stole all the furnishing from a furnished apartment, and tenants who didn't pay rent for months. Wouldn't you like to avoid...

Holes in the doors. Piles of trash. Months of rent unpaid. It's difficult to witness the damage caused by a bad tenant. It's also scary to think how often these tenants get away with it. Landlords need to stick together to create barriers that discourage tenants from...

How do you lose money in a landlords' market? Rent to one bad tenant. The tighter the rental market, the more likely landlords will encounter tenant scams. Watch out for these costly tricks, and keep your rental property profitable: Scam #1: Damaging the property,...

Verdicts for premise liability cases have grown in recent years, highlighting a disturbing trend for landlords. It's no longer uncommon to see sympathetic juries award $1,000,000 or more for injuries that occur at a rental property. What is Premise Liability? Premise...