Entering a rental agreement involves a level of trust from both tenants and landlords. Tenants must be able to assume that landlords will be responsive and take care of needed repairs and landlords want to know that tenants will pay the rent and won’t cause trouble in the neighborhood.
While these expectations have been in place for years, tools like rental history reports and credit history reports are more available than ever, making it easier for landlords to access information about potential tenants. If you’re in the rental market, here are a few things that landlords want to know about you:
* You’ll pay the rent on time. Landlords have a variety of ways to predict this. Where once it might have been more common for them to ask for employment information or proof of income, tenant credit checks are the easiest way for landlords to predict whether tenants will pay the rent.
* You’re not a criminal. Landlords want to be assured that you won’t be a problem tenant that brings trouble to the neighborhood. A tenant background check will usually include a check of a tenant’s criminal history.
* You’ll honor the lease. Complete rental history reports will also include a rental history check that will show whether or not the tenant has a history of evictions or other problems with landlords.
While landlords will conduct their due diligence and work to find out this information about renters, tenants also have the ability to check their own rental history. The easiest way to find out if you have any red flags on your rental record is to purchase your own report. See a sample rental history form here for an example of what you’ll receive on your report.
