Property crimes are at an all time high in today's world, and landlords need to feel they can trust the person they are handing the keys over to. Tenant fraud involving property damage, unpaid monthly payments, false credit reports, and criminal activity has increased exponentially over the last few years. Tenant screening is an essential step in order to feel safe and trust the identity and record of the renter. Proper screening involves several steps, which will be outlined below.

1. The tenant must provide adequate identification. Identification is a first round screening step which involves verifying the names, addresses, and social security numbers with the rental application. These details should match and be double-checked for accuracy. Proper identification includes drivers licenses, birth certificates, or a valid US passport.

2. The rental application is extremely important and should include these essential fields: Name, current and previous addresses, primary and secondary phone numbers, work and salary information, and bank accounts. It should also include information pertaining to the tenant's credit history and/or their ability to make the monthly payments based on salary and debt information. Furthermore, the application should contain two references who can be contacted for further screening and verification.

3.The next essential step is to obtain an accurate tenant background check. These checks will alert the landlord to a number of major issues that should raise red flags. A proper background check will include previous criminal activity and sex offender status. It should also include arrests nationwide, not solely in the state of application.

The background check will also provide information relating to previous addresses, employers, and alias information. As stated before, it is imperative to compare these reports with the rental application for accuracy. If these records do not match, there should be some concern and proper action should be taken.

4. Obtaining a credit history is imperative and should be included with the tenant background check. These reports will list the future tenant's credit mishaps, late payments, bankruptcies, and previous addresses. This information should be a major part of the decision-making process.

Sometimes landlords neglect to run a background check due to the fees involved. In the real estate market, it is a common, if not a mandatory practice to charge the renters the fee for the check in the rental application fee. All fees should be paid upfront and should cover all aspects of the process. The landlord is not responsible for these fees. If the renter complains, then a landlord should consider this a part of the screening process, and should seriously consider the character of this individual as a possible tenant.

Nowadays, you cannot rely on intuition to properly screen a potential renter. There are numerous resources such as tenant background checks, as explained above, that you can access to effectively allow you to obtain all of the information you need. In today's world, good renters are hard to come by, and you need all of these tools to make an educated decision and to potentially save you thousands of dollars and hours of heartache. Tenant screening is not difficult, yet the reward is knowing that you and your family, as well as your property, are safe and secure and away from harm.