[Raito!]

Does anyone here own a house, apartment, or building that they rent to tenants?

If so, what kind of steps do you take to find the right potential tenants?

Is there any background checks system that you use? Do you know of any good ones that you can refer?

The reason why I ask these is because, in the past I rented my house to several tenants and most of them end up not being able to pay and I would have to evict them because I am not rich enough to let them live here for free. In New York, especially in my borough, it is very hard to evict a tenant and it takes tremendous amount of time and money to actually carry out the process. I recall that over here, after going to court to evict a tenant, the judge would give them 3 month to pay up and if they don't pay, it would take 1 more month to get the paper work and give the paper work to the marshal to evict. Then the marshal would take a week or 2 to travel to my house and kick the tenant out. So I lose at least 4 months of rent which I could have use to pay the mortgage of the house.

In short I want to stop getting bad tenants who likes to leech off from homeowners and start getting decent or better tenants who will move or look for an affordable housing when they need to.

[lhkim85]

Make sure to check their credit and renter's history. Check out these sites:
http://www1.saferent.com/independentowners/index.php
http://www.ntnonline.com/
http://www.landlord.com/

[Raito!]

kewl, thanks for the information

[ganbatte]

I don't know the details but my brother's co-workers actually got sued by his tenants a while back while trying to kick them out for not paying rent. You should at least check for employment so that you know they can afford to pay.

I wish you lived near Boston because I'm currently looking for an apartment! Please let me know if anyone knows either a studio or 1 bedroom apartment available between Boston and Worcester. Thanks.

[Pogichinoy]

My mother is a property manager for leisure and uses TICA to weed out the bad tenants:

http://www.tica.com.au/

[missxmoody]

As others have said.

Get and check..
- Credit
- References from past land lords
- Call/fax their current employer to reference their salary

I use to work at the HR office of my university and we got a lot of reference checks, not only for jobs but for housing as well.

[Temoin la Nuit]

I don't know the details but my brother's co-workers actually got sued by his tenants a while back while trying to kick them out for not paying rent.

Only in America?

[YUNA!]

we have a long history of bad tenants in our basement suite. when we first started renting it out we didn't set any contracts, so we were having trouble with the downstairs people my parents were trying to kick them out for excessive partying/booze/etc. we were stuck with them for more than two years and yea, it wasn't pretty. luckily they moved.

after our few trial and errors of bad tenants I made them create formal documentations that they sign under our own contract terms. but whatever happens, MAKE SURE you get a criminal record background check on your to-be tenants. you never know what may come your way. (spoken with experience)

[Raito!]

we have a long history of bad tenants in our basement suite. when we first started renting it out we didn't set any contracts, so we were having trouble with the downstairs people my parents were trying to kick them out for excessive partying/booze/etc. we were stuck with them for more than two years and yea, it wasn't pretty. luckily they moved.

after our few trial and errors of bad tenants I made them create formal documentations that they sign under our own contract terms. but whatever happens, MAKE SURE you get a criminal record background check on your to-be tenants. you never know what may come your way. (spoken with experience)

I though it was illegal to rent basement. Its not? O__O;;

did they pay your parents for the 2 yrs they been there? if not that would totally sux.

[zeram]

I though it was illegal to rent basement. Its not? O__O;;

did they pay your parents for the 2 yrs they been there? if not that would totally sux.

I don't know if it's the case in every state but I think if there is a point of egress (for safety, in case of fire etc.) and if you make the basement "habitable" and get a certificate of occupancy you should be able to rent out a basement.

I would have to think long and hard about ever being a landlord. I have heard too many horror stories about the NYC housing court. A coworker was telling me about a friend of theirs who rented out her condo and the tenant never paid rent! The tenant lived almost a year rent free by suing her over little things so that they were continually back and forth in court. She finally just sold the condo because she was sick of the whole mess.

[&endeavor.]

My dad owns a duplex and he always does a credit check and would call their past landlords before he renting out the place.


As for the basement question, my dad has rented out the basement in one of the building he owned before. However, it was equip. with a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. So like zeram said as long as it's livable and you obtain a certificate of occupancy you can rent it out.

[erure]

I guess it sucks both ways. My mom recently moved to a townhouse that she's renting and the landlord is such a pain in the butt. He wanted a lot of documents and it was kind of pissing my mom off because it basically means that he doesn't trust her at all (he wanted a loooot of documents, like bank statements, work permit, etc etc)...

[Temoin la Nuit]

^ It's a renter's market right now, mostly.

Turn it around on them if you've got a job - you're an income stream, and it's to their benefit (more than yours) for you to rent the place. As long as your mum is paying her rent on time each month, the landlord probably wants her to stay. That can be leveraged for a lot of different benefits.

[ChouChou]

you should definitely do a check up on your tennants
my mother owns several properties and the flats she rents out, she checks the tennants history first before letting them sign the contract
i think she does it through the estate agents, not sure lol
she also checks to see what kind of people they are, whether they look responcible etc

my bfs dad on the other hand doesn't seem to care, aslong as they pay the rent every month
the tennants that are curently living in his flat are really shady
there have been police raids etc to do with drugs etc
but his doesn't kick them out lol because they pay the rent every month
if it were my mum, i'm sure she would have kicked em out, or not even let em live there in the first place lol

[bubblishxtrem]

Like others have advised, do those credit, history checkups. Call previous landlords to check if they pay on time. Put on the contract for every day the payment is late x amount is added to the total. Make the deposit a full month rent. I thought that nonpaying tenants who were evicted HAVE to pay back the unpaid rent by court?

[HSuke]

I guess it sucks both ways. My mom recently moved to a townhouse that she's renting and the landlord is such a pain in the butt. He wanted a lot of documents and it was kind of pissing my mom off because it basically means that he doesn't trust her at all (he wanted a loooot of documents, like bank statements, work permit, etc etc)...

That's pretty normal right now. Yeah, it pisses renter off, but there are a lot of shady people out there.

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Anyways, I don't know why the OP had so much trouble with kicking out the tenants. Perhaps the laws are different in New York. Normally, you'd just throw all of the tenant's personal belongings out on the street, change the locks, and put a restraining order on him if he tries to get back in. If he wants to dispute, HE is the one who needs to go through court. The law is on your side.

Of course, you need to make sure that you have a clause in the lease that says you can throw him out within a month of not paying. Most landlords do.

[CharlotteDarcy]

4 months?

that's ridiculous!

[Raito!]

That's pretty normal right now. Yeah, it pisses renter off, but there are a lot of shady people out there.

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Anyways, I don't know why the OP had so much trouble with kicking out the tenants. Perhaps the laws are different in New York. Normally, you'd just throw all of the tenant's personal belongings out on the street, change the locks, and put a restraining order on him if he tries to get back in. If he wants to dispute, HE is the one who needs to go through court. The law is on your side.

Of course, you need to make sure that you have a clause in the lease that says you can throw him out within a month of not paying. Most landlords do.

its not as simple as it seems, you said one month, but the judge said at least 2 months (its always been 3 month for me however) and the judge is like absolute. Since its a non-payment case, the judge would give them at least 2 months to pay, and if they don't, you will have to wait a few more months for the paper work to get through so you can give it to the marshal, then the marshal will take some time to review it and then wait a week to visit the house and kick them out. Its a very long process with multiple procedure.

[Shinobu]

I remember when I rented my first apartment, I had to provide proof that my income was 4x my rent. The lady who owned the house actually hired a real estate company to manage the renting.

[slimjim]

Never rented out a home but I imagine part of the process is similar to mortgages. Pull credit history (not just the FICO).
Stability: verif of employment history
Ability: proof of income, debt payment to income, new payment to income of <30% gross
Credit: no history of derogs, customer interviews asking them to explain bad history, avoid thin files unless they have stable jobs (such as recent college grads)