Screening Starts With The First Conversation
The screening process is your best tool for reducing the chance of choosing the wrong housemate. It begins when a potential housemate contacts you. They will be wanting information on your property, what they need to do to qualify, along with numerous other details about the process and what they should expect. Your job is the extract as much key information as you can in a polite and courteous manner to pre-qualify them.
I Don’t Grill People — I Make Them Feel Comfortable First
This is not the time to “grill” them on their qualifications. Your goal is to make them feel comfortable dealing with you as a landlord and also as a housemate. After introducing yourself you might ask them. “What questions do you have for me?” If they ask about having pets or if they are a couple wanting to rent instead of an individual you can respectfully inform them that cannot accept pets or couples renting if that is your choice.
My First Pre-Screening Questions
When they have finished with their initial questioning my first questions for them would be:
When were you wanting to move in?
How long do you think you will be renting for?
What is your current gross monthly income?
Can you verify your income with pay stubs or bank statements?
Do you have your own transportation?
I try to keep it short and simple. The rest of the details will be on their rental application. It will also keep you from wasting your time with unqualified applicants.
Why I Want to Meet Applicants in Person
My next step is to set an appointment for them to meet me and see my property. This is when you find out if they are a serious prospect or not. If they make excuses for not scheduling an appointment then they probably are not a good prospect. There are exceptions. I have run into situations where they were currently living out of the area and are planning to relocate here for work or to be closer to family. I understand that and I can offer to give them a visual tour with my phone. I try to get everyone in to see me as soon as possible though. Most prospects are in the searching process so I want them to see my property first if possible. This gives me the opportunity to see if they are a good fit and then I can “sell” them on all the benefits of living in my house.
Prepare the House Before They Arrive
Prior to anyone coming in to meet me I make sure the kitchen is neat, clean and the dishes are put away. I usually have them sit at my dinner table to chat so it must be neat and clean also. I also check the bathroom they will be using to make sure it is clean as well. If the current tenant has not moved out yet, I will show it even if it might be messy. They need to see the room they will be renting. If the housemate is home, I ask their permission in advance to show it while they are there. If they are not there, I would send them a text asking if it is okay if I show their room to a perspective housemate.
The House Tour Is Part of the Screening
When they arrive, I like to give them a tour of the house and the backyard as well. I point out all the advantages my property has to offer. I also emphasize the fact that because I live here too, I make sure everything stays in proper working condition.
After the tour we sit down and chat. They don’t know it, but I casually work through a set of questions that I have developed that gathers information along with the observations I need to help me make a good decision.
Why I Give Applicants My House Etiquette Rules
An important detail I always include is to give them a copy of my “House Etiquette” (roommate rules) and let them read through them. After they’ve read them, I’ll ask if they have any question. If they ask for clarification, that’s fine. If an applicant reacts negatively to basic rules, that is a major warning sign. I almost always get a positive response back. My rules don’t nitpick. They are what most good people would consider common courtesies.
Why Immediate Interest Matters
After our conversation comes to a close, I ask them if they are interest and if they would like to fill out an application. The prospects I like are the ones that ask if they can fill it out right then. That tells you that they are truly interested. If they do fill it out, I review it while they are still there that way I can clarify any information and check to make sure it is readable – especially the spelling of their name, social security number, email addresses and cell phone numbers. I will also ask to make a copy of their driver’s license. I use the license to verify the information on their application. If they take my application and don’t get back to me within a day or two then I’ll probably never hear from them again.
The Car Inspection Trick
Let me add a great little housemate screening trick I learned. Check out their car. Be more concerned about the inside than the outside. If there is trash all over the floor boards and in the seat, it’s likely that they will do the same thing to their bedroom.
How I Review Credit
Let me start out by saying that their credit score is NOT the most important part of the credit check. Most of my tenants have scores that are less than “good.” What I look at is how many different addresses they used in the last 5 years. That will give you an indication of how long you can expect them to stay and it also creates a concern on whether or not you can depend on them to pay their rent consistently. If they have had an eviction in the last 5 years. That is usually a reason for me to decline the application unless there is a clear and reasonable explanation. The same rule applies if they are currently late on their bills. Some exceptions of that could be medical bills or tuition payments. If they are consistently late or have collections on car payments or utility bills it’s a decline. I tend to ignore collections and late payments that are over three years old. The logic behind evictions, collections on utility bills and late payments on auto loans is this – without a place to stay (eviction), having your utilities turned off or your car repossessed you are in some serious financial trouble. I do not want to depend on someone for rent if their current financial situation already appears unstable. I have had rented to tenants with bad credit that got buried under medical bills or got laid off from a job they held for years or went through a financially devastating divorce. Life can kick you in the financial butt sometimes. I know – I declared bankruptcy after the real estate crash in 2008.
Whatever screening standards you use, apply them consistently. You do not want to make decisions based on mood, personality, or favoritism. The more consistent your process is, the easier it is to be fair to applicants and protect yourself as a landlord.
Why Background Checks Are Non-Negotiable
I do not accept applicants with certain serious criminal histories, especially offenses involving violence, theft, sexual misconduct, drug trafficking, or activity that could create risk for the household. I must advise you to be careful about your background checks. You need to be sure and verify their legal name and the best way to do that is with a copy of
their driver’s license.
The Background Check Mistake I Never Made Again
My rental application has a box to check on it – “Have you ever been convicted of a felony? Yes or No.” My new applicant checked the “No” box.
When I ran a background check on him and it came back clean so I decided to rent to him. About a month and a half after he moved in two police officers and a parole officer came to my house while I was gone. They had the combination to my digital front door and after knocking when no one answered, they entered my house (I have it on video). The person they were looking for was not there, but another tenant was and he called me immediately to alert me. The police asked for identification of my housemate and asked which room belonged to the person they were looking for. They then searched his room (for drugs).
They were gone when I got home so I immediately called my local police department to find out what was going on. The officer in charge informed me that my housemate was a convicted felon on parole and he was required, by the court, to give his parole officer his address and access to where he was residing. I complained to the officer that they entered a private residence without a warrant. The officer told me that because my housemate was paying rent to live there, they treated the situation differently than I expected and believed they had authority to enter and search his room.
I realized afterward what a serious mistake I had made. For the background check I used the name the applicant gave me on his rental application instead of his driver’s license. That’s why no match was found on the background check.
The lesson for me was simple: use the applicant’s legal name exactly as it appears on their government-issued identification. Nicknames, shortened names, middle names, or spelling differences can cause problems when running a background check.
Final Thoughts
Screening will never eliminate every risk, but it greatly improves your odds of finding the right housemate.
I look at the full picture: how the applicant communicates, how quickly they want to move in, whether they respect the House Etiquette rules, what their application shows, what their credit and background checks reveal, and how I feel after meeting them in person.
A live-in landlord is not just choosing a tenant. You are choosing someone who will live inside your home and share common areas with you and your other housemates. That is why I take screening seriously.
After more than seven years of renting rooms, I have learned that good screening does not guarantee perfection, but it has helped me avoid many problems and maintain a peaceful household.
Disclaimer
I am sharing my personal experience as a live-in landlord. I am not giving legal advice. Rental laws, fair housing rules, screening requirements, and background-check procedures vary by state and city, so always check your local rules or consult a qualified professional before creating your own screening process.
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