What Questions Should You Ask An Applicant's Current and/or Prior Landlord During The Screening Process

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Screening Tenants / Comments

Screening applicants/potential tenants is the single most important element of landlording in my opinion.  As I have mentioned in prior posts, if you properly screen your applicants you will have a better chance of finding a good tenant that pays rent on time and does not abuse your investment property.

Landlords should require each adult person to completely fill out a written rental application.  After you have all this good information about your applicant you now need to confirm that info.  You have not conducted a thorough screening until you have confirmed all of the information that was provided to you in the application. 

Some of that info is more important than others.  In my experience the most important information that you need to confirm about a potential tenant is: (1) the applicant's current and prior rental history, (2) the applicant's employment information, and (3) whether or not the applicant has been evicted, had a money judgment taken against them, or been charged/convicted with a crime  -- this information, at least for now, can be obtained through CCAP.

This post will focus on item #1 - the applicant's current and past rental history.  The way to confirm this information is to communicate with both the applicant's current landlord AND their prior landlord.  You are probably asking yourself, "why is it necessary for me to talk to more than just the applicant's current landlord?"  The answer is simple -- if the applicant is a bad tenant then the current landlord may tell you anything (even a bunch of lies) in order to get rid of their problem tenant.  A less than honest landlord who is trying to unload a bad tenant may neglect to tell you that the tenant has loud parties every weekend, pays rent late every single month, enjoys hoarding pit bulls, and thinks its funny to rev the engine on his crotch rocket when he comes home after bar time.  While it would be nice if all landlords realized that we are all in this together and were truthful to one another, that is not always the case.  If you think that a fellow landlord would not lie to you in order to pass on a nightmare tenant then I want to let you know that I have a new ebook for sale which I just completed writing - and which I am selling for the unreasonable low price of $79.95 -- that I guarantee you will teach you how to make a million dollars in 30 days through investing in real estate, even during this recession : )

A prior landlord - one tht is at least one landlord removed from the applicant's current landlord - has no reason to lie to you.  They no longer have any connection to their old tenant and therefore have no personal interest in whether you accept him or her as your new tenant.  So it is always reccomended that you talk to both the applicant's current landlord AND their prior landlord.  Now that you know who you should be talking to and why, the next hurdle is determining what questions you should be asking. 

Oftentimes, the current/prior landlord is going to want to confirm that the applicant has authorized you to talk to them about the applicant and his/her information.  This may involve having the applicant call the landlord and verbally telling them that they can talk to you, but more often than not it involves providing the landlord with a written authorization signed by the applicant.  If you are using a good Rental Application then you may already have the authorization language in that document. 

When providing the authorization to the current/prior landlord be careful to only provide the landlord with the authorization language, the applicant's signature, and the date that it was signed.  While the current or prior landlord most likely already has all of the applicant's personal information - you do not want to take the chance and divulge personal info that you shouldn't have.

Prior to calling a landlord you should be aware that sometimes an applicant will list a friend or a family member as their current or prior landlord.  They may do this for any number of reasons such as: (1) they have no prior rental history, (2) they have been evicted by their prior landlord, (3) or they know that they are a less then stellar tenant and that their landlord will not have positive things to say about them.  As I'm sure you can guess, a family member or friend that is standing in for the applicant's real landlord is going to have nothing but glowing things to say about the applicant. 

In order to avoid having this ruse played on you, you should attempt to confirm that the person you are speaking to is the actual current or prior landlord.  There are several ways you can do this but none of them are foolproof.  One trick is to call the alleged landlord and act as if you are a tenant inquiring about a vacancy.  If the listed "landlord" is a friend or family member they will probably not respond appropriatley to your inquiry.  I have caught one person applying to rent from me by this method.  The person I called responded along the lines of "what are you talking about -- you must have the wrong number - I ain't renting out sh*t." 

Another option is to check online property data records for the munucipality in which the current/prior landlord's property is located to see if the name on the property records matches the name of the alleged landlord.  This method does not always work.  If the property is being managed by a management company then the name that the applicant gave you is most likely that of the manager and not the owner.  Additionally, if the property is legally owned by a business entity then there will be no individual person's name listed on the property data.  Most municipalities have their property data infromation available on the web.  I just googled "property data" and the name of various municipalities in Milwaukee County and came up with 4 sites in just a few seconds -- Milwaukee, West Allis, Greenfield, Wauwatosa.  Short of the above methods you will just need to remain attentive during your conversation with the person and see if they "slip up" while talking with you.

Some landlords will be happy to answer your questions orally over the phone while others -- especially the larger landlords and management companies -- will only respond to your questions in writing.  This means that you will need to send them written questions.  This is normal and should not be a cause for concern.  These companies are merely trying to protect themselves as they will now have proof of the answers they provided you should the tenant accuse them of false statements or sue them for slander.

Whether you are asking your questions verbally or in writing you should insure that you use the same questions for every applicant when talking to their current/prior landlord.  If you fail to do this you may end up inadvertantly violating Fair Housing (discrimination) laws.  To make this simple you should prepare a script of questions that you will use.  I would suggest that you have an experienced landlord, property manager, or landlord-tenant law attorney review your questions prior to using them.

There are no hard and fast rules as to what questions you should ask but any questions posed should include the following:

1.     Confirm that the applicant is/was a current/prior tenant.

2.     Confirm the address of the current/prior rental unit.

3.     Confirm the dates that the applicant resided at the current/prior landlord's property.

4.     Confirm the rent amount that the applicant is currently paying or paid in the past.

5.     Ask if the applicant has ever been late in paying their monthly rent.  If the answer to this question is "yes" then you should follow up with a few additional questions such as:  how late was the rent paid; was the rent paid late more than one; and how many times was the rent paid late?

6.     Ask if the applicant has ever violated any other terms of the rental agreement (i.e. damage to property, loud parties, unauthorized guests, illegal activity etc).

7.     Ask if the landlord ever had to serve the applicant a 5-Day or 14-Day notice.  If the answer is "yes" then you should attempt to learn additional info about the breach.

8.     Finally, you should ask the landlord if s/he would ever rent to the applicant again.

Remember that your goal in talking to the current/prior landlord and asking them these questions is to try and obtain as much pertinent information as you can about the applicant so that you will be better able to determine whether or not the applicant will be a good tenant for you.

It is important to realize that some landlords may not be comfortable answering these questions - especially the more detailed questions - as they may be fearful of retaliation by the tenant or being sued by them.  This fear is the primary reason why some landlords will only reply to written questions with written answers.  I have personally experienced landlords who would only give me "yes" or "no" answers to my questions and refused to provide any detail.  On the other hand I have talked to more than one landlord that told me way more about an applicant then I would ever want to know (and way more than a landlord should ever knowabout his/her tenant).  You take what you can get! 

Remember that if a landlord is unwilling to verify the applicant's information then you have a valid and legal reason to deny housing to that applicant, assuming that verification of information contained in the application is part of your written screening criteria.

I hope that it goes without saying -- although I will say it anyway -- that during this "vetting" process you should only ask relevant and non-discriminatory questions.  If you stick to asking questions about the topics listed above you should be OK.