Finding the Right Tenants for Your Rental Property

Once you have a property ready to be rented, the obvious next step is to find the right tenants.  You want to make sure they’re responsible, pay their bills on time, and take good care of your property.  This can be anywhere from keeping trees and the lawn trimmed to not ruining walls and floors.

As a landlord, you have a right to look into a potential tenants background to ensure they have not been evicted from a previous residence due to lack of payment or misconduct.  You can also check credit history to make sure the tenant will be able to make payment. Think about the questions you were asked when you rented places and the process you had to go through.

Depending on the area of your rental property, there will be certain things to watch out for.  Neighbours who are elderly or who have young children may be preferable to a group of university students.  If you are renting an apartment and a couple who wants to rent from you has a large dog, you might want to reconsider that as well.  In the end, the best resolution is to protect your investment and you have to do what you have to do.

Use your best judgement with what you discover with the information potential tenants will provide.  There will always be many determining factors and you will need to make a conclusion on the facts that are presented to you from the renter.  Again, the majority of us have rented before we have purchased a home, so look back and understand why the landlord or leasing office asked you the things they did before you moved in.