Accurate Tenant Screening may Become Much Easier!

A credit report is basically a report card of how a particular person pays their bills. Why are monthly rent payments not reflected as a trade line on the credit report? I as well as many [tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5Dothers, have felt for years that rent payments should be included on the credit report, just as mortgage payments are. If a tenant pays the rent on time every month, they should be awarded credit for paying their obligations. On the other hand, a tenant who does not pay their rent, or pays late, should be dinged on their credit, as they are if they pay a credit card late or skip the payment.

This month Experian announced that it has acquired RentBureau of Atlanta, Georgia.  This acquisition may finally make it possible for rent payments to be accurately reflected on the credit report. RentBureau is the nation’s largest consumer-reporting agency specific to the multi-family industry. RentBureau provides landlords and property managers a way to report rent payment history.  Click here for the press release

I have not learned the details of what Experian’s plans are with this acquisition, but I assume the result will be that landlords will finally have the ability to report rent payments directly to Experian, just as a mortgage company reports payments.

This could be a huge leap forward for both landlords and tenants. By reviewing a prospect’s trade line reflecting rent payments, a landlord will immediately know if the prospect has paid his/her rent on time. Conversely, tenants will finally receive credit for timely rent payments.  Using this information to screen tenants could greatly decrease the possibility of a tenant skipping or being evicted because the rent was not paid.

I am curious how my reader feel about this new development in screening tenants. Please take two minutes and complete the quick survey. Include your email address and I will send you my free E-Book “How to Detect Social Security Number Fraud.”

Click here to complete the short survey

Bill Gray

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

Tenant Debt & Screening Forum www.theinformedlandlord.com

Copyright 2010 – Click here to reprint/re-post

Failure to Comply With Tenant Deposit Notifications Could be Costly

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A Landlord's Worst Nightmare

Imagine being forced to write a check to a previous tenant who still owes you money.  This is a very real possibility if you fail to comply with the law after the tenant moves out.  With the amounts and occurrences of tenant debt rising, having to pay a previous tenant who still owes you money only adds insult to injury.

In most states, landlords and property managers are required to notify their tenant if they do not intend to refund the tenants deposit after they move out.  States vary in the required timeframe and method of notification, but most do require it.  This notification is referred to in various terms such as SODA (Statement of Deposit Account), Deposit Disposition, Final Account Statement, etc.  Some states require the notice be sent via certified mail, while others accept First Class mail notification.  I advise landlords to mail this notice via Certified Mail, whether the state requires it or not.  Sending it Certified Mail provides you with a receipt proving you mailed it and complied with the law.

Failing to notify your previous tenant of how you intend to apply the deposit he paid you may end up costing yourself even more money!  Regardless of the unpaid rent, damages, eviction legal fees, etc., if you fail to notify the tenant as required by law in most states, the tenant can demand his deposit back.

Let’s say the tenant paid a $1,000 deposit on a twelve-month lease. Six months into the lease, the tenant skipped, leaving your rental trashed and owing you a month’s rent.  Once you calculate your losses, you determine that the tenant owes you $3,000.  After subtracting the $1,000 deposit, you are in the red $2,000.

If in this scenario you do not notify the tenant of how you intend to apply the $1,000 deposit toward the $3,000 loss, the tenant in many cases could demand his $1,000 back, regardless of what he owes you.  Yes, he may have to sue you to get the deposit back, but if you have violated the law, he most likely will win.

So, take a look at what your failure to comply with the law may cost you in addition to a big headache.  Immediately, you have cost yourself the $1,000 deposit plus any legal fees you paid to defend yourself in court.   A quick Google search will give you further proof, revealing a number of class action suits against landlords and property management companies who failed to notify past tenants of how the deposit was applied.

In many cases, you might not have a forwarding address to mail the notice to. Your only option is to mail the notice to the last known address, which is the address of your rental. Half or more of these notices will be returned to you as undeliverable or having a wrong address.  File the returned mail with the tenant’s file and save it.  You may need the returned mail as proof that you did attempt to send the notification.

Comply with your state’s deposit notification law.  Doing so may save you money.

The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed to be legal advice.  Consult a local landlord-tenant attorney to discuss your specific situation.

Email me your tenant screening and tenant debt questions.

Bill Gray

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

Tenant Debt & Screening Forum www.theinformedlandlord.com

Copyright 2010 – Click here to reprint/re-post

Accepting Late Payments Can Land You in Court

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t allow a tenant to pay rent late, but the legal implications must always be at the top of the list.[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5D Unfortunately, by being the nice guy, or gal, and accepting late rent payments, you might be establishing grounds for a Fair Housing lawsuit.  Last year, I sat in on a seminar given by Milwaukee landlord-tenant attorney Tristan Pettit, where I learned that case law has been established that says you cannot accept late payments from one tenant and not accept late payments from another.

The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to “set different terms, conditions, or privileges for sale or rental.”  By accepting late payments from one tenant and not another, you may be violating the law.

Any trip to court can be precarious and expensive in terms of time and money. You can never be certain of what the outcome of a court case or dispute is going to be.  Any good attorney will tell you that avoiding court altogether is always preferred.

To compound the issue of being sued for a Fair Housing violation, consider what you are doing to the terms of your lease by habitually accepting late rent. Let’s say your lease requires the rent to be paid by the third of the month. But for the last six months, you have accepted the rent on the fifteenth. Suddenly, in the seventh month you put your foot down and demand the rent be paid by the third, but the tenant ignores you and continues to pay the rent on the fifteenth. In the eight month, you file for eviction when the tenant again is late with his or her rent.

If the tenant were to hire a savvy attorney to represent them, the attorney could easily argue that you had amended the terms of the lease by accepting the rent late the first six months of the lease. Not only could this force you to continue accepting the rent, it could cause a counter suit.

Enforce the terms of the lease and require that the rent be paid on time—from each and every tenant.  Doing so may keep you out of court.

The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed to be legal advice.  Consult a local landlord-tenant attorney to discuss your specific situation.

Email me your tenant screening and tenant debt questions.

Bill Gray

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

Tenant Debt & Screening Forum www.theinformedlandlord.com

Copyright 2010 – Click here to reprint/re-post

Non-Refundable Pet Deposits Can Actually Cost You Money

[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5DThe way in which you explain, or don’t explain pet deposits can cost you profit.  If landlords could spend just one day as a professional collector attempting to collect tenant debt, one of the top objections they would hear from previous tenants is about pets and pet deposits.

“The urine spots on the carpet are covered by my pet deposit” is one example of a tenant either intentionally or unintentionally misunderstanding the pet deposit.  Many pet deposits are non-refundable.  If this is not fully explained at lease signing, most likely the tenant will believe that the pet deposit is no different than the standard deposit he placed on the rental unit.

Most tenants understand that when they pay a rental deposit any damage they cause to the unit will be deducted at move out from their deposit.  If the non-refundable pet deposit is not fully explained, the tenant considers it the same as the rental deposit.

So when Fido has several accidents and soils the carpet, the tenant often will guesstimate that his pet deposit will cover the cost of cleaning it.  In reality the cleaning cost is deducted from his refundable deposit.  Imagine the difficulty a professional collector has on the telephone trying to explain the difference between a non-refundable pet deposit and refundable rental deposit.

This is not to say that a certain percentage of previous tenants have a convenient memory when it comes to the terms of the lease.  But I do believe that a good share of landlords do not take the time to fully explain the terms.  An initialed and signed pet addendum will go a long way in settling disputes after move out.

Use a clear, understandable pet addendum and explain it clearly before the new tenant initials and signs it.  Doing so will save you profit by reducing tenant debt when the tenant moves out.

Email me your tenant screening and tenant debt questions.

Bill Gray

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

Forum www.theinformedlandlord.com

Copyright 2010 – Click here to reprint/re-post

Incomplete Rental Applications Cost Landlords Profit

[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5DFinancially, many landlords are shooting themselves in the foot. The application process is normally the first place they do so. Incomplete and inaccurate rental applications cost landlords much needed profit. Nearly 50% of the applications I review are either missing information or are illegible.

Sloppy applications speak negatively about the prospects filling them out, but they say even more about the landlord or property manager who accepts them.  When a landlord accepts an incomplete or illegible application, he or she is telling the applicant, “I don’t care.” Think about what seeds an “I don’t care” attitude plants in the applicant’s head.

If the landlord is not serious about the application and the information which may or may not be in it, what else is he lax with? If he is not serious about the application process, is he serious about the rent being due on the 1^st of the month? If the landlord is unprofessional during the application process, is he serious about the prospective tenant taking good care of his rental unit?

The application has several important purposes, all of which rely on it being completed legibly.

Much of the information requested in an application is needed to sufficiently screen the tenant. When I see a sloppy application, my first thought is that the landlord is cutting corners in the screening of potential tenants. By the way, the reason I am called upon to look at the application and file is because the landlord is owed money by the very applicant who submitted a sloppy application. Now, he is turning to me for advice on collecting it. I firmly believe there is a direct correlation between the application/screening process and tenants who leave the property owing an average of $3,500.

The rental application should contain a space for at least one emergency contact.  Completing this section should always be a requirement.  Nobody wants to envision a situation where you need to contact someone in case of an emergency, but if you do, you will have the contact information to do so.

The property manager who is eager to rent seldom considers the last purpose of the rental application. The information on the application is invaluable in the collection process when the tenant is either evicted or abandons the property and the lease. In that case, an incomplete or illegible application makes collecting the debt difficult, if not impossible.

Require that your applicants complete the application in its entirety and legibly.  Doing so will decrease debt and increase profit.

Also see my article, “Don’t Miss an Important Component to Screening New Tenants!

Email me your tenant screening or tenant debt questions.

Bill Gray

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

Copyright 2010 – Click here to reprint/re-post

USA Today – The Landlord Doctor

[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5DDecember 30th USA Today published an article titled “Apartment renters win as vacancy rate climbs”, when he wrote the article author Paul Davidson asked me what effect concessions are having on the tenant delinquency rate.  My quote is included in his article.  The bottom line is that concessions may help rent empty units, but tenant debt continues to rise.

Link to Article: “Apartment renters win as vacancy rate climbs”

Bill Gray

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

Tenant Debt & Screening Forum www.theinformedlandlord.com

Ten Common Landlord Mistakes

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Effectively Dealing With Tenant Delinquencies And Eviction Proceedings

By Jon L. Farnsworth, Esq.

(Editor’s note: This article was initially published in the September 2009, Minnesota Real Estate Journal, and has been edited and reprinted with the author’s permission.  While the article mentions Minnesota law, and includes commercial leasing issues, the discussion points are generally applicable in other states and to residential lease matters.)

The poor state of the economy threatens tenants’ ability to satisfy their lease obligations. Unfortunately, landlords are feeling pinched by tenants’ mounting delinquencies.

Some tenants lack the cash flow to make lease payments, while other tenants voluntarily withhold rent for business reasons (i.e., conserve cash flow; obtain a lease modification with more favorable terms for the tenant; etc.). This article summarizes ten common mistakes made by landlords when dealing with tenant defaults and eviction proceedings as well as offers insights of how to effectively manage tenant delinquencies.

Tough Economy Makes Tenant Debt Tough, but Not Impossible, to Collect

[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5DThe downturn in the economy has caused many landlords to lower their credit requirements for new tenants.  Of course, lowering credit requirements increases financial risk. Renting to a tenant with little or poor credit increases the likelihood that the tenant will at some point leave owing the landlord money.

This change in rental criteria is understandable, considering the need to keep all units rented.  But know that when you lower your standards and in turn incur debt, this debt will be tougher to collect than if you had rented to a tenant with good or great credit.  If you use a collection agency to collect the debt, you should also lower your expectations about how much you feel they should collect.

Collection agencies are reporting that they are receiving many more files than two years ago.  The average amount of debt in these files has also increased.  Relaxed rental standards, coupled with the high unemployment rate, have put collection agencies in a tough spot.

The American Collectors Association reports that the collection industry debt recovery rate is down 30-40% over last year.  Angi Pusateri, National Sales Manager for RentDebt Automated Collections, confirmed that her company is experiencing a similar decline in debt recovery.  However, RentDebt Automated is weathering the storm well and has added employees in the last year at their offices, which are located in Nashville, Tennessee and Dallas, Texas.

Jeff Cronrod, the President of Rent Recovery Service, a national collection agency specializing in the collection of tenant debt, estimates that nearly 40% of the debtors his company is trying to collect from are unemployed.  “It is not that these debtors do not care about the debt or their credit. They simply have no means to pay the bill,” Cronrod explained.

Saul Wertzer, President of Rent Recover Solutions in Atlanta, Georgia (not to be confused with Cronrod’s Rent Recovery Service), told me that his company has also seen an increase, not only in the number of collection files, but also an increase in the average amount of each file.  I have heard this from every company I have spoken with, in every corner of the country.  Wertzer went on to say that it is important for landlords and property managers to think long-term about debt they are owed by previous tenants.  Over time a good percentage of tenant debt is collectible.

If your collection agency has served you well in the past, stick with them, even though recent recoveries may have dropped.  Trust me, every agency is experiencing a tough time collecting debt.  Don’t jump ship and hire another agency, because eventually the economy will improve and many of these tenants who owe previous landlords will get back on their feet.  When they do, they will work to clean up their credit and pay their debt. But don’t wait until then to do something about it.  Now is the time to make sure the debt you are owed is reported to all three major credit bureaus. Whether your collection agency reports the debt or you report it via an automated service, make sure every dollar you are owed is reported.

Doing so will greatly increase the odds that you will get paid the debt your previous tenant owes you.

Email me your tenant screening and tenant debt questions.

Bill Gray

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

www.theinformedlandlord.com

Copyright 2009 – Click here to reprint/re-post

Tenant Debt & Screening Forum www.theinformedlandlord.com

End of Year Housekeeping – Old Tenant Debt

[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5DWhile the end of the year is a very busy time of the year for most of us on a personal level, it is usually a slow period for landlords.  Many of us spend this time working on our taxes, cleaning out our desk drawers and preparing for the New Year.

One often overlooked piece of housekeeping that impacts your profit is old tenant files which still have balances due.  All too often, landlords simply file them away and forget them.  By storing these files without taking any action, you are literally throwing money away. You may think it’s impossible—that you’ll never see a dime of the monies owed, but some percentage of the debt you are owed is collectible.  It may not be collectible today, but over the next seven years, some of that money most likely will be paid.

Take the time to do some end-of-the-year housekeeping.  Start by separating old tenant files which have no balance due from the ones that owe.  One by one, go through the files with balances to make sure each contains a signed lease; then, make a breakdown of what is owed.

There are three different options to select from when collecting your lost profit.   Each has its pros and cons.

1. Got to court and sue the previous tenant for the balance owed.  This option can be expensive and time consuming, but with the proper outcome, it can be an effective way to collect tenant debt.
2. Hire a collection agency that specializes in collecting tenant debt.  If you do not have an agency, spend an hour online and find one.  If you don’t know what to look for in an agency, read my blog article on how to hire a collection agency to collect tenant debt. “How do I Hire a Collection Agency to Collect my Tenant Debt?”
3. Report the debt to the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, as a collection account.  The ding on your previous tenant’s credit report should remain there for seven years after they move out.  There are several online resources for reporting tenant debt to the credit bureaus.  It’s worth your time and effort to research them.

Too often, I hear landlords advising other landlords to forget any debt they are owed and move on because it is not collectible.  From experience, I can tell you this is not true.  While all of it may not be collectible, a percentage of it is, maybe not immediately, but over time, you can recoup some of your profit.

There’s only one way to ensure that you won’t collect any of the debt, and that’s to do nothing, storing the files away and resigning yourself to accept the loss.   Trust me when I tell you that doing nothing will cost you profit.

Email me with your tenant screening and tenant debt questions.

Bill. Gray

The Landlord Doctor

www.thelandlorddoctor.com

www.theinformed.com

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

Copyright 2009

New Landlord Forum – Tenant Debt and Tenant Screening

[tweetmeme source=”your_twitter_name” only_single=false http://www.URL.com%5DThanks for reading my blog.  I try hard to respond to every email I receive, but I receive more and more every week.  It is getting hard to keep up.  I started a forum that will address tenant debt and tenant screening issues to help answer the commonly asked questions.  Please help me get the forum off the ground by registering and posting your questions.

The forum url is: www.theinformedlandlord.com

Thanks,

Bill Gray

Bill@thelandlorddoctor.com

www.thelandlordoctor.com

Copyright 2009