A potential tenant is eager to call your Houston property home, and you're just as eager to welcome them. After all, the sooner you do, the sooner you can monetize your real estate investment. But before you do, you need to run a tenant criminal background check.
Research shows that in Houston, Texas, more than 200 tenant evictions took place per day in 2016 for a total of 75,000 in one year. Such evictions can easily occur if a tenant decides to use their rental illegally -- for instance, to do drug deals.
Sadly, not every tenant is a match for your property. The good news is that you can weed out the bad ones with the help of a tenant criminal background check.
Here's a rundown on why it is so essential to run a tenant criminal background check.
Let's get started!
A Tenant Criminal Background Check Offers Liability Protection
One of the biggest reasons to conduct a tenant criminal background check is that it helps to protect you against the actions that poor tenants may take.
As a landlord, you are responsible for what takes place on your premises. This includes criminal activities, such as running illegal gambling rings.
Screening potential tenants can help you to determine what type of person you are dealing with before you allow them to reside in your property. The more thoroughly you verify tenant candidates' criminal backgrounds, the greater your chances of avoiding tenants who will cause you problems with their illicit activity down the road.
Let's say that an unverified tenant commits injury or fraud that impacts other tenants or workers on your property, for example. The affected parties may file charges against you in civil court.
If you cannot prove that you did your due diligence in confirming all of your tenants' identities, you may be fined or forced to pay monetary damages to the affected parties.
A Tenant Criminal Background Check Can Help You to Proactively Protect Yourself
Let's say you conduct a tenant criminal background check and discover that an individual has a criminal history. However, you still want to give them a chance to improve their lives, so you accept them as a tenant. In this case, you can take steps to mitigate the risk that comes with accepting them.
For instance, based on the results of the background check, you may decide to increase your insurance. In addition, you can specify particular rules that the tenant will need to follow. You may also conduct inspections of the property more frequently than you would in other situations.
All of these factors will decrease your chance of encountering a problem with the tenant long term.
How We Can Help
At HomeRiver Group Houston, we are proud to offer a variety of real estate services to the city's property investors and landlords.
For example, we can handle all of the tasks involved in managing your property. These tasks range from conducting a tenant criminal background check to collecting rents on time and overseeing maintenance and repairs. We can also provide eviction assistance in the event that a tenant quits paying their rent.
Partner with us today to start accelerating and protecting your cash flow in the coming months!
