It’s really ideal to have a couple of eligible applicants competing for your rental property. However, for careless individuals, it can be a trap. For those who don’t know, you are not allowed to refuse to rent based on the disability, family status, sex, religion, national origin, color, and race of the applicant. This is according to the Fair Housing Act.

Aside from that, a lot of states have rules that include other statuses, such as marital status and gender.

If you’ve got several eligible tenants competing for your rental property, here are a couple of tips from several property management companies Garden Grove that you can follow:

First Come, First Served

Sorting the applications based on when they were submitted is one way to manage several eligible applications. Then, you should give the rental property to the eligible applicant who submitted the application first. Though this is a very easy method, it might mean that the most eligible applicant won’t get the property.

Setting Minimum Eligibility Criteria and Equally Using the Criteria to Every Applicant

You need to make a document that lists all the requirements for eligibility before you advertise your rental property. Whenever you are performing mobile screening, you should always read this document. Also, whenever you’re showing your rental property, you should offer printed copies to applications. With this, you can guarantee that you are using equal standards when you are screening your prospective renters. Usually, you can include in your criteria aspects such as:

  • Criminal Background

Unless the nature of the crime redirects on their ability to be an excellent renter, a couple of states don’t enable you to discriminate against individuals convicted of a crime. For instance, you can turn down an applicant with a history of drug convictions and violent crimes. You’ve got to remember that you can’t ask the applicant if they’ve ever been arrested. Keep in mind that being convicted of a crime and being arrested for a crime are not the same.

  • Employment History

A tenant will have better chances of paying his or her rent if he or she has a stable job. Think about creating a minimum time at the current job. This will be hard to show for individuals new to the area. However, you’ve got to change it for the other applicants as well if you change the requirements for them.

  • Income

You can easily verify and easily understand the minimum income requirement. A lot of property managers and landlords require that rent should be no more than 1/3 of the annual gross income of the applicant.

  • Credit Score

If your applicant has a low credit score, it does not mean that he/she will not be an excellent tenant. But, you cannot get rid of other applicants with the same score if you consider a particular tenant with a low credit score.

  • Rental History

The most valuable detail that a landlord must have is the rental history of the applicant. An excellent reference from the previous landlord will give you an idea of how good the applicant is.