Tenant With Previous Bankruptcy?
I have an opportunity to rent our existing home to a couple who has a dismissed ch. 7 bankruptcy (2005)on their credit report. What criteria should I use in order to make my decision to rent to them?
I am just north of you in LaGrange and I have a tenant with a bankruptcy on her report that is 5 years old. It depends on the circumstances. Is this your first rental? Have you dealt with other renters and did you do a good job of screening them, based on your own feelings? What has changed in their lives since they filed? Do they have steady income? Do they have the deposit that you require? What is they payment history with the previous landlord? Some will argue that you should never rent to someone with bad credit. If you have plenty of potential renters then draw the line that you will not rent to anyone with a bankruptcy in their history. For legal reasons you need to have specific guidelines in who you reject. I am sure you will get plenty of various answers on here. Remember, it is cheaper to hold off for a month or so to find a good tenant than it is to force a bad tenant out. Best of luck to you!
Yes this is our first rental. I will just make sure to cover all my bases on the screening of this potential tenant. Thanks for the input!
After completing the background check, this tenant also has a previous eviction in which they checked the no box on the application. Tenant definitely has the money to pay, but how can you trust them......DOESN"T LOOK GOOD! Thanks for all the help.
I was seeing myself in the movie Pacific Heights! Always do your due diligence. Still searching.....
Thanks for the update. I had a prospect....seemed like great people. They provided the application fee and I ran the check. Just after getting the report, I got a notice indicating THAT check bounced....talk about bad form. The background check indicated that the place they were renting was in their parents name (the lease) and that they had paid 2 of the last 3 months late. They did re-issue me a check for the deposit but not the fee the bank charged me....I counted myself lucky to have dodged that mess.