Avoiding bad tenants

[Carol Burns]

The two times I lost major money on a rental were the two times I didn't listen to my gut about the potential tenants.  Their applications were fine, but I just got a bad feeling about them and turned out, I was right.   How do you guys handle this?  I know you can't "discriminate", so what do you do?  Also, I read today that you can't ask how many children they have?   Of course none of us want tons of kids in a rental.   I have had issues with septic before.  So can you just say it is a limited septic capacity issue?   So how do you deal with possible tenants that you know you really don't want to rent to?  TIA

[Nathan Fisher]

You can't ask how many kids, but you can ask how many people total. The rule is 2 heartbeats per bedroom. 

You don't have to rent to anyone you feel uncomfortable with. I had a rude guy ( both to me and staff) who kept showing up late, insulted us, and we told him no, despite a good application. He threatened to sue, but no one ever does. 

If the tenant is in a protected class, you better be ready for a potential lawsuit, but the settlement, might be cheaper than placing the bad tenant.