Need Your Opinion 2 Quick Tenant Questions

[Drew Wiard]

Hey Guys!  Two questions for you...

I have a beautiful new rental I am currently screening tenants for.  Have a candidate (...or candidates) where credit, criminal Hx, rental Hx, income, etc.... are all GREAT. 

The two things that stand out (that I'd like some insight on are):

1)  The candidate is actually a woman and her sister.  Both in their later 40's.  No kids, and again......everything else looks great.  Any red flags with "roommates?"  If you rent tot hem, do you add them both to the lease, or choose one of them to be accountable?

2)  They have a 7 year old, medium size Golden Retriever.   They have provided references from multiple tenants and landlords stating that it is well behaved.  Once in the past, I rented to a family with a LARGE well behaved dog, and it worked out perfectly, but feels risky.  Your thoughts?

Thx guys!

[Bill S.]

@Drew Wiard please consider, for your own sanity, writing down your rental criteria when your unit is full and tenants are paying rent. All of these questions would normally be covered.

1) It is illegal to discriminate based on family status (kids or not). While you didn't say anything that was illegally discriminatory, you also didn't say why them being sisters and having no kids was an issue.

2) Pet policy - what is it? You need to have one like I said above. It should spell out what pet you will take or not. One thing to consider is pet rent and pet registration fees. Most people just take additional security deposit for pets but if you shop at the big box apartment complexes you will see all the fees they have and pets are part of the picture.

Based on what you said, I would take these folks in a heart beat because they fall well within my criteria, but I'm not you and my properties are not your properties. You need to do what works for you.

BTW having written criteria and following it helps your lawyer protect you if you are ever sued for illegal discrimination.