Great Reference, but the person giving it doesn't own a property

[Andy Collins]

I have a tenant I ran the background check on today, first thing I found was the current landlord was evicting them,,then I noticed that landlord wasn't the name on the application.  First I called the real landlord and got the information I needed, then I decided to call the landlord name and number on the application.

They gave the applicant a great reference, great pay, keep the house up, etc etc,,I ask how long they had owned the house, she said "3 years",,I told her there was an issue because Central Appraisal district didn't show her as the owner,,she said "I just don't understand that, probable a paperwork problem",,I then informed her of the real owners name, and that I had just talked to him,,,she said "did you say 623 xyz street, I own 624 xyz street),,,I said first there was no such address, then I was curious how she gave me a great reference on someone that obviously wasn't her tenant,,,,about that time the line went dead.

When the tenant called me later I told her what had happened (I knew she already knew), and told her that lying on the application was an automatic decline.  

I am shocked at how people will just flat out lie, and just hope you don't really run a background check,,she was pushing me to get the application to me, the eviction was just filed about two  weeks ago, I guess she figured she might get the application run before it showed up.....

ALWAYS RUN BACKGROUND CHECKS!!!!!!!