Do yo list your rental qualifications in your ads?

Question

My townhome is getting lots of interest with prospective renters, but almost everyone's first question is "What are your qualifications?"  This translates in my head as "How crummy of a tenant are you willing to take?"  I'm considering putting minimum qualifications in my ads to weed out the low credit / recent conviction / low verified income types.  What's your experience? Are there any legal considerations I should be wary of?

Grant Greene · Answer

I believe it's wise to be direct in your listing. @Ben Soutas makes an excellent point, but you can easily steer clear of any problems with the law by basing your qualifications on quantitative data: FICO, income, not Section 8 approved, etc.

Kimberly H. · Answer

Yes they are in there at the top before the description of the house, and still I swear no one reads them.

Kelly N. · Answer

Yes, do put your minimum requirements in your ads.  I do and feel that it saves some time, but you will still get calls from people who didn't read the ad or are hoping you will be more lenient.  These are usually the ones who call asking about a rental but can't tell you the address or the price...

Matt Kieffer · Answer

Thanks everyone, I've adjusted my verbage on my ads.  Hopefully it will make the responses more qualified.

Ben Soutas · Answer

Yes, be careful of the fair housing act and discrimination laws! It looks like you are from Arizona, and their fair housing laws are equivalent to the Federal laws. So you can't mention anything in your ads about race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, or familial status.

You can definitely advertise for minimum qualifications based on income, credit, and previous landlord references though.

Paul Ronto · Answer

I agree with the other answers here, put your minimum acceptance criteria in your ads 100%. It weeds out a lot of wasted time and answering of the same questions. Just be careful you don't cross any lines with HUD or the Fair Housing Act, there are a lot of protected classes and getting hit with an unfair practices complaint would not be fun.

Good luck and let us know if you have any additional questions. Hope this helps!

Gail K. · Answer

Yes: I always put my rental qualifications in my ads, including the fact that the tenant must make 3 times the rent in income, have no history of evictions, no accounts in collections, undergo a credit check, have a certain FICO score, etc..  I also state that the rental unit has not been approved for the Section 8 program.

Not that a certain percentage of folks who respond to the ad actually read it.   But stating the requirements AND STICKING TO THEM (because you will often get those with a sob story who attempt to make you change your mind regarding these) are helpful in weeding out those who you are pretty certain would be time wasters for you.

Gail

Ian Tudor · Answer

@Matt Kieffer - Yes, weed out the people to save everyone's time. I put that I do a background and criminal checks as well as the income they will need to qualify. In addition, I tell them I'm not a Section 8 landlord at this time. This should reduce the silly phone calls.

Do yo list your rental qualifications in your ads?

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