Should I rent to these people? Does credit score matter?

Question

Hello Landlords,

Please help me make a decision on whether to rent to these perspective tenants

• 3 woman unrelated friends who have rented together in past somewhere else for at least 2 years. (All have same addresses on drivers licenses/Identification)
• They have decided that the lease will be in 2 of the 3 of their names because the 3rd woman has past eviction in 2010 (7 years ago) so she will be an occupant but not on the lease and she has past traffic/criminal record (not sure if it is DWI or something else report doesn't specify) but she will not be on lease but probably indirectly paying rent to other women as she will be an occupant).
• Woman #1- qualifies income wise by herself 3x's the rent but has a ton of outstanding student loans and bad credit rated 515. But has great job and makes over $70k a year. with no evictions or criminal history. So only problem here is a ton of bad debt and very low credit score (no bankruptcy or anything).
• Woman #2- has better credit 600+ but does not make 3X's rent alone.
• Woman #3 evictions and traffic criminal will be occupant but not on lease.

Rent in this area is $1375 nice middle class neighborhood. The woman seem nice (no children, no pets, no smokers etc.) Also have gotten 50 calls regarding property.

Rent- Yes or No?

Thomas S. · Answer

No do not rent to them. first thing you need to do is set yourself some basic screening standards and stick to them. Screening without standards is not screening.

With 50 calls you can do way better that these three losers. Don't waste any time on these three. You should also consider raising your rent. 50 calls means it is too low. You could probably get $1600 or more and make your screening far easier.

Matt Shields · Answer

" The woman seem nice." The beginning of every nightmare landlord story. These are some of my requirements: I accept bent but not broken credit. I do not accept ANY evictions EVER. EVERY adult living under the roof MUST be on the lease. The more people on the lease the more people to collect from if things go bad.

You should have the same requirements for everyone and stick to them. Not doing this is a violation of fair housing law and the penalties are severe. There have also been changes in what past criminal activity you can deny.

HUD to landlords: Rent to ex-convicts

Matthew Olszak · Answer

Neil nailed it. The mindset stays. A big deterrent to evictions is the unknown fears of tenants: Where will they go, how will the deal with the embarrassment, will they find a new place, where will their things go? Someone who has  been-there-done-that doesn't have those fears because they know how it works, and they won't make "beginners" mistakes like going in without an attorney. Any eviction at any point from any OCCUPANT is a no in my book. I don't care about the explanations or timeframe, its a no because there is someone else better out there who hasn't been through this already.

Jeremy Hua · Answer

My vote is no, unless you want to see what a train wreck looks like.

Shannon Slade · Answer

Been there and done that early on in my investment career and take my advice DO NOT rent to them.  They were living together before i allowed them in my home.... and ya know what it turns out 3 months later I was chasing them for rent.  Women 1 paid her portion while the other 2 left the property.  I figured i was lucky with being so stupid, I had only lost 1 months rent.  Roommates don't last forever and if they do it is a rare find.

Sounds like you have options so look deeply into those other leads!

Kaycee Miller · Answer

@Matt Shields nailed it!

Robert P. · Answer

I would not rent to them. Evictions are a HUGE no-no for me, even if it was 20 years ago. It's one thing to not be able to pay your rent, but to let it go all the way to eviction leads me to believe the issue isn't just not enough income, but you don't have enough dignity to simply move out.

JD Martin · Answer

Anyone with an eviction cannot be on our lease as a tenant or authorized resident. You really don't want anyone who has let something proceed to that point as a tenant. And if you've received 50 calls, you should have at least some other qualifed applicants. I would simply tell them they don't qualify, and if they press is based on their credit reports and the prior eviction.

Should I rent to these people? Does credit score matter?

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