Short term lease to a company- who do you screen?

Question

I had a company that does large commercial painting contract work contact me in regards to some properties I have listed for rent. They would like to do a 6 month lease on 2 properties that I currently have vacant and they are looking to start ASAP. I am looking for some advice/thoughts from others on the tenant screening/background check for such a situation as I know many people do this. The company intends to be the one on the lease and to provide the security and monthly payments while 3 of their employees live at my rental.

Questions:

- Do you typically screen each of the people living there?

- is it typical for the business owner to fill out application for themselves without any of the employees personal information?

- Does anyone use a specific application/lease only for these scenarios?

- Do you screen the business owner?

- Am I missing anything here? It seems like a great opportunity but I am also not looking for another headache so I want to be sure it makes sense.

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Shawn

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I screen the occupants, not the company. I don't care about the Tenant meeting income qualifications because the company will be paying the rent. I primarily want to verify identity and criminal history.

Since I can't run an application on the company, I usually charge a higher deposit of double or triple the rent or I will ask them to pay first, last, and deposit.

I also try to negotiate a cleaning fee and use my professional cleaner after vacating. Tenants are less likely to clean well when they know the company is responsible.

Short term lease to a company- who do you screen?

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