Question for landlords: Do you get calls for reference checks?
I just recently had tenants move out of one of my single family homes. They were great tenants for the 6 years they were with me, paid on time, give 30 days notice prior to moving, etc.
What struck me was that their new landlord never called for a reference prior to agreeing to rent to them. The more I thought about it, I realized that I have NEVER had another landlord call me for a reference on any tenant who has ever rented from me in all the years I’ve been a landlord.
I ALWAYS call previous landlords when screening applicants. The current landlord may not be completely honest as he may just want to get rid of a problem tenant, but past landlords can be a great source of information because they have no reason to lie.
I would have given a good reference to these most recent tenants, but there have been 1 or 2 others that would not get good references (and the landlords that don’t bother calling are doing themselves a disservice by not getting that information from me in my opinion).
Anyway, I’m curious, do other landlords out there get calls for reference checks on their tenants? Or, for that matter, do you do them yourself? And if you don’t, why not?