Tenant Screening Question

[Wendy H.]

Hi BP! It's our very first time screening tenants and have a question. We're running into a lot of applicants where they have older parent(s) that live with them, some who still work, some don't. Our current requirement is that everyone over 18 must meet the minimum requirements (700+ credit score, no evictions, clean criminal background, positive landlord references for past 10 years) but some applicants have been asking about the credit score part for their older parent(s). We're thinking that we should still look at the older parent(s) credit score but not sure if that's too extreme. What would you recommend?

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Wendy H.:

@Joseph Firmin @Nathan Gesner thank you both very much, yes that's helpful and makes sense. I will let them know if their older parent contributes to the income requirement then they will need to meet the credit score requirement, but if not, they just need to go through the other background checks. 

I'll do the exact same when I have adults renting the house with their adult son. Mom and dad pay the bills while 21-year-old Junior lives with them and attends college. I qualify them based on the adults, but I'll run a credit/criminal on the son just to confirm identity and that he doesn't have a criminal background.