Security deposit for prospective tenant question

[Martin Kimmel]

Please help! I verbally offered my place to a prospective tenant under then understanding that security deposit is due at time of lease signing. We were planning to meet today to sign but now he's asking if I wait to a few days to cash his check.  He later said he could make it work if necessary but would really appreciate a few days to get the money together. 

This makes me want to pull out because he can't come up with the deposit. This is a sign he's going to struggle to come up with rent every month. Can I, or should I pull out? What would you do? Are there any potential legal issues I need to worry about? Nobody has signed anything but he did technically agree to my verbal terms because he ultimately said he could "make the deposit today work if necessary". 

thanks in advance for your advice!

[Kyle J.]

@Martin Kimmel Definitely not a good sign. Did you properly screen him, check his credit, landlord references, etc? What has his history been like with previous landlords as far as paying rent, and other bills, on time?

One important thing I will say is that you should NOT be taking a personal check for the payment of any initial move-in funds (e.g. first month’s rent, security deposit, etc). That’s a big no-no. 

You should only be accepting guaranteed forms of payment (e.g. cash, money order, cashiers check) at the lease signing, not a personal check that MIGHT be good a few days after it’s presented to you.