Screening Tenants Maintenance Matters

[Lipa F.]

Tenant screening isn’t only about whether someone can pay the rent. It’s also about how they handle maintenance.

Some tenants only call when there’s a real issue. Others call for every small thing, which can turn into a lot of time and extra costs for the landlord.

When I screen tenants, I try to understand their approach to maintenance, not just their income and credit.

A couple things that help:

Asking the previous landlord how often they requested maintenance

Asking simple scenarios like: “If a light stops working, what would you do first?”

Noticing how they communicate during the application process

A tenant who pays on time and is reasonable with maintenance requests is usually the best long-term tenant.

Curious how other landlords screen for this.

[Richard F.]

Prevention is always less costly than remediation...be sure the unit is properly inspected and prepped prior to renting and perform regular annual re-inspections to ensure it is properly maintained. You need to schedule preventative items dependent upon the age and current condition of the unit, such as sewer line inspections or cleanouts; AC condenser cleaning; roof inspection and maintenance (including gutter systems), and testing water supply line integrity.

Relying on a Tenant to report items is not a good strategy, as they often are oblivious to issues that need correcting; and, Tenants should not be expected to attempt repairs. You can certainly "troubleshoot" a specific inquiry, which is prudent and effective, but rejecting an applicant based on how a prior LL describes their experience is largely meaningless...you have no idea what the actual conditions of their current unit are, or how responsive that LL has been. 

You are better off spending time looking for patterns of Bad Habits in applicant's financial, employment, credit, and legal realms. Bad habits always carry over to the rent payments, sooner or later.