Property Management Blog

Selecting tenants for your rental cannot be arbitrary or based on subjective personal likes, dislikes, or preferences. It is simply illegal to do so. Experts in property management Norfolk, VA are quite versed in the anti-discriminatory laws pertaining to the selection of tenants. If you decide to take on this task yourself, then you need to obtain copies of the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. You will need to fully understand and apply these laws before you interview any potential candidates. Establish a selection criteria that clearly outlines the minimum requirement for successfully qualifying as a renter. The criteria must not discriminate against others in protected classes, such as race, religion, national origin, disability, family status, gender, sexual orientation, and other areas. You must apply the same criteria to all applicants, so it is a good practice to standardize the interview questionnaire with an objective scoring system. Use this structured questionnaire approach for each interviewee, and keep the completed questionnaires for your records. Develop the questionnaire based on the attributes you are looking for in a tenant some of which can be:

• Financial stability
• Ability to pay the rent consistently and on time
• Ability to take care of your investment
• Ability to mesh well with other tenants in the community
• Ability to produce an excellent credit report
• Ability to produce reliable and relevant references and recommendations

After you have completed the interviews, verify all the collected information and be sure to conduct backgrounds checks or let the experts at property management Norfolk VA handle these tedious tasks for you.