After suffering $40,000 in damage to his property, a Saskatchewan landlord has some advice for other landlords: check your insurance policy, and screen your tenants.
This landlord reported to the news that his tenants, whose references appeared to check out, stopped paying rent while the landlord was out of the country on an extended trip. A family member swung by the property to investigate and found it abandoned, and vandalized.
That’s when the landlord returned and discovered that his insurance policy didn’t cover that sort of damage. Most policies don’t. Does yours? It may be worth making a call to see if your coverage can be expanded.
This landlord admits there was more he could have done to vet the tenants, like verifying employment and calling all of the references. He also suggests that landlords do “every background check possible” to ensure that they are not renting to the tenants from hell. That’s good advice.
Small or inexperienced landlords and those who are not physically near the property suffer the highest risk of income loss. That’s why it is especially important for those landlords to follow strict property management policies, to remain professional, and to seek help from a professional manager if necessary to keep tenants in check.
Additionally, landlords should:
Specifically call the current and previous landlord references. There is no indication that this landlord was called to provide a reference;
Verify the information in the rental application, and then run a tenant credit report to determine whether the person’s story checks out;
Sign up to Report Tenant Pay Habits. Information shared with LandlordCreditBureau.ca is being reported to Equifax Canada. Tenants with decent credit will have an incentive to pay rent — and not skip out on the tenancy agreement.
This post is provided by Tenant Verification Service, Inc., helping landlords reduce the risks of renting with fraud prevention tools that include Tenant Screening, Tenant Background Checks, (U.S. and Canada), as well as Criminal Background Checks, and Eviction Reports (U.S. only).
Click Here to Receive Landlord Credit Reports.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this post in not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.
