When you rent out your property you want to rent it to someone you can rely on for the duration of the lease. Most of the time all you really have to worry about is whether or not they are going to pay the rent on time or if your property is going to be destroyed while they stay there, but in some cases you may have more than that to worry about and you need to know how to avoid it. Fortunately, there are background check packages available that allow you to assess the entire situation so that you can avoid renting to a dangerous tenant.

Financial Status

It's easy enough for a potential tenant to declare that they have a solid rental history. Technology even makes it easy for them to print fake employment forms and offer you fake addresses to send reference requests to, but credit reports and FICO scores tell the real tale. In some cases, the FICO scores and credit report may not be the greatest, but your potential tenant may have just gone through a rough patch. Look for patterns in the report and talk to your potential tenant about what you found as necessary. You might even consider overlooking things like past medical bills as they don't necessarily apply to how the tenant would handle rent.

Criminal Records

Criminal records can be obtained as part of a tenant background check package and they can be very revealing. You can learn a lot about a person by reviewing their criminal history while still being able to keep in mind that some people had a wild streak when they are younger, but grow out of it as they age. Some things are not even an issue. For example, a tenant who has a list of speeding tickets may be an irresponsible driver, but that doesn't make him or her an irresponsible tenant. Then again, a tenant who has multiple felonies for things like criminal confinement or assault with a deadly weapon are not really the kind of person you want to rent to, no matter how good they are about paying rent. Nothing quite changes the way people see your property as crime scene tape across the door.

Serious Criminal Concerns

There are two specific areas which are going to be cause for concern and are probably the best reason to invest in a complete background check package. One is sexual misconduct and the other deals with the Patriot Act. As a landlord, all you should really have to concern yourself with when it comes to your tenants is when the rent is paid and how your property is treated. However, when it comes to offenses concerning sexual misconduct or the Patriot Act, you don't really want your name involved at all. Yes, there may be instances where your renter is actually the victim, such as sexual misconduct that occurs when the other party lies about their age, but your best bet is to avoid the situation altogether because your name is at stake. When it comes to the Patriot Act, new laws mean that you really don't want your name associated with any violations in this arena because you could eventually become the target for future scrutiny and even if you had the best intentions in mind, you just don't want that kind of attention to affect your reputation. Use background checks to protect yourself and your company from potential issues with problem tenants down the road.