10 Reasons for Rejecting Tenant Applications

A landlord has right to reject prospective tenant application that does not meet their criteria or tenant with unsatisfactory reference from landlords or employer. Some states have laws making it illegal to discriminate tenants on the basis of race, religion, sex, disability, or national origin. It is important to know your parameters when you must reject a potential tenant. The best way to reject an applicant is to say so, directly, at the point at which the decision to reject is made.

Reasons for Rejecting Tenant Applications

Many landlords believe that they have to accept the first one to come along with the money or risk the grief of a lawsuit. A landlord has right to reject tenant application that does not meet their criteria, unsatisfactory references or Bad Credit History. Following are some reasons to turn down a rental applicant.

• Criminal Record: If an applicant has been convicted of a crime, it is probably enough reason to reject their application.

• Inadequate Rental History: You may require a reasonable number of positive rental references, and reject an applicant based on a negative reference from a previous landlord.

• Income level: It is legal to use a prospective tenant’s income as a basis to approve or reject their application. If prospective tenants cannot afford your rent, reject the application.

• Pets: If you do not allow pets in your rental unit, you may reject a pet-owning applicant.

• Too many vehicles: Lots of cars can be a real source of irritation to neighbors and make the entire neighborhood or apartment complex look bad. If your property or apartment doesn’t have parking facility for car, you may reject the application.

• History of late rental payments: If prospective tenant has a history of late rental payment or No verifiable source of income, so many other debts such applications can be rejected.

• History of damage or irritation to neighbors: Suppose the landlord learned that the applicant had done considerable damage to a previous landlord’s property, the applicant was noted for late night disturbances or unsatisfactory reference etc, it is recommended to reject their application

• Too short a time on the job: As with frequent moves, you have to decide what too short a time is and apply the same criteria to every applicant.

• Too many people for the property: Be extremely careful with this. If number of occupants or people staying in your property is more than your criteria, reject application. Be sure it is applied equally to all applicants.

• Evidence of illegal activity: Reports of gambling, prostitution, drug dealing or drug manufacturing, damage to the property, reports of violence or threats to landlords or neighbors, etc are some reasons rejecting a prospective tenant. A letter from the police department warning a previous landlord of their illegal activity and threatening to close the property is considered sufficient evidence.

A landlord has the right to screen and investigate their prospective tenants. It is recommended to check with an attorney who is familiar with the Landlord-Tenant Law before posting or handing out anything like a list of acceptable criteria for applicants. Protect your properties, your income and your existing tenants by knowing their background.

There are two distinct schools of thought on how to do this. One says that you should take the applications on a first come, first served basis. The second says that you should sort the applicants by the strength of the information on the application that is important to you, and select the first one whose information is verified. Before you begin the process of letting your property, you need to be thoroughly prepared.