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Well blabbermouth (MIL) said it to HER in front of me! The applicant then looked at me and was all excited and said "oh , really??"
I didn't answer - just laughed and kinda shoved the old lady back in the car. God love her - she had no idea and I didn't say anything to her cuz she would have been hurt.
Have you noticed how everyone has their sad stories, though? I don't know how you guys do it - I admire you guys for being landlords. Next time - no fricken way am I doing this myself. I'm getting a prop manager to handle it.
I didn't read all the posts on this thread, but I was under the impression that you did have to give a reason and further information as to why you declined an applicant.
If the reason is credit score, you tell them "insufficient credit score as shown by X and X credit score agency". The point being that the applicant is made aware of where the landlord got the information, so that they could corroborate.
I could have sworn this was required by law. Either I need to brush up, or y'all are wrong.
If your pulling credit history, the online resource/tool should have canned reports to response to denied tenant. There are ones for bad credit or just a reason for not renting.
Here are examples:
Bad Credit -
Thank you for your recent rental application. After a review of the provided information, we find that we are unable to accept your rental application at this time. Principle reason(s) for denial:
Temporary or irregular employment
Unable to verify employment
Unable to verify income
Length of residence
No credit file
Delinquent past or present credit obligations with others Delinquent past or present rental obligations
Bankruptcy
Criminal Record
Eviction filing or judgment
Garnishment, attachment, foreclosure, repossession, collection action, or judgment
Other:
This decision was based in whole or in part on the information provided us in a Consumer Report or Investigative Consumer Report prepared for us by a consumer-reporting agency. Their mailing address and phone number are listed below:
Quick Check Credit Reports, Inc
510 Bellmore Ave
East Meadow, NY 11554
Phone: 516-292-3545
Fax: 516-706-7171
No Reason but Denied --
Thank you for your recent rental application. After a review of the provided information, we find that we are unable to accept your rental application at this time.
This decision was based in whole or in part on the information provided us in a Consumer Report or Investigative Consumer Report prepared for us by a consumer-reporting agency. Their mailing address and phone number are listed below:
Quick Check Credit Reports, Inc
510 Bellmore Ave
East Meadow, NY 11554
Phone: 516-292-3545
Fax: 516-706-7171
The other people were upfront about their credit and asked me not to run it until I was sure I wanted them . I told them I wouldn't but I'm thinking I have to in order to have a legitimate reason not to pick them.
You need to establish a written policy on processing applications and apply it equally to all. Read your Fair Housing Laws and be sure you are in compliance before you end up getting sued.
the company that we use for credit checks (we run them online and they are ready in a matter of minutes) offers several letters that we can choose from. One is, "applicant denial - reason". There are a number of boxes to check, namely, cannot verify income, 2 or 3 that have to do with the credit report, etc. , and also a space to type in some other reason. I normally choose that one and say "credit report unacceptable" if the FICO is below our standard.
Fair Housing states that the first qualified applicant should be the one approved for a property. You can't pick and choose amongst applicants for the one you like the best.
We never allow an applicant to furnish us with a credit report.
We never allow an applicant to furnish us with a credit report.
You cannot possibly stress this enough. It would take any computer competent person about 6 minutes to edit a really bad credit-report into a glowing, amazing credit-report.
Fair Housing states that the first qualified applicant should be the one approved for a property. You can't pick and choose amongst applicants for the one you like the best.
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That is a myth. There is nothing in Fair Housing that says you can't pick and choose. It just says that there is a group of people that can not be rejected without good cause.
If you are taking what you consider to be the best tenant, you'd better be able to prove beyond a doubt that your reasons have nothing that will be affected by fair housing laws. You can't take the single applicant and reject the family with 2 kids because you prefer to not have the children in your rental. But you can accept the single applicant instead of the family if he has a noticeably better credit score or a lot better landlord references, or a higher income.
Taking the first qualified is safe, but the landlord does not have to accept the first qualified if he can provide a legal reason for accepting someone else.
There is nothing in Fair Housing that says you can't pick and choose.
It's also worth noting (since many people don't realize it) that not all LLs are required to abide by Fair Housing rules. Amongst others, owner-occupied premises with maximum four rental units are exempt.
I was a landlord for many years, and never once felt the need to tell an applicant that their application was "declined". If you already told them you would notify them either way, just do it and say "sorry but the unit has been leased". If not, don't bother - they will figure it out.
That is why courtesy is such a rare thing these days. When the renter moves out, do you want to be notified or do you just figure it out?
To the OP: Send them what looks like a form letter thanking them for the application and saying the ______ has been rented. Do not include the reason you declined their application.
The reason courtesy is important is because you probably want courtesy in return, from people you deal with. Credit scores aren't any assurance that the renter won't turn out poorly. It is also possible that the applicant you chose leaves after a very short period of time or bails at the last minute, you never know. In that case you still have one potential that you've already gone through the trouble of evaluating, just check for updates and they might work out for you.
In any case, being courteous to applicants costs you nothing but maybe a stamp or email. To ignore courtesy for something like this demeans you. For all you know, one day that person might be in a position to do something or not do something for you. It happens.
Well blabbermouth (MIL) said it to HER in front of me! The applicant then looked at me and was all excited and said "oh , really??"
I didn't answer - just laughed and kinda shoved the old lady back in the car. God love her - she had no idea and I didn't say anything to her cuz she would have been hurt.
Have you noticed how everyone has their sad stories, though? I don't know how you guys do it - I admire you guys for being landlords. Next time - no fricken way am I doing this myself. I'm getting a prop manager to handle it.
Believe it or not, the answer to your question depends on your state/local laws.
In California, if a LL declines an applicant based on poor credit score, LL has to notify applicant that the rejection is based on FICO and tell the applicant where the report was pulled from. The purpose is to alert the applicant of potential credit fraud that he/she is unaware of.
If LL rejected applicant based on factors other than credit score then a simple message (or even no feedback) will do.
I actually sent a small and sweet note to each applicant saying that it had been rented.
I did not want to ignore them or be rude - like Mack Knife says - "being courteous to applicants costs you nothing". I've been on the other side so I know what's it's like.
The best thing I did was write the notes - the applicants backed out a DAY before they were due to move in. So I can call the others and see if they are still interested.
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