In our last article, we discussed the importance of thorough tenant screening for your rental property in order to identify red flags. We found an applicant had altered a paystub to try to qualify for a property. The fonts on their paystub didn’t match, and this prompted us to dig deeper. We discovered not only did they lie about how much they made but they didn’t even work for that employer anymore.
Lying on rental applications is becoming more frequent
In the Palm Beach County rental market, we are finding that lying on an application is happening more often. Rents increased so drastically over the last few years that people are more willing to submit fabricated documentation and lie on their application to get into a property.
Another advanced tenant screening catch
We had an applicant apply to rent one of our properties, and they declared that they made $30/hour on their application. They submitted pay stubs and provided a phone number for employment verification. We called the number, and they did indeed verify all the provided information. All good? No.
Luckily, we took our extended tenant screening one step further, and searched for the phone number for HR ourselves. Using SunBiz, we found the owner of the business and tracked down the real HR phone number which was different from the one we were provided. HR confirmed the employee worked there, but only made half the hourly rate that was stated on the application. The paystubs and employment verification phone number were fabricated, and they obviously had someone posing as HR to confirm the numbers. Imagine if we had placed them into a property they couldn’t afford.
Home Property Management takes tenant screening seriously
Because these situations are becoming more frequent, we take the tenant screening process seriously and confirm every piece of information on the application. We do not assume the documentation provided is legit. This is just another example of how we do our best to place only the best tenants in the properties we manage.
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Learn more about all the property management tasks we perform and how they will help you avoid legal and liability issues. We offer several flat fee pricing plans so you can choose the one that fits your specific needs.
Learn more by contacting us today. We look forward to hearing from you.
