Quick Guide to Effective Tenant Screening in Maryland

Among a landlord’s most important decisions is to properly screen tenants. Once you get interest from your rental advertisement, choosing a great applicant is the key to a successful rental property.

A perfect tenant contributes to business growth by paying the monthly rent on time and in full each month as well as complying with the conditions under the lease agreement. Finding long-term tenants will also help with your financial security as a landlord.

Since choosing the right renter for your properties is so important, we advise that a Maryland landlord develops a process for screening tenants to make the process thorough and the same for every candidate. You’re trusting whichever applicant you choose to keep your Maryland rental business reasonably well-maintained, so a detailed tenant screening process allows you to make the most well-informed decision possible.

What’s Considered a Quality Tenant?

The right tenants naturally make timely rent payments and maintain your unit in good condition. The factors to look for during an applicant screening are:

  1. Reliable tenants who can afford the rent so you are not left with unpaid rent or late payments
  2. Someone with a stable job and a clear criminal background check
  3. An applicant who has a history of paying the rent dues on time and respecting the lease agreement
  4. Someone who displays a clean criminal history
  5. A responsible person who can pay rent promptly

How to Screen Tenants

Before you start the process, you should already have an idea of your criteria. What behavior do you expect from your Maryland renter? Ensure that the screening process is designed to find the type of renter you want to have.

Six Stages of Tenant Screening:

1. Conducting a Pre-Screening

Given that you’ll be reviewing several rental applications for your Maryland home, pre-screening will focus your search and help save you invaluable time. Here are things to remember when doing your preliminary screening on your applicants:

  • Ensure that your rental listing includes your requirements
  • Ask vital questions at the start of your interaction with a prospective renter
  • Schedule a face-to-face meeting when doing a showing

pre-screening is essential

Pre-screening allows you to detect any red flags right away. Most prospects who are unqualified are turned off by requirements, so you can expect them to lose interest quickly or become unresponsive. Don’t waste time chasing after those types of potential tenants. Be ready to entertain the ones who are interested and meet the requirements of a high-quality renter. This will make sure that your tenant is also happy with the situation during their tenancy.

2. Asking a Prospective Tenant to Submit a Completed Rental Application

The rental application for your Maryland home should provide the following information about your prospective tenants:

  • Contact information
  • Present residential address
  • List of rental history with the contact information and names of any current and previous landlords
  • Current job and employment history, job title, salary, period of employment, and references (with contact information)
  • Consent from the applicant to run credit and background checks

This process allows you to review prospective tenants' financial income status. If the potential renter has a monthly income that is three times the rent rate, it’s a good indicator that they can afford the rent. Some landlords do accept a prospect who makes lower than three times the rental amount, but only when said tenant has a good history of paying the rent on time.

3. Calling References from the Prospective Tenant’s Office of Employment

Employment verification is a vital step for every landlord. It helps landlords gauge the accuracy of the income information given by the applicant. They can also verify that the tenant’s story matches with the reference’s narrative.

It’s not rare for some tenants to use fake references. Be aware of scams to ensure that you’re accepting the right renter for your Maryland home.

reference calls are important

4. Contacting Previous Landlords

It’s always a good idea to call an applicant’s present and former landlords. You never know if the applicant has been evicted, committed a violation, or skipped payment. Some current landlords might even lie to remove the renter from their rental property, so contacting a past landlord can help solidify your data-gathering stage. Former landlords are prone to telling the truth about whether or not someone is a good tenant.

Some potential renters can ask their friends or relatives to roleplay as a landlord. To avoid being misled, you can schedule a property showing with a former landlord to verify if they own a rental space. This should be done before asking for more information about the prospective renter.

5. Legally Performing Tenant Background Checks and Credit Checks

Among the data to verify when reviewing credit and background during tenant screening for your Maryland rental property are:

  • Credit score and credit report
  • Eviction history
  • Criminal records
  • National sex offender report
  • Verification of tenant identity
  • Rental history

A satisfactory credit score should hit 680 and above. Landlords and property managers can also use their own judgement when they screen prospective tenants. Situations differ and a certain credit score or sub-optimal credit report may be okay given a verified explanation from the prospective tenant. Just ensure that the tenant doesn’t have a large debt, criminal record or past evictions.

6. Deciding to Accept or Reject a Prospect’s Rental Application

Once you’ve completed the 5 stages of tenant screening process above, you’re at the point where you can finally make a decision. Before welcoming the new tenant into your Maryland investment, you can get in touch with them through a phone call or email. Leave clear instructions on the next step of signing a leasing contract. It's best to have this meeting in person, so make sure your unit looks ready for the move-in stage.

tell prospects about rejection

If the applicant didn’t meet your criteria during the tenant screening, you can write or email your decision to reject their rental application. This makes it easy to track the denial should a lawsuit emerge regarding fair housing laws or otherwise unfair rejection.

When performing a tenant screening in your Maryland rental property, it’s best for landlords to be familiar with the Fair Housing Act. Fair housing laws prevent the discrimination of a tenant based on the protected classes of race, religion, gender, family status, national origin, sexual orientation and other such protected classes. However, a Maryland landlord has every right to turn down an application due to a low credit score, insufficient income or lack of credible references. Denying a tenant for these reasons would not be violating fair housing laws or the Fair Housing Act.

Bottom Line

When renting out your Maryland property, it’s recommended to take the process very seriously as you screen tenants, including staying knowledgeable of fair housing laws. Screening tenants helps you avoid stress down the line by protecting your investment property from excess property damage and making property ownership easier.

If you’re a busy Maryland property owner, you might not have enough time to develop your own screening system. Consider engaging the services of a trusted management company to take care of this process for you with screening services. Contact the reliable property managers at McKenna & Vane Property Management for a beneficial and meticulous renter screening services.