Tenant Reference Form

Written by The Landlord on 02 Apr 2010

I previously wrote down a small List Of Tenant Credit Check Services and briefly mentioned why I think they’re worth performing on prospective tenants. The two main reasons are because they’re cheeeeeeep and they can reduce your risks of accepting problematic tenants, and alert you to potential problems before an applicant signs a Tenancy Agreement.

Performing credit checks on prospective tenants are pretty common, but in order to perform one, you will need their permission. Your applicant will need to sign a release authorizing the landlord/agent to perform the credit check. Most credit check companies will provide landlords with a form online which can be downloaded for free, but I use a homemade generic one, which captures only the information I need.

The form I use is very basic- you can get far more comprehensive versions, but I personally think they’re unnecessary. The form basically asks for previous rental history (if that’s applicable) and the authorization for the landlord to perform a credit check.

Tenant Reference Form Details

The form is broken down into 3 simple sections:

• Prospective tenant’s current details
• Prospective tenant’s previous addresses and rental history
• Authorization to perform a credit check

What if my prospective tenant has no rental history?

The second section of the form looks like the above image. But obviously, not all tenant’s will have rental history. In that case, I just allow the fields to remain empty, but ensure that they fill in the other sections.

Personally, I find tenants with rental history a lot more desirable because it enables me to get references from their previous landlords – nothing gives a truer picture than legitimate references. It’s just like when someone goes for an interview – experience is key.

Download

Here’s a copy Tenant Reference Form I make my prospective tenants complete. Feel free to use it.
Tenant Reference Form

Does anyone else bother to make prospective tenants’ fill in a similar form?

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