Help with renter screening for rent out a room

[minmin001]

I'm planning on rent out one of my rooms to help with few of the projects I want do on the house. Just not sure where to go about as far as renter credit screening etc.
If anybody has the experiences please let me know what site or service you use for it.
Thank you~

 

[zoebartlett]

We have a renter in a condo we own, but we used to work with a property management company who took care of screening people for us. Maybe you could contact a condo or apartment complex near you and see how they deal with this.

 

[amc80]

The credit part is easy- you can go to experian's website and fill out a request...it goes to the prospective tenant's email. Then they go online, pay, and the credit report goes to you. That way you don't have to handle any money or anything....easy!

I didn't do a background check but I did check references. I do think personal references are stupid, because who is going to give you the name of someone they know won't give them a great reference? I also called her previous landlord who was able to tell me her rental payment history and such. Because this is a room in your house, I'd probably do an online background check as well.

 

[marymm]

Maybe also access the online civil case records maintained by the superior court in your area and run a "party" or "participant" search to see if your potential tenant has been involved in any unlawful detainer actions.

 

[minmin001]

thank you. I probably will do the call landlord and credit check online.

 

[JewelFreak]

Definitely check for criminal records. If you're going to have someone living in your house, you need to know if anything's up with them.

--- Laurie

 

[minmin001]

Definitely check for criminal records. If you're going to have someone living in your house, you need to know if anything's up with them.

--- Laurie

any idea how I can do that or do who offers such service?
Thank you

 

[JewelFreak]

Unfortunately, I don't think police will help due to privacy issues, though I could be wrong, so don't take my word as in stone. People have found info online -- there is a sex offender list for most areas, and if you google the person's name (in quotes & possibly add places he's lived), other stuff comes up if it was ever published. I recently discovered unhappy info about an old next-door neighbor when looking up his sister. Maybe somebody with renting experience has more info.

--- Laurie