Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Maryland
I am a landlord in the State of Maryland, I retained a real estate agent to
rent my home in Calvert County. I have signed an agreement with this agent
and requested to view all the applicants applying to rent my home.
I was told by the real estate agent that I could not have access to information
on the perspective applicants/or tenants? Also the agent informed me that
I should in no way write an email to a tenant about a specific problem or even
call for a reference from a previous landlord or check their salary.
I am concerned about this matter,since if as a landlord I cannot be able to
do this and check to ensure that the applicant(s) or applicants have given
the correct information about references, salary, etc? What alternatives do
I have at this point in making a sound decision about whether or not a
person is going to be a good tenant? I am confused about why I as the
landlord cannot validate what they have written on an application?
Thank you.
How to Check Tenant Reference
Please, please do not call people about applicants. You can get into real trouble asking people questions like this. Calling tenants, writing emails to tenants and calling other people about tenants is a very risky business for you to do.
Landlord Reference Check Questions
Tenant Reference Check Questions
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Instructions
1
Your tenant's application form should have space for three references. If they cannot provide three references, you may refuse to rent to them. A young person just out of college, for example, will most likely have teachers as references. An older adult, however, should give you at least one former landlord as a reference. Ideally, you want three landlord references, or two landlords and one employer as reference. The applicant must provide a current telephone number for each reference.
2
Call the landlord references. Ask how long the potential tenant lived there and compare that answer to the one given on the application. This will help verify what you have been told on the application. Ask if rent was paid on time. Ask if the person ever caused problems.
The former landlord may not want to cause damage to the applicant's reputation, so beware of vague answers. If the other landlord has pleasant and reasonable remarks, then the applicant will likely be a good tenant.
3
Call former employers that your applicant offered as references. Ask open-ended questions: "How did you like working with him?" Ask if he was a reliable employee. Ask if the employer thinks he would make a good tenant. Again, beware vague answers or a strong desire to end the phone conversation. If the employer is relaxed and happy to talk to you, then he probably thinks highly of your applicant.
4
Call the general references. Say that the applicant included the reference on a tenant application, and ask if he would make a good tenant. Be quiet and let the other person talk. If they are cheerful and forthcoming with information, then the person may make a great tenant. If the reference seems uncomfortable talking to you, they may be holding back information.
5
Before you call former landlords and employers, do a little digging to make sure that the apartment complexes or businesses really do exist. For example, if your applicant claims to have worked at "x" restaurant, verify the existence of it. However, "x" restaurant may have gone out of business. When you call, ask about the business. The former employer will mention the truth, but someone masquerading as a former employer will not know that you know there is no "x" restaurant currently in operation.
6
When checking references, remember to listen to what the reference says. Pay attention to how comfortable he is talking with you.
Tips & Warnings
Sometimes young people who are just starting out do not have many references. Don't hold that against them. You could miss out on a great tenant who hasn't had much chance to prove himself.
. Contact Previous Landlord
Part of your tenant screening process should include contacting the previous landlord, you want to know if the Prospective Tenant paid the rent on time, was there any damage upon departure and was he/she noisy and/or disturb other tenants. Did he/she meet all the obligations on your lease agreement?
TIP: When you call the previous landlord, the first question should be: Can you tell me what you have available for rent? Sometimes Prospective Tenants use friends as references, you have to be deceptive and determine whether you are speaking with another landlord or a friend, when you ask the above question and a friend is answering the telephone, their first response will be, "you have the wrong number".
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5. Contact Employer and/or ask for pay stub
As a landlord you want to know if your Prospective Tenant is stably employed, is his/her income enough to pay living expenses and your rental fees? How long has the Prospective Tenant been stably employed
The Human Resources or Accounting Department should be able to advise you what you want to know. They may want you to fax them a copy of the rental application that has the consent/release clause prior to giving you any information.
You can request to see a pay stub from the Prospective Tenant, this serves several purposes, aside from telling you what the bi/weekly or monthly income is, the pay stub will have the Prospective Tenant's name on it, and it should have his /her current address and possibly the SSN. Make sure that you make note of everything useful that is on the pay stub. This kind of tenant screening will save you time & money.
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6. Utility, Telephone, Cell Bill
If a Prospective Tenant claims to have previously rented, then he/she should have a fairly current utility or telephone bill. Ask to see it, it will have a name and an address on it, this is good information that you can use to compare to the information on the rental application. Does it match? If there is no utility or telephone/cell bill available, why not? Refer to the landlord checklist in the forms section which will assist in conducting your tenant checks. A good tenant screening process will incorporate this kind of scrutiny.
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7. Self Employed
Many Individuals are successfully self employed; many however are not. As a landlord you want to ensure that your self employed Prospective Tenant, will be able to meet your rental fee obligations. Tenant screening for this type of scenario will ensure that your landlord criteria is met and that you minimize your risk of income loss.
Ask to see a W2 (USA) T4 (CDN) from last year; it is usually a good barometer as to whether or not the Prospective Tenant will be able to meet his/her monthly rental fee obligation, as well as living expenses and other debt requirements. Quite often tenant credit reports will not meet your criteria of credit worthiness, you must then establish tenant worthiness. i.e. does prospective tenant pay rent on time. Contact current and previous landlord for information. Refer to criminalfraud.com link as noted above under #2.
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8. Interview
Get to know your Prospective Tenant, ask these pertinent tenant screening questions:
How long have you been in this area?
Do you have any family living close by?
How many times have you moved in the last three years?
How long have you been employed with your current employer?
Have you ever been late with your rent payments?
Do you play loud music?
Do you intend to have many friends over and/or parties?
Do you smoke cigarettes or marijuana?
Do you have a drug habit?
http://www.equalityrights.org/cera/docs/hrguide.htm
This link provides you with a guide as to what questions you are allowed to ask as a landlord and what you should take into consideration when considering an application for rent. Please note that each State & Province has its own Human Rights or similar Code. Please make yourself fully conversant on what constitutes discrimination in your locale.
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9. Know your Rights & Responsibilities; educate your tenant(s) with respect to Rights & Responsibilities
Where Landlord & Tenant know are familiar with rights & responsibilities there are fewer problems and the landlord/tenant experience is a much more pleasant one.
Visit www.tenantsinfo.com for more information on this subject, educate yourself, and educate your tenant.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Without analyzing the document you posted, a landlord certainly has a legal right to contact tenants and prospective tenants by any reasonable means (phone, email, mail, etc). Sometimes landlords contract with a property manager or screening company to do this work, sometimes they do it personally themselves. If you are not pleased with a particular agent / property manager or their policies you may want to consider switching to a new agent / property manager. Naturally check your contract to see how you can legally end it before firing your agent/ property manager.
While background checks are permissible, a landlord should be careful to screen tenants legally and for that reason, certain types of questions can be problematic. For instance, since it is illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of ethnicity, asking questions about a prospective tenant's race/ethnic background should be avoided. The same thing with other types of areas -- since it is illegal to discriminate based on familial status, asking a tenant whether they plan to have children in the near future could cause problems. So forth and so on.
Please note that the general information above is not intended as legal advice on any particular facts. The specific facts of your situation may affect how the law applies. This post doesn't create any kind of attorney/client relationship between the person posting and attorney answering.
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