One of the first things any good landlord should do before they allow anyone to move in is a thorough resident screening. While the bulk of this process is going to involve forms that you fill out and interviewing the perspective tenant, the final step should be a renter credit check to make sure that everything that they are telling you is in fact truthful.

The resident screening process can be as deep as you want it to be. If you are running a large building, a credit check may be all that management requires. They will probably be happy with the fact that the tenant pays their bills on time and that they do not have any negative judgments against them. If they have a credit score of 700 or higher, they will probably be welcome with open arms.

Well what about the case when you are renting out a portion of your own home or an investment property? This is your money at stake and you are going to want to protect yourself against someone coming in that may not be all that they appear. When this is the case, a full tenant background check may be in order.

For the tenant to sign off on this, the landlord must make sure that they are using a reputable company that guarantees that all information is going to be confidential and that there contact information is not going to be sold off for fees. Put yourself in their position. Would you just sign over all of your information without having some type of guarantee or being able to check on the company that is doing credit checks for landlords?

It should be expected that the tenant would show some concern about handing this information over. As long as you can show them who you are dealing with and the reputation that they have, that should be the end of their worries. It is the tenant that continues to protest that you have to worry about.