As many of our clients who own and manage property within the city of Portland know, there is a new policy being proposed that would limit the ways landlords can use criteria such as criminal history, income, and previous negative rental history as a means to deny applicants.

Checking an applicant’s criminal history is one of, if not the, most important parts of the screening process. Someone’s criminal record gives insight into their past and if they are not willing to be truthful about it that tells us even more about their character.

In the business of tenant screening not many things are more important than security. A lot of information is shared when someone applies for a property and keeping that information secure is a top priority.

One of the most common issues we face in tenant screening is what applicants don’t take the time to fully and properly fill out their applications. This might seem like something people would be able to figure out but for whatever reason, it absolutely is not.

This is a continuation of our list from last month of tips for making sure your applications get done a fast as possible. While this list is not a guarantee of expediency, it will save you, your applicant and your screening company plenty of wasted time.

In the landlords’ market that Portland has become, finding applicants is not as time consuming a process it has been. Now, the pressure is on the screening process to quickly determine if your applicants will be good renters.

Applicants will lie; it’s just a thing they do. Whether big or small, there are bound to be a few on each application you accept. They lie about their criminal history, their residence history, their income and their credit. But why?