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I just finished renovating a house to rent out and I have some people interested in renting directly from me rather than going through a real estate agency. The last time I rented, the real estate agent took care of the lease and background check so I'm not sure how to go about this on my own.
Would it be worth it to hire someone to do this or is there a standard lease template I can use and add some of my own stipulations to it? Would a real estate agent handle just doing a lease without listing the rental and collecting their finder's fee (of course, I would want to pay just for the arrangement of the lease). Or should I contact a real estate lawyer? And who could do a thorough background check, since I had a bad experience with my last renters.
A thorough background check is expensive and you have to have your tenants sign a release giving you permission to do this check. And that includes verifying employment, a credit check, salary, previous landlord, etc. At this point, consult with a Real Estate Attorney.
Real estate agents will generally not provide the lease, as that may be considered the unauthorized practice of law. Stationery stores have standard leases which you can use, just add an addendum for any particular additional items that you want to include.
Here is a good site for getting tenant reports (credit reports, eviction history, criminal records, public records, etc.): https://www.1-background-checks.com/
You should also call their previous landlords. Note: Current landlords are not very relialable because they could give someone a good reference just to get rid of them. Prior landlord references are much more reliable.
To add to the above, go to a RE attorney and get the strictest and tightest rider that your lawyer can put together that will cover everything from plumbing to tenants adding (or not) TV satellites and everything else. Anything and everything can come up with a tenancy. When I landlorded, I went to a general attorney who wrote up a very nice, polite and inept rider that hardly covered anything.
I learned that there are good RE attorneys who really know how to put together an efficient, tight rider when my daughter came home with a couple of leases drawn up by knowledgeable attorneys. I read them and they put my loose rider to shame. So trying to write up a rider yourself is asking for trouble.
You will certainly need more than just the standard lease that's sold in a stationery store - that's where your thorough rider written by an attorney comes in.
What you can do after you have that taken care of, is then go to a RE agent and list your house with them. They will take prospective tenants through your property, qualify them through a credit check, and have you meet them. Of course the tenants pay the fee - not you. And don't let an agent tell you that you have to take the first tenant(s) who qualifies. You are the LL and it's your choice. You're the person who is going to have to deal with them and their possible nonsense, not the realtor.
Since you've already had a bad experience, learn from it. I'm suspecting you were a good landlord looking to be nice to your tenants. You don't have to be nice - you do have to be fair. They aren't going to become your friends and shouldn't. Landlording is a business, so stay on a business footing with your next tenants and you'll do okay.
Background check has become a vital tool when it comes to renting a house or leasing a huge property to someone else. background is indeed a nice helping hand for all.For more information you may visit the site [URL="http://www.investigations.com"]Beau Dietl Associates > Private Investigator New York Background Checks[/URL]
Is Bo Dietl trying to advertise on these boards? Times must be lean! LOL!!!!!
Anyway, to the OP, if you need to do background checks listen to the other posters. You have to have your prospective tenants sign a release and then you can get their info. You're not going to be able to do it any other way and, if you do, you can be sued for invasion of privacy.
As for leases? You can get one at Staples or any other similar store. The rider? You would type that up yourself with whatever other rules you want to add --- keep in mind, both you and the tenant have to sign the rider.
Best to consult with a good RE attorney to make sure you're going through it all correctly.
As for the tenant wanting to go directly through you? They're probably trying to save money since the RE is probably charging them at least one month's rent as their fee.
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