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I've got an application in on an apartment and I've never dealt with this level of thoroughness before. I've lived in about 8 different apartments over the years and usually I just send over a copy of my ID, one or two recent pay stubs and then they call me in a day or two and say it's approved.
The landlord is requesting an employment verification from both my current employer AND from my previous employer 4 years ago (no idea why they even need this since I don't work there anymore). They are also requesting rental history forms to be completed by my previous landlord and the one before that. Apparently they check rental history for the last 5 years.
I've never had a landlord contact my previous landlord before. Usually they just do a background check that would include any court processed evictions.
My only guess is that with COVID and landlords not being able to evict for so long, they are doing an extra careful job of screening out people. I guess the bright side is that this level of thoroughness means there won't be any riff raff in these apartments.
I've got an application in on an apartment and I've never dealt with this level of thoroughness before. I've lived in about 8 different apartments over the years and usually I just send over a copy of my ID, one or two recent pay stubs and then they call me in a day or two and say it's approved.
The landlord is requesting an employment verification from both my current employer AND from my previous employer 4 years ago (no idea why they even need this since I don't work there anymore). They are also requesting rental history forms to be completed by my previous landlord and the one before that. Apparently they check rental history for the last 5 years.
That does seem like overkill if you've worked at the same place for four years. Also seems like overkill for them to expect ex-ll's to fill a form out. I doubt anyone I've rented to would do that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lepoisson
I've never had a landlord contact my previous landlord before. Usually they just do a background check that would include any court processed evictions.
My only guess is that with COVID and landlords not being able to evict for so long, they are doing an extra careful job of screening out people. I guess the bright side is that this level of thoroughness means there won't be any riff raff in these apartments.
That's relatively common for them to call a previous LL. The form though? No so much.
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Landlords do have to be more selective with the various governmental regulations preventing evictions for no-payment, but that seems too much to ask, unless it's an area where there are many more tenants than rentals, and they can afford to lose people that are not willing or able to meet those requirements.
That's common screening techniques, minus quite a few things that other landlords are doing to screen that you haven't yet encountered.
Apparently, you've managed to go through life so far renting from landlords who aren't picky about who they rent to, since you've never encountered even halfazzzed screening before.
But yes, you are correct. If landlords are required to give over a year's rent free to deadbeats they are going to try a lot harder to keep the deadbeats out.
Last edited by oregonwoodsmoke; 07-21-2021 at 01:30 PM..
So apparently my former landlord isn't responding at all to their requests. Not surprising considering my former LL was a mom & pop operation with very limited English skills.
I'm curious to see how they will handle my application if the landlord doesn't respond.
........I'm curious to see how they will handle my application if the landlord doesn't respond.
I can only tell you what I would do. If I can not verify a good landlord reference, it is an automatic rejection of the applicant. Almost always if I can not verify a landlord it is because the applicant is lying about who their landlord is and trying to trick me into taking them without a reference or with a friend pretending to be their landlord.
I do phone calls to landlords and not letters or forms to prior landlords but most of the management companies will not give any information unless they receive the request in writing and they respond in writing. That might be why the place you are currently applying is doing the landlord references with a letter.
(if I get an applicant who is super well qualified and their current landlord won't respond, sometimes I will do a lot of extra work to get them qualified. But it is a pretty intensive amount of extra work and I won't do it for any applicant who is even marginally suspicious.)
Suggestion: if your landlord will not respond, try presenting all of your proof that you paid your rent on time every month for the past year, or year and a half. Also include an copy of the accounting for your deposit return, if you have already received it.
Possibly include copies of your move-in and move-out photos.
If your landlord will not give a reference, you might be in for a difficult time with finding a new rental.
Isnt your previous landlord your current landlord?
No. I have been living in an AirBnB in Texas for a few months but prior to that I had an apartment in Chicago where I lived for two years. The landlord in Chicago is a mom & pop operation. It's a property management company with like two employees and their English speaking abilities are limited.
I'm aware that this is a problem for the new landlord, but it doesn't seem fair that my application will be denied because of a lousy former landlord not responding.
EDIT: So apparently they were able to get in contact with the old LL via phone. The old LL said I had paid rent on time and said he was busy and basically hung up the phone.
Last edited by lepoisson; 07-22-2021 at 10:36 AM..
Any time you give someone's name as a reference, you should contact the reference and let them know to expect a phone call and also thank them for the help.
If you really want this apartment you need to help track down the missing landlord.
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