Is it possible to spot a dubious tenant on the doorstep? How do you understand that this sweet family will destroy all the furniture, and this modest guy will stop paying rent in a month? And what questions should you ask potential tenants? Explains Cyan.Journal.

“They seem like such decent people.”

“About 15 years ago, when I was just starting to rent out an apartment, I had a story,” recalls Andrey, the owner of a one-room apartment in Otradnoye. — I found a tenant through an advertisement—a young guy, modest, who said he was a system administrator. For the first two months he paid regularly, the neighbors didn’t complain: he comes home at night, sometimes brings a couple of friends, they don’t make any noise. And then it started: the system administrator stopped paying, apologized, and quickly moved out. I walked in and was stunned. Some burnt scrolls, stubs of multi-colored candles, pentagrams on the wall and all the furniture are saturated with the smell of incense. I had to call a cleaning service and change the wallpaper. Since then I don’t like quiet people like that. It’s better to invite his friends and root for Spartak than this.”

Olga shares another story: “I’ve been renting an apartment for eight years, and this is the first time I got caught like this,” she complains. — It was such a sweet family: dad, mom, five-year-old daughter. Over the course of a year, the apartment was destroyed: everything was broken, from frames with posters to door frames! They replaced wallpaper ruined by greasy hands, a sofa torn by a cat, a scratched (he really had to try) bathtub. And they looked like such decent people.”

There is no 100% sure way to determine that a tenant is good. But you can protect yourself as much as possible.

How to understand that the tenant will not pay on time?

Phrases like “but I’ll pay a little later”, “I’ll pay not on the 1st, but on the 5th”, “I’m tight with money right now, but everything will get better” or “I’ll better buy a sofa for the last month” should alert you. The inability to pay for the last month, defer part of your salary in order to pay on time and other financial instability is not your problem. You sincerely sympathize, but money is more expensive.

Some landlords are wary of self-employed people because their income may be unstable. But it can also be the other way around: self-employed people are often very successful. If he is a creative person, a manicurist or hairdresser, look at his social networks: how he manages them, whether he posts his work, whether there are many comments and people wanting to buy the product. If we are talking about services, how active is the recording? This will say a lot about the solvency of a potential tenant.

What should you ask a potential tenant?

1. Make a first impression about the person. First of all, talk. You have the right to know where and with whom he works, what he is interested in, how he spends his free time.

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE TENANT:

— Who will live in the apartment: how many people, are there children and pets?

— Will relatives come to stay for a long time?

— Where and who do you work for? How long ago?

— How stable is your income?

— Will guests come to you and how often?

– What is your hobby? What do you do in your free time?

It will be more convenient to collect these and other questions you are interested in in a questionnaire and send it to the tenant.

Remember: there are no awkward questions – you have the right to know who you are leaving your property to.

2. Ask the tenant to provide evidence of the veracity of his words: a work record book, a card for a member of a tightrope walking club, or a photo from the latest chess tournament. But be prepared that he also has the right to refuse you and leave to look for other housing.

3. Social networks to help. Our whole life is there: agree to communicate on VK or another social network – perhaps you will learn much more about your tenant than you expected.

By the way, if Andrei had followed this advice, he would not have allowed the occultist into the house. “Later I found him on social networks, his entire page is filled with dark photos with candles and crosses. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last photos were taken in my apartment,” he says.

4. If your home is not the tenant’s first home, ask for the contact information of the previous landlord . Recommendation is a good and modern tool.

If the information received is not enough or you are not ready to take my word for it, you can use open databases.

How to check a potential tenant online

Recommended by Alina Shleeva, lawyer at the Propositum Law Office.

1. If the full name and date of birth of a citizen are known, then check on the FSSP website to see if there is information about enforcement proceedings initiated against him.
2. If the TIN is known (can be found from the passport data on the Federal Tax Service website), on the Arbitration Court website you can find information about initiating bankruptcy proceedings against an inidual.
3. If the full name and residence address of a citizen are known, on the website of a court of general jurisdiction you can find information about the initiation of civil cases against him.

Is your potential tenant a legal entity? It will be enough for you to know his TIN. Check the information on the FSSP website about the enforcement proceedings initiated against the company and the amount of debt. On the website of the Arbitration Court, in the file of bankruptcy cases, check whether the company is in the process of bankruptcy.

How can an owner protect himself?

1. Enter into a formal agreement. In it, write down all the conditions that are important to you: can tenants have a cat or receive guests five days a week.

2. Make an inventory of the property and its condition. Depreciation of furniture is a normal and predictable process; wallpaper painted by a child or a sofa scratched by a cat is not.

3. Stipulate in the contract the opportunity to come and check the condition of the apartment – at least once every couple of months. Warn that you will do this quickly, literally half a minute in advance. You are not interested in the contents of the refrigerator or cabinets: you just make sure that the repairs and furniture are in order – and then leave.

IMPORTANT

The date of the visit should be agreed upon in advance (or better yet, it should be fixed in the contract) and not come if the tenant is not at home.

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4. Don’t dump: this will attract less reliable tenants. When placing an advertisement for renting an apartment, focus on the market average rates.

5. Insure the apartment. It never hurts.

And lastly: do not forget about intuition. “The soul does not lie” is a sufficient argument to refuse and find another tenant.