Asking the right questions to a potential renter will help uncover any glaring red flags before they’ve got the keys to the unit. Effective tenant screening minimizes the risk of evictions and vacancies.
Goals of Pre-Screening Questions
Pre-screening questions help whittle down the applicant pool before you move onto the full screening process.
To be effective, your pre-screening questions should help with determining three things:
- Is this renter likely to pay their rent in full and on time?
- Is this renter likely to stay for a long period of time?
- Is this renter likely to cause any extra headaches or stress?
These questions can be asked over the phone, or they can be set up in an online questionnaire that tenants must fill out before scheduling a showing of the property.
Qualifying Applicants Before Pre-Screening
Before we discuss our list of pre-screening questions, know that you can cut down on the number of unqualified applicants before you even get to a pre-screening questionnaire.
No matter where you list the property, make sure to note policies that you are strict about enforcing. This includes mentioning in the property description things like:
- Not pet policies
- Parking situations
- Smoking policies
- Utility expectations
- Security deposit details
- Details given in application will be verified
Landlords can even put their desire for a tenant with a good credit score and no criminal history to help keep away applicants who don’t fit this criteria.
Though it may seem aggressive, it can save a lot of time and unnecessary strife. Make sure to be transparent about the type of tenant that you are looking for.
20 Questions to Ask Potential Tenants
You don’t need to ask a lot of tenant screening questions, you just need to ask the right ones.
- What Is Your Estimated Monthly Income?
- Have You Ever Been Evicted?
- Will There Be Any Issues on Your Background Check?
- Do You Have Any Recent Bankruptcies?
- Have You Ever Broken a Rental Agreement?
- Can You Sign a 1-Year Lease?
- Can You Pay the Security Deposit?
- What Date Would You Like to Move In?
- How Many People Will Be Living in the Household?
- How Many Adults Smoke?
- Do You Have Pets?
- How Many Parking Spaces Do You Need?
- Are You Familiar With Our Application Process?
- Are You Okay With Paying Our Rental Application Fee?
- Can You Get Utilities Turned On in Your Name?
- How Long Have You Lived at Your Current Address?
- Why Are You Interested in Moving?
- What Kind of Work Do You Do?
- Does Your Current Landlord Know You’re Moving?
- Would Your Current Landlord Give You a Good Recommendation?
1. What is Your Estimated Monthly Income?
This is the big question. If they can’t answer this adequately, nothing else matters. If the applicant will struggle to pay rent, then move on to the next candidate.
2. Have You Ever Been Evicted?
Evictions are a landlord’s worst nightmare. Tenants who have been evicted before are about three times as likely to be evicted in the future. Learning whether your tenant has an eviction record before spending the time and money to run a screening process may rule them out before taking these steps.
3. Will There Be Any Issues on Your Background Check?
Tenants may not be honest in this question, but someone with a checkered past is less likely to submit their application if they know you’re going to run a thorough background check. If they don’t tell you the truth, you’ll find out later when you pull the reports.
4. Do You Have Any Recent Bankruptcies?
A tenant who’s had financial issues in the past has shown a tendency to not hold up their financial commitments. Considering paying rent each month is likely the largest financial commitment they’ll be making, you need to find out about bankruptcies to avoid massive issues later.
5. Have You Ever Broken a Rental Agreement?
Renting to a tenant who has broken a rental agreement in the past might leave you open to having your own lease or rental agreement broken. Though tenants may not be upfront about this information, it can help weed out undesirable tenants if they are. And, if they aren’t honest about it, maybe they aren’t a good rental candidate anyway.
6. Can You Sign a 1-Year Lease?
Whatever your preferred lease period is, you want to know that the tenant can commit to signing it. If the tenant isn’t able to meet this requirement, it isn’t worth the time and cost to move forward with their application, unless you are willing to shorten the leasing period for them.
7. Can You Pay the Security Deposit?
The security deposit is another thing that may cause a hang-up in your rental agreement. You can explain the amount of the security deposit at this time and ask if they are able to pay it. If not, then it isn’t worth moving forward with the screening process.
8. What Date Would You Like to Move In?
If your vacancy needs to be filled immediately but the tenant isn’t willing to move for another month or two, perhaps they aren’t the best tenant. Even if the tenant is perfect in all other aspects, unaligned schedules may sink everything.
9. How Many People Will Be Living in the Household?
Overcrowding can be another issue when it comes to renting a unit or a property. While it’s discrimination to deny renting to a family with kids, you are entitled to know how many total people will be living in your rental. Also, different states have different occupancy limits (by law or by recommendation) which can impact who you decide to give the lease to.
10. Do You Smoke?
Considering that it can cost as much as $15,000 to clean up an apartment that smells like smoke, it’s a legal and worthwhile question to ask. Many states also have laws about how far from a public building that people can smoke, so if you’re running a multi-unit space, you’ll also have to contend with a tenant keeping the law.
11. Do You Have Pets?
Landlords are within their rights to reject applicants for having pets. You can also specify types of animals, breeds, and sizes in order to best protect your property. Landlords also commonly require a “pet deposit” where they charge extra up front, or even add a bit more to the rent.
12. How Many Parking Spaces Do You Need?
Parking spots may be limited in an apartment complex or other rental arrangements. Knowing how many cars will regularly be parked at the property can help a landlord make a decision, especially if they don’t want cars parked on the curb or taking up space that other tenants should be able to use.
13. Are You Familiar With Our Application Process?
If both you and the tenant are willing to move ahead after the pre-screening questions, it’s a good time to help the tenant understand what’s to come—namely a thorough screening process with background, credit, and rental history checks.
14. Are You Okay With Paying Our Rental Application Fee?
Whether the tenant is able and willing to pay the rental application fee can be helpful to know before you go through the trouble of sending them the application and waiting for a response. This is also a good opportunity to explain to the tenant why the application fee is necessary.
15. Can You Get Utilities Turned On in Your Name?
This question is often left out of pre-screening opportunities and it can be a stumbling block (especially in low-income areas). It’s important to ask this because it would be a shame to go through the entire process of screening only to find out that they can’t get the electricity turned on in their name.
16. How Long Have You Lived at Your Current Address?
This question can alert you if the potential tenant moves from property to property often. If they do, you can only assume that they’ll do the same. If you want to make sure that you aren’t looking for another tenant immediately after the first least period is up, this is a great question to lead with.
17. Why Are You Interested in Moving?
Hearing a tenant’s reason for moving can be a telling experience, especially if the tenant seems to be hostile or angry at their previous landlord. Sometimes, the answer to this question can be all that you need to cut an interview short. However, learning that a tenant only wants a larger home or a home where they can have pets can be good to know.
18. What Kind of Work Do You Do?
Stable employment is a good sign for your tenant’s ability to make rent moving forward. Are they someone with a high-paying career, or do they hop around jobs? Have they received promotions into areas of more responsibility? All of these are good to know before making a decision.
19. Does Your Current Landlord Know You’re Moving?
Good tenants will inform their current landlord that they’re planning on moving out within an appropriate amount of time. If the tenant admits that they haven’t alerted their landlord that they may be looking for additional housing opportunities, they may do the same to you in the future. This is something to keep in mind.
20. Would Your Current Landlord Give You a Good Recommendation?
While the tenant may not be able to answer this question truthfully, the estimation that they provide in answer to this question can be helpful. If they immediately say that the landlord would not rent to them again, they may not be a great choice for your property.
Any Further Questions?
It’s good to end the pre-screening questionnaire with an opportunity for the tenant to ask questions, especially if they are unclear about any of the information that you presented to them. If this is the case, it’s better to find out at this point than at a later point, where it might become an issue.
If a tenant answers favorably to all of the pre-screening questions, moving forward with a tenant screening process, applications, and more should yield good results.
Illegal Questions to Ask Potential Tenants
There are both federal and state laws that prevent a landlord’s ability to unfairly discriminate against prospective tenants. The Fair Housing Act establishes certain protected classes that can’t be discriminated against, which we’ll go over below. Here are some examples of questions that are illegal to ask during the screening process.
- Nationality – “Where were you born?” or “What country are you from?”
- Race – “What’s your ethnicity?”
- Familial Status – “Do you have children?” or “Are you married?”
- Age – “How old are you?” or “Will you be retiring soon?”
- Religion – “Do you attend church service?”
- Disabilities – “Are you disabled?”
- Service Animals – “Do you have a service animal?”
- Arrests – “Have you ever been arrested?”
Additionally, make sure to check your state’s laws for other protected classes that aren’t covered in the Fair Housing Act.
