Can Tenants Make You Pay For A Background Check

It is time to get a tenant for your rental as the old one has moved out. You want to get a background check to be safe. Can tenants make you pay for a background check conducted on them?

Background checks used to be the purview of the CIA and groups like that. No longer. The prospect of getting stuck with a problematic person is simply too much these days. If you don't believe me, picture this situation. You have a rental property in a nice neighborhood. You rent it out to a guy that seems fairly normal. Umm, not exactly. It turns out he is a child molester, a fact you find out when he gets arrested and a neighbor sues you for letting him live in the property. Happens all the time.

Many landlords realize that problematic tenants are the last thing they want to deal with. While most discount the idea of picking a molester, most just really don't want to deal with a tenant that is going to be a pain in the derriere. This is certainly understanding and a background check is one way to find out if a tenant has a history that you want nothing to do with.

Finding a tenant can be a bit of a challenge. You can go through more than a few prospects before finding the right tenant. Given this, the costs of ordering credit reports and background checks can accumulate pretty quickly. So, can tenants make you pay for a background check or can you charge them a fee to cover it? Unfortunately, there isn't a clear answer in most cases.



What's the problem? Well, the landlord-tenant relationship is controlled by state law. As you probably know, the states don't do anything the same way. Some states will allow you to charge the tenant up front to cover the background check. Others will put the financial burden on the landlord. Put another way, you should check with your local attorney or you can use a simpler approach.

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