New Tool for Screening Tenants (Reading, PA)
As a home inspector for real estate investors in Reading, PA and Pottstown and Philadelphia, I often hear my real estate investor clients ask, "Why isn't there a website we can go to that lists the bad tenants out there?" It looks like someone in New York was thinking the same thing and decided to do something about it.
Zahar Hilkevich, creator of www.iscreentenants.com, recently launched this website as a new tool for screening tenants. It's meant to help landlords from being victimized by a tenant who didn't pay his rent or vandalized his apartment. If you are a landlord, you know how valuable information is in the business of evaluating a potential tenant.
I'm not only a home inspector in Reading, PA, but a landlord as well. I know all too well about screening potential tenants and trying to decipher if their application is truthful or not.
Sometimes you feel blind and sometimes you discover the unexpected. I can't tell you how many times I discovered the landlord on the application wasn't a landlord at all, but a family friend or relative. I run their credit and background, check social media sites, but sometimes that isn't enough. This new tool for screening tenants at www.iscreentenants.com might really come in handy once word spreads and landlords start using the website.
You might ask- "Is it legal to report my bad tenants? Am I protected from being pulled into court for defamation?" According to the website:
"The truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Any person could be pulled into the court for a reason or without such; therefore, nobody can guarantee that an upset tenant won't try to go this way; winning in court, however, is a different matter." The website continues and says that they do not expose the names of the people who report their tenants.
It works simply:
A landlord logs on and lists his problem tenants by name and address and recounts what the issues were.
You get an applicant for one of your rentals and can log onto the website, search the name and see what he did to a previous landlord and can reject the applicant accordingly.
This new tool for screening tenants is still in the works and it remains to be seen if it will catch on and become useful. It will require participation from as many landlords as possible in order to work effectively.
David Artigliere with ARTI Home Inspections LLC is a home inspector in Reading, Pottstown, Norristown & Surrounding.
You can call (610) 662-6116 or visit his website at www.artihomeinspections.com
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