The Leasing Landscape

By Thersa Grant/Real Estate Columnist Securing an apartment rental today can seem like a daunting task. Things certainly have changed over the years. Gone are the days when you could just show up at a place being advertised for rent, put your best foot forward and have a conversation with the landlord. Today’s rental market is very competitive and can seem overwhelming for some. The rental market today is far more complex and involves providing a great deal of paperwork. Not only is there a lot of paperwork, but the paperwork also needs to reflect your history in a very positive light. There are many companies now that specialize in background checks, property management companies that employ people to check references and verify the information provided by a prospective tenant, and then there is the good old-fashioned gumshoe type of landlord. If you are going through a Realtor, you can be guaranteed that you will be vetted thoroughly. That’s okay, just be prepared. Today’s prospective tenant has to look at the search in a similar fashion to a job interview. Often in a job interview, the applicant will be asked “why should we hire you”? In the same way, a landlord wants to know why they should rent to you. That’s where your paperwork comes in. There are several documents that you will need to provide that range from a current pay stub to a landlord reference. Usually, prospective landlords will want to start with your credit profile to ensure you are good risk. Yes risk. When a landlord offers a house, or an apartment unit within a house for rent, they are very often trusting you with their most valuable asset. Therefore, your information needs to be current, as close to the date you are looking to rent as possible. Another piece of information a landlord will want to know about is your source of income. This is important because it tells the landlord what you can realistically afford on a monthly basis. Some landlords use a three times factor. Meaning they want to see that the tenant earns three times the rent on the unit being offered. A letter from your employer is required as well as your last two or three pay stubs. Landlords will usually want to know why you are leaving your current place of residence and want you to provide at least one but often two landlord references. This can sometimes be a problem for some if for instance you are coming out of a marital home that you owned. That being said, there are remedies for every situation. Landlords will most likely want to full credit check which involves a report from the credit bureau, usually several pages long, as well as a credit score. The credit score, or beacon score is the first thing landlords look for. If it’s a good score they will move on to the credit report. The credit report is a history of repayments to companies or institutions that you’ve borrowed from. Ultimately, the landlord is wanting to see that you make your payments in a timely fashion. Sometimes there are things on your credit report that can shine a negative light on you, but if you have a valid explanation for this some landlords are more than happy to listen and judge the situation for themselves. Once the paperwork part of things has been taken care of, the landlord usually turns to the character of the applicant. The applicant’s character is very important, especially if the landlord is renting a unit in a house where there are other tenants or there will be other tenants. The landlord will often turn to other landlord references or personal references along with an interview of the applicant to get a feel for the type of person the applicant is. While it can definitely be a task to find a nice place to call home, being prepared is half the battle. Just like applying for a job, you are wanting to present yourself in the best possible light as well as have a leg up on the competition. Putting together a package of documents can really help you do that. I have had clients that include a criminal background check, income tax forms from the previous year, pay stubs, letters of reference from landlords as well as colleagues. A package like that shows the landlord that you are a thoughtful person in the sense that you have thought of and taken the time to gather all this paperwork. It shows that you are thorough, organized, and detailed. Landlords like that, and it can go along way in helping you secure the apartment you want.