Vetting Tenants — How we protect the landlord’s interests.

In Century_South_Or_the_Brittany, our management staff likes to work with good tenants. Here are some of the traits we seek out.

1. A renter pays the rent on time every time. This means paying on or before the first, rather than at 5 pm on the 5th.
2. A renter is honest. A tenant does not sneak in a co-tenant or pet.
3. A tenant is reasonably clean. A renter does not bring pests like rodents and bugs.
4. A renter does not break the property or its systems.
5. A tenant is courteous and nice to work with. A renter knows the difference between a property manager and a hotel concierge.
6. A tenant doesn't bother neighbors.
7. A tenant reports problems when appropriate. tenants that don't report maintenance issues cost real estate investors money and cause head-aches for property managers.
8. A renter doesn't complain when it's not appropriate. This means that a renter doesn't ask to upgrade functioning systems. A tenant doesn't expect more than the lease provides. A tenant doesn't complain that an appliance doesn't work when the renter doesn't know how to operate the appliance.
9. A renter does not smoke in the rental.
10. A renter is looking for a lease that is as long as the landlord wants to rent the property.

So this is what we're looking for in a tenant, but how do we find renters who live up to this ideal? Experience has taught us that tardy renters can appear as polite, nicely-dress, well educated people with jobs. We have a nose for sniffing out bad renters.