Tenant screening criminal background checks are important to make sure your prospective tenants are exactly who they say they are. While most people try to be as honest as possible, there are many that keep a lot of secrets, and this is often one of the biggest problems landlords face.

While first impressions count to some degree particularly if you get a bad feeling they are no basis for running your property investment business. You need facts to base your decisions on, so carrying out tenant screening criminal checks on your potential renters is essential.

Of course, landlords are not the only ones who need to do these type of checks, parents who are looking for babysitters, adults who are trying to find someone to care for their elderly parents, as well as employers who are hiring.

What are tenant screening criminal background checks?

The short version is that it is a check for any kind of criminal activity that a tenant may have, whether current, recent, or even in the distant past. Depending on the age of the person the check is being done on some of these records checks may go back ten years or more.

Good tenant screening criminal background checks search all law enforcement databases, local, state as well as federal agencies. There are a few limitations to these checks in that if there is any recent activity, it may not be included in the report for a certain period of time.

Tenant screening criminal checks also include both misdemeanor, and felony activities, no matter what they are, from simple traffic violations, to drugs, spousal abuse, and even things like murder and rape.

While no one is perfect, as a landlord you really have to take things like drug offenses, sexual assaults, spousal abuse, and the like into careful consideration, especially when it comes to rental situations.

Past behavior is often a strong indication of future behavior.

The time frame of these activities are another thing to consider. If any of these happened years or decades ago, you might consider that it happened when the tenant was young and stupid, but any recent incidents, or repeated offenses, could certainly be grounds for rejecting an applicant.

Not all tenant screening criminal background checks are the same, and you have to be very careful when trying to find the right website or company. Almost all checking companies will let someone do an 'instant' criminal check, but these are not that accurate, and in order to do a full check you often have to pay money, even if it says it's free.

This is one of the areas where you really have to do some research. Another area is the amount of details that are available. You need to find a screening site that provides comprehensive cover across all the different criminal reporting agencies, not just one or two.

Another consideration when it comes to tenant screening criminal checks is how often are you going to need these services, once you find the right one. Some offer a onetime payment, but this usually is only available for one or just a few checks.

This may be great for people who are doing a check on a potential boy or girl friend, but if you are a landlord, even if you have one or two rental properties, you may need to do checks on a more regular basis.

If you are comparatively new to being a landlord, then you need to understand that tenant screening criminal checks are just one aspect of tenant screening. To ensure you get the tenants you want and don't get the ones you don't want then tenant screening is something you have to get right.