Blog Post

Guidelines to Consider When Evaluating a Rental Application

Dustin Edwards • October 2, 2020

A Consistent Process Helps Find the Best Tenants

Rental Application
Selecting a tenant is one of the largest job roles we fulfill as a property management company. It tends to be one of the more complex issues due to legality, human factor, and managing time frames for both landlord and prospective tenant. On any given year we can review 1,000’s of applications and while we can’t put everything we’ve learned into a single article we wanted to share a few key items to 

Select Rules that Don’t Require Interpretation
Especially in Long Beach and Lakewood it isn’t uncommon to receive 10,20 or even 30+ applications for a property that is well priced in one of the popular neighborhoods. In order to effectively (and fairly) sift through this volume of applications we recommend that those managing their own property identify select rules that don’t require interpretation to help you focus on the applications with the highest probabilities of becoming a tenant.

For example you can set the rule of percentage of rental amount in proportion to gross monthly income. This is a method of evaluating affordability. You can define your rule to whatever works best for you (generally for this it would be 30-40%). So for example if someone applied to your rental with a gross monthly income of $6,000 and your advertised monthly rental amount was $3,000 they would be at 50% of rent vs. gross monthly income. If you had set your rule at 30-40% then they would not be an applicant that would proceed through your process.

Set Consistent Standards
When you are dealing with housing, and most items in life, it is essential to be fair. With fair housing laws always as part of the process we encourage those who are managing their own properties to be incredibly diligent in setting standards. Many people want to make an “exception” because of a compensating factor, and while that is human nature if you don’t properly document your standards or make an exception to one prospective tenant without consideration to another prospective tenant then you could get yourself involved in an unexpected legal challenge.

We invite you to consider the following standards that you could define for your rental home in Long Beach:
  • Occupancy Limit - In general the larger number of occupants, the increased volume of wear your property will encounter. If you have a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom home for rent you probably don’t want to allow 8 residents. Set an occupancy limit on your property and ensure that the number (and names) are disclosed on the rental application.
  • Pet Policies - Are you allowing cats, dogs, birds? Whichever animals you allow (or none) be consistent in your evaluations. Just because a prospective tenant was “really nice” doesn’t mean they get to have a dog if you told the other prospective tenants that dogs weren’t allowed.  Make sure that you have a pet policy in place that you can delivery to prospective tenants to avoid any confusion.
  • Complete/Incomplete Applications - If an application isn’t complete are you reviewing? Or are you asking someone to complete it? Whichever way you decide, make sure you are consistent in how you handle the applications.
At Beach Cities Property Management we pride ourselves in fairly evaluating every rental application to ensure our property owners get the best possible tenants. When you would like to find out more about how we help evaluate rental applications we invite you to request our Free Rental Analysis to see how we can help.

Share this post

By Dustin Edwards January 17, 2025
A new year is a new chance to start new ideas to bring in prospects to your property. Consider the following 5 ideas to engage prospects and get new tenants.
By Dustin Edwards January 10, 2025
Having clear communication with your tenant is essential for maintaining a healthy landlord-tenant relationship. By being transparent in all relevant interactions, landlords can prevent misunderstandings while resolving repairs and disputes efficiently while improving tenant satisfaction. Having good communication with your tenant is beneficial for landlords too. Effective communication also protects your investment property. Remember that while your tenant is living in the property, landlords need to take care of the repairs. Below are the three best things to do during tenant communications. Prompt Responses Addressing tenant concerns quickly is essential for building trust and maintaining a positive relationship. Tenants feel valued when landlords respond quickly, knowing that their needs are being prioritized. Building this trust not only enhances your tenant’s satisfaction it lowers the possibility of conflicts or misunderstandings to arise. This ultimately creates a healthy and successful rental experience for you and your tenant. Some of the most common inquiries will oftentimes include repair requests, among others. As an example; if your tenant reports a leak under their faucet and the repair is delayed, this can be damaging to your landlord-tenant relationship, as well as your property. If left ignored, that leak can result in hundreds of dollars in water damage and a vacancy . Which can further affect our bottom line negatively. For landlords with multiple properties, this can become difficult to keep track of. A property manager can help with scheduling repairs and communicating with your tenant on your behalf. Document Everything Keeping a detailed record of all interactions with your tenant is an important element when managing a property. There are many choices for documentation including email, text, or written notices. Although many property management companies and landlords have opted to use apps or dedicated tenant portals to log communications. A great example, for instance, a tenant may claim they’d reported a repair issue that was never addressed, if everything is to be documented, both you and the tenant would have a copy of the request. Maintaining transparency with tenants. Having thorough documentation ensures agreements and requests between all parties are clearly tracked. Documenting communications with your tenant provides landlords with a foundation for addressing misunderstandings, or disputes if and when they arise. Provide Regular Updates Regular updates show tenants that their landlord is organized and has an attentive approach to managing their property. Giving tenants ample time for maintenance, inspections or policy changes is a simple way to build trust with your tenants while showing your professionalism. Giving tenants advanced notices reassures them that you’re aware of how changes can affect them and you understand that time might be needed in order to adjust. Surprises are best kept for birthday parties. Proactively notifying tenants of changes helps clear the communication channels and minimizes disruptions which helps tenants feel valued and satisfied. These small yet consistent efforts can contribute to a positive tenant stay, which can encourage lease renewals and long-term tenancy. Additionally, having a good relationship with your tenants can give you a great reputation which can provide you with leads when looking to fill a vacancy . It cannot be understated the importance of communication for a healthy landlord-tenant relationship. Even if your tenant may not agree with some of the decisions a landlord needs to make, by giving your tenants ample time to process the change tenants generally are more accepting of said change. If you’re having trouble communicating with your tenants or if you need help managing Beach City rental property, we invite you to call us today at (562) 888-0247 or complete our Owner Application online .
By Dustin Edwards January 2, 2025
Keeping tenants safe, translates to happy and long-term tenants. Read to discover 5 Inexpensive ways to keep your tenants safe.
Show More
Share by: