Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I understand that to be fair you should be able to give the applicant a valid reason for denying their application. But what if, the person credit and background come out great, but the person give you the creeps and give you a bad feeling. Can I rent it to another applicant that has some bad credit, but seem like a better fit? And if I can do this, what reason for denial would I give the creepy applicant with perfect credit?

They tenant does not know that the other tenant does not have better credit. You can simply say that you are sorry to inform them that they were not accepted as another applicant was more qualified. If they poke for reasons you can say that you were given a deposit upfront etc, etc. Be sure that discrimination does not come into it. If you have a bad feeling about a tenant this will carry through the whole relationship and ted of the lease.

Posted by David C, PA on Thursday, July 31, 2014

The tenant you are denying does not need to know anything outside of that you found someone that is a better fit. If they ask for reasons why, you can tell them that in confidence, you are not able to say. If they then say "I have great credit!" or something along thought lines, say both background checks were cleared as good, you were just offered a higher deposit. You don't need to explain your choice to this person. It is none of their business, just don't make it sound like it is about race or sex and you will be fine.

Posted by Britanica M, OH on Friday, August 29, 2014

I don’t think you need to justify your reason to reject any tenant. Even I rejected some applicants after my agent at Cloud Real Estate conducted background screening of the potential tenants.

Posted by Laura H, on Wednesday, January 13, 2016