Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I have a couple who owns his own small business & the other half is earning unemployment. I believe the credit score isn't that great... How can I determin if this tenant will pay bills on-time? Unemployment will run out so that income will be no longer there. His own business has been only established for a year so not so sure how his business is doing. When I run tenant screening, what credit score is acceptable? Above 700?

You can request a copy of his tax return, although you'll have to read it carefully to get a sense of his true income (he probably wrote off a lot of expenses, so his real income is probably higher). As for credit scores, it depends on the area; I have some rental units in the hood that I'm lucky to see over 620 scores for my rental applications. Other areas, I'd want to see over 680 at least.

Posted by Renee R, MD on Friday, January 28, 2011