Background Screening

The violation of Federal Fair Housing laws can result in the loss of thousands of dollars in both civil and punitive fines, in addition to the repercussive expense of legal fees and the phenomenal expenditure of time and effort that is required of any court process. Fair housing claims occur commonly as a result of the resident screening process, but that need not be the case. One easy way to avoid Fair Housing violations is to establish clear (written) rental criteria and then to consistently follow those criteria. TIPS FOR ESTABLISHING RENTAL CRITERIA: -Occupancy guidelines: In general most follow the 2 people per bedroom or the 2 people per bedroom plus 1 rule. This is not a hard rule, however, and the layout of your property may mean that it is appropriate to allow fewer (or more) occupants. -Income to rent ratio: The industry standard is that an applicant must make 3 times the asking rent amount. This ratio is considered to offer good assurance that there are enough...

A 5-year-old boy revealed to investigators that he intentionally set fire to his home with a lighter Sunday night. He, his mother, and two other children escaped the blaze but his 2-year-old cousin died of smoke inhalation in an upstairs bedroom. Children under the age of 10 cannot be prosecuted for homicide in Pennsylvania, but the boy will be evaluated by Children Youth and Families and court proceedings may result in his being removed from the family. According to Stephen A. Zappala Jr., the Allegheny County district attorney, the landlord had likely violated local ordinance by not maintaining or providing smoke alarms in the rental property. The scene was reported by firemen and neighbors to have been silent, with no alarms sounding at the time of the fire. Mayor Michael Cherepko said 60 percent of the houses in McKeesport are owned by absentee landlords and that many of those landlords allow their properties to fall into a state of disrepair. His administration is working o...

It may appear that your resident has permanently surrendered possession of your rental unit…they have moved the majority of their belongings and returned the keys. If any personal belongings of sentimental or monetary value have been left behind you should use caution before cleaning out the unit for re-rental. The legal parameters regarding the disposal of personal property can often seem vague and confusing to property owners when applied to real world situations. Here are a few helpful points to bear in mind: There are regulations in place to protect the rights of the resident (making a “lockout” illegal). The statutes allow for removal of property under certain, specific circumstances, however, the only way to guarantee that there can be no legal claims against you as the landlord is to go through the eviction process and have a writ of restitution executed by a sheriff. To avoid having to go through the eviction process simply to remove any abandoned belongings, you may get t...

Recent changes to Colorado law have created a ripple effect through many local industries. Amendment 64 legalized the recreational use of marijuana and blurred policy boundaries that were once clearly defined in the rental industry. As a result, there is some confusion over how to best install and maintain appropriate rental policy standards. Here are a few quick facts that are sure to help: Both Federal and Colorado law give power to the property owner to determine rental property policy. A smoke-free policy is still enforceable and can include prohibiting the use of marijuana. Updating policy documentation to specifically reference use (or non use) of marijuana is recommended. Property owners may still require drug testing as a condition of employment   According to Amendment 64, “nothing shall prohibit any person who owns or controls a property from prohibiting or otherwise regulating the possession, consumption, use, or growi...

Keeping information secure is vital. We have recently implemented a new layer of defense to our already solid security platform.   Multifactor Authentication (MFA) makes it more difficult for an unauthorized person to enter our system and access sensitive information. This multi-layered approach requires a combination of two independent credentials: a knowledge factor (something that only the authorized user should know) and a possession factor (something that only the user has access to).   If you are not already using MFA…you should be! We will be contacting clients in the coming months to get you on-board with our new authentication system.   What to expect as you begin using the new system…   You will notice a change when accessing our website only during one of the following: When you login for the first time under the new criteria When you login from a different (unknown) computer When your login from a different   IP addre...

This time of year is financially tough on most people. As a landlord, you may be tempted to give possible tenants a break. By screening only one applicant (instead of each adult on the application) the screening fee is greatly reduced, but so then, is your security. This seemingly small moment of generosity quickly turns into an overwhelming problem. Let’s just look at the facts: If your possible tenant is having trouble paying a screening fee, they are probably going to have trouble paying you rent. If your tenants get to pick and choose who among them get screened, then it is very easy to hide a criminal record or bad credit. If you are selective about whom you screen and to what degree, you are opening yourself up to a possible Fair Housing lawsuit.   At RSI we advise all of our clients to screen each person over the age of 18 who will be residing on the property. That means that on any given application you would screen each person in ...

Criminal behavior is generally viewed as an unpredictable event, and therefore, outside of a landlord’s control. Courts have consistently ruled that it is unjust to hold a landlord accountable for failing to prevent a crime. However, recently an Ohio Appellate Court did just that when they found a landlord liable for failing to protect their tenant from a violent crime. In this case, the victim’s complaints against another resident’s un-leased roommate were ongoing and the lack of an appropriate response led to a verdict of negligence. The manager of the apartment complex listened to the victim’s repeated complaints of harassment and advised her to file a report with the police. As the situation escalated, the manager requested that the other resident’s boyfriend, against whom the complaints were being filed, complete a rental application and submit to a background check. The manager did not perform a criminal records search with the information collected on the submitted applic...