Over the years that you own rental properties in Salinas, or elsewhere in Monterey County, it’s highly likely that you may encounter one or more tenants who submits an application with fake landlord references.

Some tenants submit fake landlord references when they have no references, or they know that their real former landlords will give them bad references if their new potential landlord were to contact them.

In today’s article, we will provide you with several things that you can do to verify if an applicant’s rental references are indeed genuine or not.

Step 1 – Research Those Landlord References Online

The first thing to do when verifying if an applicant’s landlord references are legitimate or not is to research them online.

Thanks to the Internet, you can do a reverse lookup of any phone number in minutes and know if the number is really connected to a landlord or if that phone number belongs to someone who may be a friend or family member of the individual.

Step 2 – Call the Landlord References

Another important thing to do when trying to verify potentially fake landlord references is to call those references while you act like a potential renter. When you do this, the chances are good that if the reference is fake, the individual that you call will not be prepared to act as a landlord and their façade will fall apart.

Step #3 – Listen to Responses from The Landlord References

Last of all, but most important, when contacting someone’s landlord references you should listen to their responses. If their responses are vague to questions like: were they on time paying their rent, did they cause trouble, or were they a good tenant? It’s highly likely that they are not a real landlord and have been asked by their friend or family member to act as their landlord reference.

Contact 36 North Property Management

Are you tired of managing your rental properties yourself? For professional property management including tenant screening, rent collection, maintenance and more, contact 36 North Property Management by calling us at (831) 484-4604 or connect with us online by clicking here.