Apartment Application

Apartment Application

When renting at most apartments, the management is required to conduct a credit and background check on anyone listed on the lease. Because these services take time and money to complete, the rental community will ask for an application fee in order to process the application. In most cases, this fee is non-refundable regardless of whether your application is ultimately approved or not. However, these fees are often less than the deposit and other expenses and should not require a payday advance or any type of bad credit loan to secure.

Criminal Background Checks During the Apartment Application Process
By Chad R Fisher - Ezinearticles

If one is on the hunt for an apartment, they will more than likely soon realize that many, if not all apartment complexes conduct criminal background checks on their potential renters. Criminal background checks are commonly required by certain federal laws, as well as state laws, but many landlords enforce background checks as a means of protecting themselves. Many landlords, companies, and apartment complexes claim that they only think twice about renting out to individuals with felony convictions. However, it is known that many complexes are also hesitant to rent out to those individuals with misdemeanors on their records.

First and foremost, landlords conduct criminal background checks because they want to protect the tenants currently living within the community. More often than not, police departments train apartment managers in screening potential tenants. The reason given behind this is that it is better to be safe than sorry. A tenant who may potential cause problems in the future can be identified early on during the application process.

Landlords and apartment complex managers know that if they are housing criminals or problem causers within their community, there will more than likely be routine visits from the police department. Consistent visits from the police department to one particular area do not sit well with tenants, and may eventually even cause some of them to move away, as well as drive away potential tenants that were considering living in the community sometime within the future. Crimes committed within a certain complex or community can also subject the management and owners to lawsuits from other tenants who may claim that the management of landlord lacks the skills to offer adequate security, something that is mandatory within a housing complex.

Apartment managers and landlords also conduct criminal background checks on potential tenants in order to follow through with local, state, and federal laws, such as the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was enacted due to the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. Within this act are clauses that call for proper identification and screening of potential tenants within a community.

Apartment Application