A tenant is like an iceberg, you can see quite easily what’s in front of you, however, we all know there is a lot more which goes on under the surface. As a property owner, it’s essential to find out who you are letting your asset to before handing over the keys. Whether you’re just embarking on your buy-to-let adventure, or you’re a seasoned landlord veteran, errant tenants can derail the most efficient of operations.
Baxford provides landlords (private or commercial), letting agents and housing associations with tenant background checks, which will help shed light on your prospective tenant’s renting history, and inform you of any criminal convictions your tenant might have. With a prospective tenant's background information at hand, you'll be able to make informed decisions about whether this person is suitable to rent your property.
Typically, searches look at both criminal and court records; however, it wouldn’t be prudent just to look at records. To minimise the risk to you and/or your business Baxford conducts a detailed investigation including, but not limited to, passport and ID verification, employment and education verification, public and government records, address verification, fraud screening, reference checking and more.
People fall behind on bills for all kinds of reasons beyond their control, so you need to be confident that you’ve looked into all aspects of a tenant’s history, as helpful as a credit check is it won’t tell you the full picture. For example, if a tenant was forced to break a lease because of domestic violence, that is a narrative that you won’t find on any credit report.
Our team of experienced agents can conduct screening with the utmost sensitivity, whether in the UK or Internationally. There are a number of database search websites available however, these do not include boots on the ground investigations which could make all the difference to whether you have a good or bad hire. We will take your needs and tailor our approach accordingly, obtaining clear evidence as we go.
We’ll provide a thorough and accurate report compiling of all the relevant credit, public records and other information needed to adequately vet prospective tenants. Sourcing basic initial information and references from previous landlords forms the backbone of all background checks. As a bare minimum you should look to retrieve the following information from would-be tenants:
Name, date of birth and contact information
Two personal character references
At least one reference from a previous landlord
Proof of identification
Bank statements/utility bills for the past three months
Ensuring a thorough background check on your prospective tenant's history will help you avoid any problems at a later stage. Baxford also provides other screening processes should you need them, such as the relevant checks, dating history checks, and employment checks. We also use the screening process alongside two other services we provide, Trace Services and Asset Reports.
To find out more and for a no-obligation discussion, please contact 020 8255 1010 or request a call back by e-mail.