By Eric Willden · RoomRentalsHQ

Tenant Screening for Room Rentals: 6 Questions and My Instant No's

A bad tenant in a shared house doesn't just hurt you. It hurts everyone who lives there. Screening is the most important thing I do.

The 6 questions I ask every prospect

1. Tell us a little about yourself.
2. Do you smoke or vape?
3. Do you have any pets?
4. What's your level of drinking?
5. How soon are you looking to move?
6. How long can you potentially rent for?

My instant no's

• Smoking or vaping. This is my #1 no. "I just stopped" is still a no.
• More than one person in the room. My houses are one person per room. Less crowding, and parking is limited anyway.
• A partner who'll basically live there. Overnight guests are capped at 3 nights a month. More than that makes the house uncomfortable for everyone else.

Narrowing it down

• Are you bringing a lot of stuff, like furniture? Everything has to fit in the room.
• Where do you work? I do income and job verification on every applicant.
• I run a background check on everyone. It doesn't catch everything, which is one more reason for the next step.

Always do a live phone call

Even if they said all the right things by text, I want to hear them say "No, I don't smoke or vape." I once had a guy swear he didn't vape. Then he was in and out of the house to his car all day long. Lesson learned.

Don't jump at the first applicant

Finding a really good tenant can take a month. An empty room for a few weeks costs less than the wrong tenant.

Write down your screening criteria and apply them the same way to every applicant. Fair-housing laws vary by state and city, so have a local attorney look over your process.