Online Rental Applications
Rental Applications Made Easy!
Learn who you may be renting to with a thorough, free online rental application. With younger generations making up more of the rental market, many potential renters look primarily towards applying online. Online rental applications are a simple tool to include in your process and an excellent opportunity for you to improve the way you organize all of your applicants. Reducing your carbon footprint by eliminating paper applications is a bonus if you want to be eco-friendly too!
The intro of the application page is designed to be a simple introduction. Your applicants will state their name, that they are applying to live in your property at a specific date, and how many people will be with them. Use a rental application to find red flags. Anything from having declared bankruptcy, past evictions, low credit scores can be a sign this applicant isn’t right for you. Or have if your own preferences like pets or smoking! Find out with a strong application.
- Online applications help more renters apply faster
- Find Red Flags to reach the right applicant
- Organize your pool of applicants in one place
What you can find out
- Are they new to renting?
- Do they have references from previous landlords?
- Do they have many previous addresses with short stays?
Be Thorough With Applicants
If the rental application seems long and tedious, there is a good reason why. At first glance, some questions may seem useless. Of course, you want to know if they can afford your property. But who wants to go over every single place that they have ever lived? Why do you need to know where they live now? Who cares about why they are moving?
As a landlord, all of these things can clue you into a bigger picture. You can piece together all this information and find out if this person should be living on your property. If an older tenant has a lot of previous residences, that’s okay. An address book can build up over time. A young person may not have any previous addresses at all aside from living with their parents. But someone relatively young with many previous residences to their name may come with baggage of their own. There is always a reason to move but it may not have been their choice. Or maybe they did move before things became bad in a legal, contract sense.
While this section of the rental application may be boring and tedious to fill out, it gives all the clues to why someone is looking for a new place and if that place should be yours.
What to Ask and Why
The best use of an application is to sort all potential applicants into easy categories. For example, having yes, no, and maybe ‘piles’ allows the final selection to be quick and simple. The questions section will allow you to quickly sort through who you want. For example: Is this a nonsmoking property? Anyone who checks off that they have a nicotine habit can be put into the no category. If it is a smoking property, that person can go into the maybe section.
Think about the questions here. If someone has owned a home before, why did they switch from owning back to renting? Have they been evicted (and if you’re willing to take them in anyway, what has changed since then)? These are a host of questions that help you figure out who you would definitely consider as a tenant, who should never be, and who you might sit and think about for a while. For help, try our tenant screening guidance.
Set up your questions
- Sort your applicants in an easy to understand way
- Design your questions to find what you need in a tenant
- Discover what kind of tenant each applicant could be
Introductory Information
Consider this an Introduction! This is who they are at a very first glance.
More In Depth
This gives you more details and the beginning of important information.
Their last landlord, who may be able to five you a reference, and if they can afford your property's rent.
Additional Income Source, Vehicles, and Emergency Contact
Some people have more than one way to pay the bills.
If they have help from parents, a standard job plus freelance work, or even a small online business in addition to their work, they can find a way to tell you here. You can also find out how many cars they plan to bring and if your allotted parking space can fit that many vehicles. It is also always good to know who to contact as you may never know. It’s better to be safe than sorry and find out early.
Questions and Additional Comments
Use these questions to find out more than if they can just afford to be your tenant.
Find out what kind of tenant they would be. The applicant can also share more information they feel that you should know, such as possible cosigners.
Fair Credit Reporting Act
An important analysis of their rights.
The FCRA summary explains your tenants’ rights when it comes to their information, and their right of fair and accurate reporting. It is important to have this section for your and their protection.
