Tenant Screening

Professional Tenant Screening To Protect Our Real Estate Investors

Shelter Realty’s property management department takes the tenant screening process very serious in order to protect our investors, clients, tenants, leasing agents and company reputation.

Overall, many of the applicants that we interview are honest, hardworking Clark County residents that simply want a safe and secure place to live where they can pay their monthly rent and go on about their personal business.

Unfortunately though, there is a sizable percentage of potential tenants who look for opportunities to take advantage of landlords, break the law, destroy properties or disrupt the neighborhoods they occupy.

These are the problem tenants that Shelter Realty makes a point of weeding out during our extensive screening and live interview process.

Evicting a tenant is one of the last things landlords or property managers want to have to do, especially due to unforeseen unemployment or poor economic conditions.

We treat each case with extreme sensitivity and professionalism to ensure all steps taken are followed to the letter of the law.

Another major cause of anxiety most landlords have with managing their own rentals, is worrying about their property’s condition and whether or not the tenants are following through with the regular maintenance requirements that are outlined in the lease.

There is nothing worse than having to invest thousands of dollars rehabbing a property every time a renter moves out.

However, due to Shelter Realty’s strict tenant screening process and proprietary score card approval system, we have only had to follow through with an eviction on one percent of our managed properties.

While it is hopeful that our targeted online rental marketing campaigns would attract the most qualified and trustworthy tenants, Shelter Realty’s property management clients are relying on our experience and insight to protect their Henderson investment properties.

Step 1 – The Qualification Process:

To reduce the risk of having to perform an eviction, we have the following tenant screening systems and checklists in place:

Credit Check
Criminal Background Check
Employment Verification
Income Verification
Rental History Verification
One-on-One Interview

With the current foreclosure crisis sweeping through southern Nevada, the general expectation is that many applicants will have some type of negative mark on their credit due to a recent foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy.

Either way, we review an applicant’s credit report to look for signs of credit abuse, previous evictions, unpaid utilities, a history of numerous late payments or any other patterns of defaults.

Step 2 – The Interview Process:

The most critical step in our Henderson tenant screening process is the live interview we conduct with each applicant.

After an applicant has filled out the rental application, and all other credit, background and employment checks have been completed, Shelter Realty’s Property Manager schedules an appointment with the prospective tenant to ask specific questions for clarification on our findings.

Tony Sena, a former Henderson Police Officer, has experience in the interview process from a law enforcement perspective.

And while our office does not ever want our tenant applicants to feel like they are being interrogated, we do pay close attention to every aspect of the conversation to get a better feel for who is signing a lease agreement.

The interview process also allows us to build a mutual respect with our tenants so that they can have the confidence knowing we are a professional property management company that cares about our landlords and tenant relationships.

Our applicant interview process generally takes place at the office or in a convenient location for the applicant. However, there are circumstances where we’ll conduct a phone interview in cases where the applicant is moving to Henderson and not currently located in town.

Step 3 – The Final Decision Process:

To ensure that there aren’t any fair housing laws violated, each applicant is graded on an unbiased point system that takes into account their income, credit, rental history and several other factors.

This “score card” determines if the tenant is approved, approved with a larger security deposit or denied.

While Shelter Realty will accept input from our landlords, we take special precautions to ensure our staff and landlords are not violating any one’s rights as set forth in the Fair Housing Act.