Tenant Screening Questions Your Questions

Employment Verification?

I have a family building that I am renting out and usually my grandmother choses the tenants but since she does a poor job and does not screen or verify any of their information I have been appointed to do so. I have never done an employment verification and I was wondering what questions should I ask and avoid when I call in. The tenant wants to move in this weekend so I do not have the time to mail or fax a verification letter and wait for a response. Anyone who has worked in HR or knows the laws please respond. I am in Illinois.

To all tenants?

Repetative questions and alot of mis anwers given.
1. A tenant should check with the state and city they live in for rules on any rental property they wish to live in. No rules are the same for each state or city.
2. Alot of the answers on this forum are just tenants like you that may have had bad experiences. How they handled it may not be legal and not in your best interest. They are just spouting anger at how they were treated.
3. Please remember, landlords have their priorities also. What may seem to be an emergency to you is actually not one. They may have more pressing and urgent ones they are dealing with and cannot get to your complaint right away. Take a hole in the screen. For Gosh sakes, buy a patch kit and fix it yourself. Or take out that screen and buy one of those adjusting screens you put in the window. $3.00 out of your pocket is not going to kill you. My lease’s state you live there, you are responsible for the first $75.00 of any repairs that
were not there when you moved in. I dont live there, you do. You are doing the damage, not me.
For gosh sakes, follow the rules and you wont have any problems. Quit worring about what your neighbors are doing or having that you dont. They will be the one in trouble, not you. Mind your own business.
You are NOT helpless and I am NOT your mother or babysitter. Dont call me for a blown light bulb or a loose screw. Fix it.
Dont ask me to wait on my rent because you want to go out on the town for your birthday. You knew it was coming up, you should have saved for it. Same with Christmas. I will not waive the late fee as a birthday present.
Just because you live in someone elses house does not mean you dont have to do anything. Treat it like your own. Fix it, love it, make it look nice (within the lease). If you dont know the rules, check with the landlord. It can save you money in the long run.
Because you get into a bind, dont blame the landlord. Are you 2 yrs old?
responsiblility for your actions and your life.
Whiny tenants are a no no. Mine are gone before the second whine. I have no time for handholding. I keep my properties up to date and in good working order. Any repairs are done as soon as feasably possible. If you cant live with that, go away.
In other words, tenants. You moved out of mommy and daddys house to prove you are all grown up. Do me a favor then, GROW UP!!
To Dennis the Menace, you may be a top contributor (anyone can spout nonsense) but you do not have a clue. Either that or you dont care if you spend tons of money on a property to have a stupid, irresponsible person destroy it OR think that they moved from mommy and daddys house to their own house where now the Landlord can take care of them. A top contributor is someone who answers alot of questions with intellegence and know all, not someone just interested in points. GET A CLUE.
Ms Mimsie, it was just some raving of a landlord that has probably been in the business way too long and cares too much. I see stupid questions on here and see red.
As for Doc, Skungstowe, and rockinback, you know what I mean. I wish I could give you three the points. Maybe if more of us landlords spoke up, maybe, just maybe, these idiots that dulude themselves into thinking they are on their own when they move out of mommy and daddys house, will use their brains BEFORE they do.

Can I get out of my lease?

* Each tenant in our 4 bdrm house has a separate lease.
* On each lease, it says NO PETS
*Roomate brought a dog into our house, obviously against lease terms.

Three girls are pretty clean, the one with the dog is not. Nobody is EVER home so we have to leave NOTES to each other, and two girls are always the ones buying things for the “household” (cleaning supplies, etc.) Same two girls even bought couch covers, to help protect the couches, and to keep the unwanted dog hair off of them. Dog hair just gets all over the house. Constant cleaning! I did NOT sign up for this.

Yes I knew there would be multiple people living in one house, but I was under the assumption they would be CLEAN, because our landlord said he would do a thorough screening of each person before he let them live in the house.

My question is, can I get out of the lease because of the dog situation, and the constant cleaning, and being one of the only people who really care about how clean/healthy our house is?