"I paid you to tell me about my future! I already knew I didn't have any friends or family and my rent is past due!"

Obtaining references on a tenant application is important for a variety of reasons. References, are however worthless, unless they are checked out. The most important reference is the current or previous landlord. If your prospective tenant is moving across town or cross country they must have lived somewhere else. Call the previous landlord and inquire about the type of tenants they were, their payment habits, did they obey the rules and respect the property? You would be surprised all you can learn from one phone call.

Other references such as friends and relatives are equally important in the event of an emergency or need to locate the tenant after they have moved out. These references are key to any collector doing skip tracing on a tenant that left owing you money. It is also an excellent cross check that the telephone numbers of friends and relatives are from the same geographical area that the prospective tenant claims to be from.

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