Background Investigations vs. Credit Checks
Background Investigations for Prospective Tenants
The term “Serial Squatter” has made its way into the public arena because of horror stories relating to the selection of bad tenants or roommates. Serial Squatter can be defined as people who move from rental to rental without ever being a legal tenant, or who take advantage of tenancy laws to avoid paying rent. They tend to target small, independent landlords or people seeking roommates. These are often the people who don’t require leases or rental agreements or conduct thorough background checks. In fact, Netflix has created an entire documentary series that outlines some of the horror stories of renting to bad tenants or roommates. That’s how pervasive the problem has become.
As a landlord, or a person seeking a roommate, you may meet a potential tenant or roommate and get a good feeling about them and rent to them without and further level of inquiry. In fact, you may have done this very thing in the past without any negative consequences. However, this is like playing Russian Roulette with your financial situation. It only takes one bad experience to cause you disaster.
You may even go as far as to request a criminal record check or a credit check before signing a lease or rental agreement. This is what many larger property management companies often do before entering into an agreement. But what type of information does this provide you with?
A credit report is a summary of your credit history, including the types of credit accounts you’ve had, your payment history and certain other information such as your credit limits. These are generally used by companies that want to judge your ability to pay on time and how much money they can lend to you to minimize their risk.
A criminal record check is a list of your criminal convictions for which you have not received a pardon (now referred to as a record suspension). It will not include any charges that resulted in an acquittal or withdrawal or stay of proceedings or where a diversion process was utilised, such as doing community service work instead of being convicted for a minor offence. It does not include any convictions for summary conviction offences such as causing a disturbance, because there is no authority for the police to obtain fingerprints in these types of offences. It does not include any convictions for provincial or bylaw offences such as trespassing or violating noise statutes.
If you do rent or lease to someone who doesn’t pay their rent or violates some other aspect of your agreement, what is your recourse? In Saskatchewan you must utilize the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006. The process for this is the jurisdiction of the Office of Residential Tenancies.The Office of Residential Tenancies (ORT) is an agency independent of government that provides information about the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants in Saskatchewan. When landlords and tenants cannot resolve disputes on their own, both have the right to ask the ORT to make rulings and settle the dispute. The ORT is independent, free from outside influence, and impartially decides applications without favour for either landlords or tenants.
The process for evicting a Serial Squatter for unpaid rent in Saskatchewan is as follows:
- You must wait 15 days after the tenant is in arrears (30 days for any other reason) and then personally serve a document entitled “Immediate Notice to Vacate and Notice of Arrears” upon the tenant.
- Once you have served the tenant, you must pay a $50 filing fee and then submit an application to the ORT for a hearing.
- Once the ORT grants a hearing you will be required to serve a Notice of Hearing upon the tenant. You will then provide that document to the ORT to establish that the tenant is aware of the hearing.
- A hearing will take place by telephone and will require any documentary evidence you have to be filed with the ORT online prior to the hearing as well as being served upon the tenant.
- If a judgement is rendered providing for eviction the ORT will issue a Writ of Possession, which is the authority to remove a tenant, however, it can only be executed by the Sheriff of the Court of King’s Bench.
- A tenant has 30 days to appeal the judgement to the Court of King’s Bench, a process which could take months.
You can see where this process is cumbersome and could take many months, all the while the tenant continues to occupy the residence. Which means that you are likely not collecting any rent while they are there. If you are living on tight margins and require that rental income to survive, it can spell financial disaster for you long before the eviction process plays out. If you are roommates, you are sharing your living space with someone who you no longer trust to be around, making your life very uncomfortable, often causing people to leave their own dwelling.
How can you avoid these tragic circumstances?
The best way to minimize your risk exposure to bad tenants or roommates is to have a background investigation conducted.
A background investigation will often reveal information not obtained in a criminal record check or a credit check. A background investigation will commence when you ask your prospective roommate or tenant to complete a background form, which the investigator will provide to you. This form will ask for references, employment and residence history. The investigator will then take that information and make contact with a variety of sources to look into the background of the applicant. It is this type of investigation that will often surface information like failure to pay rent, previous evictions, any damage done to property, any loud or disturbing behaviour exhibited by the renter and many other areas of unsavoury conduct not otherwise brought to light in a credit check or criminal record check.
But what if the person provides false information on their screening form? This is exactly the type of person that will be exposed rather quickly. A thorough investigation will quickly discover falsehoods and provide you with information you need to reject the prospective tenant. In fact, many times, disingenuous renters will not even want to complete the form and will walk away from their attempt to rent from you in the first place.
Why would you need someone to conduct the investigation on your behalf, as opposed to conducting it yourself? Because licenced private investigators are trained and experienced in collecting and verifying information and discovering discrepancies in an elaborate story, when you are not. They are not easily swayed by people and have a history of conducting quality interviews in soliciting the truth.
Big property management companies have databases to track bad tenants and have the financial resources to be able to overcome a lengthy eviction process without it being detrimental to their business operations. Landlord Associations provide assistance to big landlords with multiple properties who can afford their fees, but no one is looking out for the small landlord who has one property or is seeking a roommate to be able to make the mortgage payment. The cost of hiring a private investigator will allow you to minimize your risk long before ever having to engage in long and complicated eviction processes. Keep the Serial Squatters away and hire a private investigator to conduct a background investigation before you rent to anyone.
Our experienced investigators are available to assist you. Go to our contact page to arrange for a free consultation.