Landlord Quick Tip

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Quick Tip #12: Always the Last to Know?

If you receive rent via checks, make a photocopy or scan each one, every month.

Take a few seconds to compare the name from the current month’s check to the last one, and look for signs of a tenant in transition:

Joint check before, now a single name
A single name before, now joint
A different person altogether
A business

These are all signs of a change, from divorce, to a new occupant in the unit, to new job status.

Check the phone number and add it to the file if it’s new.

Then, check the bank info and note any change in the file.

Occasionally, a tenant will submit a partial payment, or write something on the back where you endorse the check. Do not deposit or cash those checks before you talk to your lawyer. Under some circumstances, that could limit your rights to collect more from the tenant.

See last week’s Landlord Quick Tip.

Do you have a tip to share with other landlords. Email our editor at kim@joinaaoa.org.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your real estate investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at joinaaoa.

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Tags: tenant+background+checks, tenant+screening, real+estate+forms, landlords, landlord+forum, landlord+blog, apartment+owners, apartment+association, property+management+tips, landlord+tips

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Posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 11:37 am and is filed under AAOA Forum, Credit Screening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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One Response to “Landlord Quick Tip”

Landlord Quick Tip | AAOA - American Apartment Owners Association says:

July 20, 2009 at 8:15 am

[...] Manager with Mobile Insurance Agency in Woodlands, Texas. See last week’s Landlord Quick Tip. See our feature, Got Renter’s Insurance? American Apartment Owners [...]