How do YOU in the best and most fair housing way, make sure that someone is prequalified before coming in for your/application?

How do YOU in the best and most fair housing way, make sure that someone is prequalified before coming in for your/application ? When our leasing agent is out, I answer the phones and emails to get her scheduled for tours and meetings! But I do not want to waste her time with people who we are certain will get denied but we also do not want to put ourselves at risk in any way regarding fair housing. Please share with me some of your ideas for this!

In what way should we completely allow them to make the decision that they are probably not going to get approved due to lack of income, criminal history, insufficient rental history, or terrible credit.

Do you send your qualifications and application via email before the appointment? This way people could review and determine if they are eligible. Honestly, you are always going to have unqualified people still try, however you should always figure out the source of where this unqualified traffic comes from.

Celena Montantes - Mayo this is a great idea.

Because we are HUD subsidized housing for seniors, I tell them that in order to qualify they must be low income and the Head, Co-Head or Spouse must be either 62 or older, or a person with disabilities who needs 4 or more physical changes to a unit in order to qualify. I then ask if they meet these qualifications. If yes, I set up an appointment. If no, I explain that unfortunately we cant assist them at this time and refer them to a local website of low income housing in Washington State.

You can ask them the same questions do you make at least x amount, have you ever been evicted.

Give the the written rental criteria. Accept all applications. No pre screening or fair housing violations are a problem. We are getting paid for this so accept all apps!

I try to get their email ahead of time, so I can email over the application and criteria pages for them to look over. This way if they see something they have questions on and don’t think that they qualify for, the call and ask me.

Show everyone! Accept all applications!

To be safe treat everyone the same way. They may have a friend or family member they could refer to your property.

I do what’s called “pre qualifying”. I basically pre qualify them in the office BEFORE any tour is done. I ask all the appropriate questions and if they do not meet those, I will refer them to a locator or another property close by that may be able to work with them with their needs and background.

I show everyone. Just yesterday i had someone come in and apply that i toured last November. Circumstances change and people always remember how you made them feel when they met you

If your company has fair housing and leasing training worth an annual review. Many management companies require training to be done yearly. Risk nothing especially with testers and disparate impact.

I specify our rental criteria guidelines. Rent to income ratio and criminal background check. We also specify we don’t know until they apply. We let anyone apply.

You go over your leasing qualifications with every single person. Every one of them. Whether you think they will qualify or not. I don’t ask, I just go over the qualifications. They know if they may have a problem or not. Some will still apply, but some will not and save themselves the application fee. Bottom line, always. Treat every single person the same.

Show everyone. Accept all applications. You can provide your criteria in advance but the decision ultimately lies with the applicant. If they read the criteria and still want to pay the app fee, that’s on them and you have treated everyone the same.

Being consistent and inviting everyone to come to your and accepting all applications is Fair Housing 101. Worrying about wasting your LC's time is the least of your problems.

Debra Leazenby lol i think that letting them know that at the time we do not have availability for their price range, or do not accept people with past evictions on their records will save time for everyone including them. wasting time is big concern.

Gabrielle circumstances can change in like, 6 months. Rhe evicted person could get a cosigner. I have people who come in a year later with improved credit who come back just because our customer service is amazing.