Applicant Screening: Use Form to Document Phone References

As the leasing season heats up, you may find yourself spending a greater portion of your time screening applicants yourself. If you do this, one of the most important steps you take is to contact applicants' current and prior rental references. References' evaluations are valuable in helping you decide whether to rent a tax credit unit to an applicant. But rental references are often reluctant to fill out forms, so you might find it easier to call them to get the information you need. To get an informative reference over the telephone, you need to ask the right questions and keep a record of the answers.

To help you out, click here for a rental reference questionnaire that you can use both as a script for your questions and as a record of the answers you get.