Every day more and more people turn to rental properties as a form of securing housing for themselves and their families. The days of home ownership are seemingly becoming a thing of the past. Renting a single family dwelling, condominium or apartment has evolved beyond a move of last resort to one that is embraced and, in many cases, preferred to ownership. With the value of properties slow to increase, many feel the risk of ownership is too much. This gradual shift in attitude has become a boom for property owners, managers and landlords.
With more candidates available to rent a property a landlord must remain diligent in the vetting process for a new tenant. Often times they may rely only on a few background reports, such as criminal background records check, unlawful detainers and credit check. Surprisingly a search of the National Sex Offender check can be skipped or overlooked.
National Sex Offender Checks are an essential part of the tenant screening process. Most importantly, National Sex Offender Checks can assist in creating a safe environment for new tenants as well as existing tenants. A property can easily gain a reputation of renting to “anyone.” In such an environment the churn of renters will be high and fiscally secure tenants will be greatly decreased. Simply put, a complex or property that has a bad reputation will not attract long-term, high value tenants. National Sex Offender Checks are a low-cost and valuable tool in making a rental or leasing decision, and statistics back this claim up.
A property manager or landlord must protect there tenants. Consider the following cribbed information from a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice – Bureau of Justice Statistics:
The Justice Department followed roughly 10,000 male sex offenders for three years after they were released from prison in 1994. Out of this pool of offenders, almost half of them were convicted child molesters. This study gives huge insight as to the conduct of convicted sex offenders who were discharged from prison and provides a compelling look into their behavior following their release from prison and their conduct over the next three years in a free society.
- Within 3 years following their release, 5.3% of sex offenders (men who had committed rape or sexual assault) were re-arrested for another sex crime.
- The total pool of discharged sex offenders on average only served 3 & 1/2 years of their 8-year sentence.
- Released sex offenders were 4-times more likely to be re-arrested for a sex crime when compared to non-sex-offenders released from state prisons.
A National Sex Offender search should be a part of any tenant screening package. It is a low cost addition to every tenant background checks. This is especially true of smaller rental unit properties. Offenders are likely to target small apartment complexes with the thought that the smaller the property the less likely a Sex Offender Search will take place.
TenantScreeningUSA.com automatically performs a 50-State Sex Offender Search with every tenant check performed through them. For $25 you get a national criminal check, 50-state sex offender search, viewable credit report, viewable credit score and an actual leasing recommendation.
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