Social Media has made a major impact on how people live their day to day lives.  It’s accessible on our computers, smartphones, iPads and Tablets, etc.  It offers a way to communicate and keep in touch with our family, classmates, friends and colleagues.  Some landlords and property managers even use Twitter or Facebook business pages to communicate with tenants by posting useful information such as upcoming repairs or maintenance and reminders.  On the other hand, using social media has also become a way for landlords and property managers to screen potential tenants.  There are obvious advantages and disadvantages in using social media in tenant background checks.  We will discuss both sides of the spectrum in this blog.

An advantage to using Social Media as a tenant screening tool is you are getting a glimpse of that particular individual’s personal world.  You are seeing the ‘real’ identity that they show their friends and family.  This will allow the landlord or property manager to get a better idea of how the potential tenant interacts in their current living situation or if they show a negative attitude toward their current landlord.  This could help avoid unwanted headaches for the landlord or property manager in the future.

However, there are disadvantages to social media searches when screening tenants.  One major disadvantage would be, not knowing where to draw the line on discrimination, which could end up in an expensive lawsuit.  Be careful, a potential tenant could complain that using social media for screening is a violation of their right to privacy.  If their accounts are public though, you are allowed to look at them.  Be consistent, if you use social media to screen one tenant, use it to screen them all.

Always be aware that searching for information on social media sites can be a double-edged sword — it may be able to help reveal a bad tenant, however, it could also generate problems if a landlord or tenant ultimately rejects the applicant.

For more Tenant Screening Tips, click here!

What are your thoughts on using social media to screen potential tenants?

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