Screening prospective residents has become routine, or should have, for all rental owners and managers as we have become more and more concerned with our residents' safety, but many owners are very lax when doing background checks of employment applicants.

There are many things to take into consideration before hiring anyone to work in any capacity at your apartment community or any other rental property you own. You definitely want to check prior employment records, criminal history, prior human rights violations, education claims, special training certifications, etc.

Failure to check prospective employees thoroughly can be expensive and even more to the point, a major threat to the mental and physical well being of your residents.

Human rights violations, as mentioned above, are very important to ask about when hiring because they are cumulative. Your first violation comes with a fine and any subsequent violation against them for a violation occurring on your property for the first time, you may be fined the amount of a second violation. Another expensive lesson you can avoid by really checking the background of every employee applicant.

Once you do find and hire that perfect manager or maintenance person do take the time to train them. They need to know how you want and expect everything done: important timetables, work schedule requirements, rental criteria, and all the other things that are special to your work situation. Every rental community is unique and you should not leave a new employee guessing about how you want things done. That is asking for problems.

Finally, be sure to have and use a good employment contract that has been at least critiqued by an attorney. Both you and any employee whose rent is part of his/her compensation need to be aware the employee does not have tenant rights, and you therefore need to have all terms spelled out in the contract, especially how long the employee has to move out after quitting or being fired.

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Updated: Jan. 2, 2002