Comment from Aleyna
Peter You ask very good questions, and to be hosnet, I don not know the answer to all of them specifically your first question. I can say generally however that you should have a written screening policy in place that sets forth what an applicant must provide you and what will cause an applicant to be disqualified. Many of the items that landords and management companies require from an applicant cannot be provided by a person that is living in the US illegally.With regard to (2) yes, I believe that you can reject an applicant that cannot provide you with a social security number or some other identification that would allow you to verify their status. For instance you cant run a credit check on someone if they dont have a SS# so if you require a credit check on all applicants that applicant could not meet that requirement. If a applicant refuses to provide you with somehting needed in order to run a background check then you could certainly reject that applicant as long as that is part of your screening criteria ainformation from all applicants.. The city of Madison did have a local ordinance that prevented a landlord from collecting an applicant's SS#. I do not practice in Madison (with good reason : ) but I believe that that ordinance was recently struck down by a new state law. If that ordinance is still viable then at least in Madison you could not deny an applicant is they didnt have or were unwilling to provide you with theri SS#. So you will always need to check the municipal laws in the municipality in which your rentals are located.I have a client that rents property in an area near a college and has many applicants who are visiting the US legally on a student VISA or something similar. That client used to require that all applicants supply a SS#. But since many of the visiting students from other countries did not have a SS#, the client ended up modifying theire screening criteria as they were otherwise turning away very good applicants. So they now accept other forms of identification.If you would like more information on the documentation that individuals visiting from other countries are provided, I would reccomend that you contact an attorney that specializes in immigration law. That way you could determine what type of documentation is available.(3) Yes, if that is part of your screening criteria and you require it of everyone.(4) Yes, if that is part of your screening criteria and your require it of everyone. See caveats noted in answer to (2) above.One issue that is arising lately is the issue of disparate impact which states that even if a policy that is not discriminatory on its face, might be discriminatory if it affects a certain group of persons predominantly. It is a complex topic and has been raised lately with regard to the use of criminal background checks on rental applicants. We will more than likely see this issue being debated more and more. Some of the policies you mention could end up having some problems under the disparate impact theory.Please also remember that just because you can legally do something does not mean that it will prevent you from being sued by an aplicant for alleged discrimination. Defending one of those complaints is not fun so keep that in mind as well.Your questions involve many issues that are pretty complex plus require a working knowledge of when and how individuals can visit the US legally. I by no means claim to be knowledgeable in that area and am not providing legal advice.
to top ^Comment from Rhiniie
I have suggested the site becasue if you go on their message board you can meet people who actually do this kind of work. By reading their messages and responses you can find the legit places to work.The hard thing about it is most places have a long waiting list and you have to check back with them to see if they are hiring yet. Also, most places require you to have high speed internet only and it can't be satellite. (This is what is stopping me becasue where I live I can only get dial up or satellite.)
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