Landlords are checking social media to vet new tenants

Have you ever agreed to this?

Landlords and letting agents are paying for what are bing named as ‘personality reports’ which gives a break down on potential new tenants based on details obtained by trawling Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other sites.

Tenant Assured creates a report on behalf of the landlord or letting agent, with the tenants’ permission. This is then used to verify basic information as well as uncover any other details such whether they are pet owners or how trust worthy they are. The report is used to verify basic information such as date of birth and employment history.

However it goes much further, looking through applicants’ previous posts and updates looking for keywords that could highlight any areas of concern.

It also uncovers the applicant’s attitude toward spending and their likely creditworthiness.

This is based on how many times the applicant talks about spending money as well as the amount of log-ins in leisure-based activities.

If a potential new tenant was consistently ‘checking-in’ at the local pub then this might go against them and damage their score.

Steve Thornhill, director of Tenant Assured said: “Landlords that are already doing it. They are already searching Facebook and other social media profiles . Our service consolidates and analyses the information in a more presentable and digestible way.  It lets them look at the character of a person, if they’ve got pets, if they are always out partying. It’s a great way for them to see if a tenant is suitable for their property.”

Landlords and letting agents require new tenants to go through a series of checks including traditional credit referencing, employer checks and previous landlord references.

The cost of this service can vary from £20 up to around £150.

Tenant Assured charges £9.99 per report, but landlords or agencies with large volumes of tenants would qualify for discounts.

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