Let’s face it. No one wants to get their property stuck in any legal disputes in India. These take years to get resolved and even then you are never sure which way the verdict will go. And throwing out (or even hassling) tenants without a court order is a criminal offence.

Hence, tenant verification is super critical, so you avoid such outcomes.

In case you get a “wrong” tenant, let’s see the kind of issues that may arise.

1. Misuse of property - In India properties are classified for “residential” or “commercial” use, and using one for the other will get you in trouble with the government. But it can get much more serious than this, if the tenants misuse the property for anything illegal.
2. Safety of neighborhood - Your tenants disturbing your neighbours with late night parties, too much noise, etc, will ultimately become your headache.
3. Loss of rent - If a tenant stops paying rent, by giving different excuses, again you have trouble.
4. Damage to property - Not all tenants may treat your property with utmost care. Tenants may damage your property, your fittings and furniture and that also may result in a long term loss to you.
5. Overstay - If a tenant refuses to vacate, as per the agreement terms, you again have trouble.

How do you verify a tenant:

1. Employment checks - If they claim to work somewhere, you can verify the same. Larger employers have their own way of conducting background checks, so you can rest assured of no criminal records. This also provides a platform to raise any unethical or illegal issues to.
2. Previous landlord checks - A previous landlord check will be great to do, so you get a good idea if they caused any of the above problems with them as well.
3. Social media verification - This also helps to get a general idea of someone’s personality if publicly available.
4. ID checks - You must have Photo IDs of everyone who is going to be living in your house. This is required by law.
5. References - It is also good to have some references of other family members or friends to whom you can reach out to in case of any issues.
6. Credit report - Is it also fair to ask your tenants to share their CIBIL score or any credit report.
7. Private detective/Police verification - Finally, if you have any doubts you can also get a police verification or professional background check done. Do remember that police verifications sometimes turn off tenants, as they do not want to be hassled with the repercussions of this.

Finally and most importantly, you need to be totally comfortable with a tenant who is going to be staying in your house. You need to be able to trust that person. I once had a friend, who would get her tenants to meet her dog. Only if Coco took a liking to the tenants, would she let them tenant her property. Dogs have strong instincts, and she totally trusted Coco’s judgement 😁