question about renting a house... help

[HKsilvia]

my family is going to rent a house. (NOT apartment), today while we arrive the house that we looking at the son of the owner (that what he claim himself as) greet my parents, meanwhile he gave my parents a form to fill out. so heres the info that he needs.

name
birthday
phone number
current address
previous address
social security number :confused:
employment info
emergency contact
so applicant employment info
reference

most information are ok with me but SSN???? is he asking too much info without knowin him? should we ask him to give us all these information as well? we had never own any house so we get kinda worry about our info getting stolen or whatever bad happens. :bite: what should we do?

[Agamemnon]

Sounds like they just want to run a credit check.

[HKsilvia]

but is it safe? did anyone rent a house b4? pls help
thx

[ALEXTHESUS*PECT]

i rent a condo with some other people and the owner ran a credit report. it common for houses or condos more then apts, as it is a bigger risk for the owner.

[chlatboy]

i rent a house and they asked for my social. Its either you give it to them or the find someone else. I guess it all depends on how bad you want the place.

[mrmephistopheles]

it's pretty standard. It's only in low-rent joints that they won't ask for it.
If anything, I'd make sure the form goes directly back to the parents and not the son.
We rent out a house, and do credit checks on all potential tenants.

[HKsilvia]

ic...so this is kinda normal, thx for the info
one more thing , should i ask the homer owner for identity proof as well, or is it simply just too rude to do so?

[mrmephistopheles]

that'd be kinda rude, maybe a copy of their driver's license on the outside of things.
If they're taking you to show you a property and they have a key, etc, they're probably legit. You can always go to your county and find out who owns the house that way.

[C. Senor]

^yeah thats pretty true...my parents used to rent out our other house, and they asked for all that info. it should all be on one form and run credit check with that. they never got asked for any proof that they owned the house. i suppose if you really want to, you could ask, if they are nice people and have that proof readily available they might show you something. but if not and that makes them mad they could just find someone else.

[S13SilviaGirl]

In renting out a house, all tenants need to be listed as well. Make sure you have renters insurance, and that all tenants are listed there as well.

[HKsilvia]

thx a lot for the infomation again

[S13SilviaGirl]

^^ NO worries, it just makes it easier if anything ever happens! My parents had a problem with one of their rental houses and people not being on the contract that were living there. HUGE mess for the tenants that were the legit renters.

[S14DB]

Dude, there have been so many scams down here where people break in and rent/sell homes that aren't theirs. Snowbirds come down and find someone living at their house.

I would only deal with the people with the homes title in their name or a Licensed representative. I wouldn't trust someones "son" unless you were formally introduced by the owner. I don't think it's rude to verify their ownership this day in age. Just as they are going to verify you.

[pbcstylez]

i agree with s13silvia girl, get all the names down of the renters onto the contract, this prevents you if one of your roommates all of a sudden moves out, he/she is still entitled to pay the rent until they find a replacement, this way you never get stuck paying for a room that is empty. IMO you gotta cover your own ass first, this is money we are talking about. I've been f'd over once before.

[azndoc]

^^^ true that. The SSN is for the credit check. That's when I found out that my awesome credit from before now sucks major ass. **sigh**