Renting out a property -what do you have to know about the new tenants?

Well, you as a landlord can learn as much as you want, or as little as you want, because as a landlord you can basically rent to whomever you want. That being said you have the right to limit, to a certain degree, the scope of renters, such as convicted felons or registered sex offenders, especially if laws in your area restricts them to where they can live. For example your city laws may prohibit sex offenders from living within 2000 feet of a school, park, daycare center, etc.; in this case you may not be able to rent to a sex offender. However that's really not a problem for you, the Landlord because it's up to the offender to know those rules and where he can live. But you are not allowed to discriminate potential renters on the basis of their gender, religion/faith (or lack thereof), race, origin, or sexual orientation. You may or may not rent to illegal aliens, so check with your city or state about this. Also you cannot rent to a family exceeding the number of people allowable for the unit you are renting out-- generally not more than two adults for each bedroom of your unit. You might want to pass by your rental place surreptitiously while your tenants are home, and observe their behavior and amount of traffic to the home. Make sure the same people you rented out the unit to are there. You should do a complete background check for criminal history and any history of evictions.