Do background checks on prospective tenants for the good of the community

In Pikeville, KY, a community group is “urging property owners within Pikeville city limits to help build a safer community by doing background checks on potential renters“. Makes sense to me.

What’s unique about this story is that this is not a law enforcement agency or landlord’s association that’s urging the background checks. It’s a community group. They think that having landlords do background checks on prospective tenants is good for the community.

They’re right. You may have heard of the “Broken Windows” theory first named in an article by James Wilson and George Kelling. The theory says that neighborhoods don’t go bad all at once.

First there are some broken windows that don’t get fixed. Then trash starts getting thrown on the sidewalk instead of put into trashcans. The downward spiral starts with small things.

And those small things often start with tenants who are criminals. They don’t just trash your place and jack up your maintenance and repair costs. They bring in their friends who aren’t exactly model citizens, either.

One cop once put it this way to me, “Look,” he said, “Criminals have this whole lifestyle that says they can do what they want regardless of how it affects other people. Do you really think that some guy who’ll steal your wallet or break into your house will pause to throw trash into the proper container? Not likely. He’ll throw it on the ground.”

Here’s the bottom line. Doing the kind of background criminal and credit checks that are good for your profitability and peace of mind are also good for the community. Now you’ve got one more reason to do them.