Tenant Information

Thank you for your interest in properties for rent in the Pierce County area.  We have been managing rental homes for nearly 50 years now and have a large selection of homes in most areas of Pierce County and in all price ranges.  The selection of homes that we have available at any given time depends on which properties are available either because a current tenant is vacating, we have taken in a property for management because the Owner is leaving the area, or a property has been vacated and is now ready for the rental market.

We manage several hundred homes and have a large number of inquiries and prospective tenants previewing properties each day so we never know when an application may be taken on a particular property.  Consequently, a property may be available to prospective tenants in the morning and by afternoon have a pending application on it.

Although we do manage some smaller multi-unit and duplex properties, our main focus is on the single-family dwelling so most of the properties we have available are homes rather than apartments.  When a family rents a home, they are responsible for all of the utilities, yard care, and maintaining the property in good condition.  The Owner makes all repairs required by the Landlord-Tenant Act.  The Owner may also agree to other items but the Owner of the property must approve those items in advance.  Most properties do require a lease agreement, which is a commitment for both time and money.  Basically, leases are determined by the time of the year that the tenant occupies the property.  Since the Owner does not want a property to become vacant in the winter, most leases expire in the spring and summer months.

You may preview the properties we have available on our website:  www.nwp2.com
You may also contact our office at 253-584-3633  to preview an available Property
  
If you have the time, it is usually best for you to drive by the available properties before making an appointment so you can be sure that you like the appearance of the home and the neighborhood. This way you can eliminate any properties you would not want to rent and concentrate on making appointments for the properties that you do like. 

If the properties you wish to preview are occupied, then we will have to make an appointment with the current tenants so it is best to contact him prior to the day you want to see the property so we can arrange an appointment. 

We ask that all the adult members that intend to rent the property be available at the time of the showing.  If the properties are occupied; we hope to be as considerate as we can to the current tenant.

To Apply for a Property

 Accuracy and handwriting counts!  Sounds like elementary school all over again!  It is important that the screening service can read your information and that the numbers you provide for verifications are good working numbers.  If there are alternate numbers for landlords or employers, include those with the application.  Most applications are delayed because either the information was incorrect or the screening person could not read the applicants handwriting.  Moving is a stressful time for anyone and delays are frustrating so you can help speed up this process by having all your information with you at the time you complete the application and providing a legible product to the screening service.

When you make a selection, you will need to complete an application for the property.  All adults who plan to occupy the property must complete the application.  In the case of a husband and wife whose credit history is joined, there will be one screening fee.  Otherwise, there is an application fee for each individual application.  You will need the following information available:

• Current valid picture identification (Driver’s License, Military Identification)
• Social Security Card
• Current Payroll stub or information
• If self-employed, the previous two years income tax records with the income information
• Supervisor’s name and contact number for employment
• Name, address, and phone number of current employer(s)
• Name, address, and phone number of current and previous landlords
• If previous property is owned, address of property and bank or mortgage holder
• Name, address and phone number of a relative
• Name, address and phone number of a close friend or relative (other than the one previously listed). This should be a person that would know how to reach you in case of an emergency and we are not able to locate you.  Someone who would know that you are on vacation, out of town for a weekend, etc.  Occasionally things come up such as a neighbor reporting a water pipe that has burst and water is flooding so we need to reach you quickly and when we are not able to contact you, we need to know whom we could contact to get a message to you.
• E-mail address
• Banking verification information.  This is basically a letter from the bank stating the length of time you have had an account, a rating of your account, and whether there has been any history of returned checks.  We have a form for this so before any checks can be written on an account, it has to be screened.  Since it takes some time for us to get this information, you might want to get the form and have your bank mail it to us as quickly as possible.  We do not accept checks from out-of-area banks unless there is proof of overdraft protection in excess of the amount of the rent.
• List of children, ages, and names that will be occupying the property.  A description of a dog or cat that will be at the property.  A list of all vehicles and the license numbers and state where they are licensed.
• If you have a pet, there will be a non-refundable fee (normally $200 but is set by the Owner of the property so there may be some variations on this amount) and some Owners charge an additional $10 a month in rent for the privilege of having a pet at the property.  If you have additional animals, then we must get an approval from the Owner before accepting the application and there will be a fee for each pet.  We do not allow vicious breeds of dogs on any rental property we manage.  We have a list available in the office of the breeds that are commonly known to have a vicious nature but it is not limited to that list.  Any animal that is potentially vicious and/or dangerous may not be at a rental property.  All pets must be housebroken and the tenant is responsible for any losses, damages, or repairs that have to be made to the property as a result of having the pet at the property.

What does this process cost?

Well, unfortunately moving is not cheap.  There are a lot of expenses involved.  The obvious ones are listed below:

To Apply

• $35 money order or cashiers check to the screening service per individual applicant (see above for explanation)
• $300 earnest money payable by money order or cashiers check to Northwest Properties.

To Move in

• A deposit that is usually equal to one-month’s rent
• A full month’s rent regardless of the time of the month you occupy the property (we will prorate the second month)
• Any pet fees
• Any utility fees that we need to collect.  An example would be in many areas of Pierce County we have to collect $20 each month from the tenant to pay the sewer bill because the county will not direct-bill the tenant.
• If the home has a utility service that is a mutual company that does not collect a deposit from the tenant, then we will collect a deposit to insure that the closing utility bill is paid and it will be refunded after the property is vacated and proof is provided that the bill has been paid in full.  Most companies do collect the deposit but there are a few around in some areas that do not so we have to make those provisions to protect the Owner.

Example: $900.00 dollar home would or could have the following costs:

  $900.00     deposit and non-refundable carpet fee*
  $900.00    First month rent
  $200.00    Non-refundable pet fee
  $  20.00    Pierce County Sewer
  $  17.00    Lakewood Water District

            $2,037.00    Total expense
                       ($   300.00)    Earnest money paid at time of application applied to cost

            $1,737.00    Total move-in cost

*A portion of the amount shown, as a deposit will actually be a non-refundable carpet-cleaning fee to cover the cost of having the carpets professionally cleaned after you vacate the property.  So your deposit might actually be $800 and the non-refundable fee is $100.00.

In the example above, you can see that the $300.00 earnest money you paid at the time of the application has been applied to your move-in costs.  If an application is denied, that money is returned to the applicant.  If the applicant is approved, but tenant does not come in and sign a lease agreement, then the money is forfeited.  The reason for this is to prevent prospective tenants from making multiple applications and taking properties off the market for several days or weeks.  This practice creates a significant financial loss to Owners including the loss both to the Owner and another potential tenant who would have rented the property if it had been available to that person.  Basically, the $300 cashiers check or money order is demonstrating to the Owner that the prospective tenant is “earnest” about renting the property, if approved.

Reasons for denial

There are a number of reasons and the list grows as people become more and more creative.  Basically the list is for the obvious reasons but not limited to:  Poor landlord history, poor credit history, previous problems with the care and maintenance of a property, record of drug and/or domestic violence, criminal history, falsification of information on the application, false identification (social security is the most common one), inability to verify income, employment, or pertinent information that would be important before accepting the application.    It should go without saying that if your previous landlords had trouble collecting rent, you left the previous properties in a mess, you had to be evicted in order to get you out of the property, your animals destroyed carpeting/yard, etc.  The number one reason for denying an application is because of poor rental history…either the way the rental payments have been made or because of tenant-damage to properties.

We suggest that if an application has a credit problem that was created by loss of employment, medical expenses, or divorce, they provide a statement of what caused the problem, the dates involved, and the steps that have been taken to improve the credit history.  If it is not too serious and all other information is positive, then we can contact the Owner and ask if they would approve the tenant for occupancy.  Past credit problems do not necessarily prevent a person from renting a property but the applicant must show a valid reason for the problem to have occurred and a history of payments that are being kept current.  If you just don’t pay your rent or your bills, the application will be denied, so you might as well save the $38.00 (.send it to someone that you owe money too might be a thought!). 

Since most of the people who make application through our company are not going to pay a screening service to provide us with information that is so bad we could not accept it (although some surprisingly do!), we will move ahead to the acceptance and move in process.

Moving in!

Once you are accepted, an appointment will be set for you to come into the office to complete the lease paperwork.  At this time you will pay the balance of the money owing on the property (an exception would be if the property was not going to be available for some weeks in which case you would have to come in and pay the deposit in full).  You will sign all of your lease paperwork, we will go over any questions that you may have, you will receive a condition report showing all the items in the home and a description of the condition along with any notations that we feel are important for future reference (stains in carpeting, cuts or gouges in vinyl –that type of thing).  Once everything is done, you will receive two sets of keys to the home and you are “good to go!”  Prior to the time of your appointment, we will have called all the utility companies for heat, lights, and water and put them on in your name so you only have to make arrangements for phone, refuse, cable, newspaper and/or an internet service.  Unless an error has been made, all the utilities will be on at the property when you arrive there, the carpets will have been professionally cleaned, any repair or cleaning that was required will be completed and it is supposed to be ready to move in. 

This does not insure that everything is perfect.  The previous tenant may have known that the basement toilet runs all the time and the faucet in the utility room drips but did not want to call us and let us know because they were moving and didn’t want to stay at home for a repair person.  If we did not discover those things during the vacancy period, then we have to depend on the new tenant to let us know.  We will ask you to make a list for the first few days and if something needs to be done, we will make an appointment to come out and take care of everything with one call.

From then on during your tenancy, if you discover maintenance or repair issue, you will call in and let our maintenance coordinator know and she will arrange for the work to be done, as long as it is a Landlord-Tenant issue (heat, lights, water, plumbing, etc.).  We are not going to replace the carpeting or put in new carpeting unless the Owner has approved the work and sent us the money, but the day-to-day issues will be handled.

So that’s it ---

 Check out the website  www.nwp2.com
 See the homes   contact our office
 Make application   Sign proper paperwork

Move in!

We appreciate your interest in renting one of our properties and we look forward to meeting you.  We also have a sales department so if you are considering purchasing a home either now or in the future, we hope we can help you with that transaction also.  Many people think that they cannot qualify for a loan or they have to have so much money for a down payment they could never get their own home.  The reality is that there are literally hundreds of types of mortgages and there are some situations where a buyer can get into a home for a relatively small amount of down payment.  You can find out within hours or within a day if you could qualify for a home.  We can provide you with a phone number to call so it is completely private and you can know very quickly if you could get a home loan and the price range of home you should consider. 

We have been helping families since 1960 rent, sell and buy homes, so we hope we have the opportunity to do the same for you!