Under the negligent hiring theory, an injured
party (another employee, a resident or others) may bring an action against an
employer arguing that the employer failed to exercise reasonable care in
screening
prospective employees.
A recent judgment against the Charlotte (North Carolina)
Housing Authority establishes a similar precedent with regard to
tenant
screening - which
might be described as the negligent leasing theory. Under this negligent
leasing theory, an injured party (employee, another resident or others) may
bring an action against a landlord arguing that the landlord failed to exercise
sufficient care in conducting background checks on prospective tenants.
In this case, the victim (63) was strangled to death in
her apartment (in a public housing complex managed by the Charlotte Housing
Authority) by a neighbor who had a history of violence, drug related offenses
and mental illness. The estate of the victim brought suit arguing that the
housing authority failed to properly screen the tenant (perpetrator).
At issue was the criminal records search.
According to testimony the Housing Authority only does local or state-wide
criminal searches. A more thorough (broader) background screening (that
included Maryland) would have revealed the applicants criminal past. The jury
concluded that the Authority could have and should have known more before
renting to the perpetrator and awarded the victim's estate $132,000 in damages.
A thorough background check (criminal records search) includes searching
additional names (AKA's) and addresses (jurisdictions) associated with the
applicant. Fully one third of valid (and verifiable) criminal "hits" are
the result of these additional search.
The data show that approximately 4% of applicants have
serious (or deniable) criminal convictions in their past. A static search
(single name & single jurisdiction) will identify serious offenses in 2-3% of
applicants. Thus, a failure to conduct these additional searches means a
typical 100 unit property will have between 1-2 serious offenders living on
site. Granted, it is only a problem if something bad happens. But if
something bad does happen, the landlord is vulnerable to a negligent leasing
claim.
Talk with your tenant screening company. Know
exactly what is included in the public records component of your tenant
screening reports. Ask that they search additional names & jurisdictions.
It should add very little time and expense to the tenant screening process -
time and expense that is easily offset by avoiding serious problems
down the road.
Visit
MyScreeningReport.com® to learn more about comprehensive tenant screening
reports.
MyScreeningReport.com®
is a service of Moco Incorporated.