INTERVIEWING THE PROSPECTIVE TENANT
(THERE’S A LITTLE PERRY MASON IN ALL OF US!)

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The first meeting between the landlord with a vacancy and the applicant looking for one usually has an agenda of three items. First, the applicant wants to look at the unit to see if he likes it as the landlord will tries to sell it. Second, the landlord will have the applicant go into a corner to fill out an application form with his check stubs and other documentation attached. Finally, the landlord will ask a series of questions to clarify the matters on the application.

So far is good. The landlord, however, can do better. Better is to get a glimpse into the applicant's thoughts and motivations, and to elicit information which might not fit into the boxes on the form, or which he might be going to some lengths to conceal. Often, a landlord will say that everything on the form looked really good (or bad), but that he (the applicant) said something while he was looking at the unit that put everything in a different light. Most often the story is told as a chance event. The truth is, it does not have to be a matter of chance.

The applicant's interview should start at the moment the door to the rental unit is opened and he is ushered in to look, continue through the process of filling out the application, and conclude only when the landlord pockets the holding deposit check and shakes hands. If done properly, the applicant will not even realize he has been interviewed, which is the only way to ensure statements are candid.

There are two cardinal rules for those who wish to hone their interviewing skills:

1. always ask open ended questions; and

2. let the applicant talk, and listen carefully to what he says.

There are two types of questions, those which lead and those which do not. An experienced trial lawyer can show the difference in a minute, but most persons neither comprehend nor do they understand the importance of the difference. Leading questions have a closed end. They suggest their own answer, asking either for confirmation of a fact which is supplied in the question itself, or strongly implied by the way the question is framed. A question which does not lead is one which is open ended. It presupposes no answer, but permits the respondent to frame one for himself. An example of a leading question is:

QUESTION: "So, between June 3, 1996, to date you have been working at the Framersham Widget Works?"

ANSWER: "Yes."

The questioner has just confirmed that the answerer has worked at Framersham for the past three years. This is a technique which trial lawyers use to pin hostile witnesses down in cross examination, often to devastating effect. It is designed to present information, known to the questioner in advance, to a third party. This is definitely what a trial lawyer wants, but not the landlord. Contrast this with the following exchange started with an open ended question.

QUESTION: "Where have you been working recently?"

ANSWER: "I've been working at the Framersham Widget Works."

QUESTION: "Really, how long?"

ANSWER: "Off and on the past three years."

QUESTION: "Off and on?"

ANSWER: "Well, business has been a little spotty since they lost the government contract, but my brother-in-law is a contractor and he gives me some work off the books when things get slow."

Note that the two answers are totally different and yet truthful and responsive to the question. The leading question is the sort which one finds on the typical credit application, the open ended question is the type which the landlord will want to pose, perhaps during the course of a perfectly casual and unintimidating inspection of the rental unit.

The open ended question alerted the landlord to a whole series of inquiries he will need to make to evaluate this applicant's income stability. The same can be said about reasons to move, relations with the previous landlord, and so on. View the showing and application process as an elongated conversation, in which the applicant is encouraged to talk and fill the room with sound. Do not shunt the applicant to a corner table with the rental application to fill it out alone while you sip coffee or check for messages. This is a golden opportunity to obtain information on the applicant. Let him fill out the application in his own hand, but be there to answer questions. If you are sitting there, he will ask them, and if he does, that means that he has information he thinks there is no space for on the form or may not be sure is relevant. This is an opportunity to get that information through open ended questions.

The landlord should definitely cultivate the art of silence. Silence will intimidate more people in an inferior position into talking than bamboo slivers under finger nails.

The landlord is in the superior position. He has the rental unit and can do what he wishes with it, or so the applicant thinks, not realizing how large the negative is on the vacant unit. The applicant is in an inferior position. He needs a rental unit because he is under pressure to move, or, maybe he desires it because it is a definite step up from his current residence. Either way, he is fully committed, he is looking and ready to fill out an application. The landlord, ever the coquette, must be pursued and conquered, through words. Remember what we said about filling the room with sound, the applicant will naturally abhor silence because it bespeaks no progress in his attempted conquest. Therefore, the most effective tactic to extract information is to ask the open ended question, then wait silently for the answer. It is the applicant who must expend words to achieve his ends. Let him do it and all sorts of information will spew forth.

We are sorry, there are no scripts to offer, since we do not suggest that you, the landlord, follow a script. What we suggest is that you converse, which is something you do every day. That last minute in which you ask a few questions about what is on the application is not enough. The interview process should occur well before then. Nor do we suggest that all applicants are dark and shadowy figures with deep unrevealed secrets they work to conceal at all times. On the contrary, in most instances your interview of the applicant will only reveal an average individual well qualified to be your tenant. But whether he is the shining applicant or the shadowy concealer, your ability to draw him out will be a worthwhile addition to your screening tools.

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