Landlords gather to highlight need for stricter tenant screenings

During a summit in Columbia, Missouri, property owners gathered to discuss a growing issue - crimes committed by tenants. Rental property owners gathered to meet with residents and city officials in order to find out which laws could be better applied to the situation and address other issues that weren't properly understood, the Columbia Daily Tribune reports. Approximately 60 people came together for the event at Parkade Center, where the majority said that they felt that crime had gone up and that more needed to be done in order to make tenant screenings more thorough. The CEO of the Columbia Housing Authority, Phil Steinhaus, said that property owners needed to be more careful about who they rented properties to and that ignoring proper tenant screening procedures could be costly for the community. "As soon as you stop paying attention to your property, that's when the problems start," Steinhaus said in an interview with the paper. Other areas of the country are also calling on landlords to take additional precautions. The Snohomish County Business Journal reports that landlords in Snohomish County, Washington, will be able to take advantage of resources provided by the government.