Alice called again. And once again she called just in time. You may remember, or not, in June 2008 I wrote a column chronicling Alice’s tribulations with a prospective tenant who was trying to get Alice to rent to him using flim-flam, smoke and mirrors. Well, a new set of applicants has shown up.
This time two brothers and their families from Ireland want to rent her up and down duplex. Their story: their father (uncle, cousin, whoever), who owns a business, wants to retire and is giving or selling the business (it’s not clear which) to these two brothers.
They were to be coming out the next day to have their respective wives look at the place to see if it’s okay. At that time, they told Alice, they will give Alice the rent and move in. Mind you, these two Irishmen haven’t filled out one piece of paper that remotely resembles a rental application. And Alice hasn’t verified even one thing that might indicate these two actually are who they say they are.
Alice doesn’t know much about immigration law. And these two are apparently taking advantage of that. They said they had visas. Fine, I told Alice, but that doesn’t give them the right to work in the United States, only to live here for a while. What about green cards? Alice hadn’t asked about them.
First of all, no one needs a visa to come here from Ireland. Immigration just stamps a visitor’s passport with a notation that says he or she can stay for six months, no problem. If someone wants to stay longer, then that person must have a visa. So I told Alice to first have them show her their visas. Visas are attachments to the passports not a separate piece of paper. And every non-citizen of the United States is supposed to carry his or her passport at all times.
Second, they need to show her their green cards. And green cards aren’t green, they’re pink or off-white with a photo and thumb print of the person on it. You can see for yourself just by typing in “green card” into a Google search.
These two are also exceptionally pushy. First, before they even walked into the building, they said that the driveway was unacceptable. It is sand or dirt and these two were concerned that the sand would get tracked into the house. That is probably true, but there is more. They said they could do that for her for a deduction from the rent. And there’s more yet.
A gate that provides access to the driveway into the property works with difficulty. They said they could repair that for her for only $9,500. When she told me that, it got my attention and got me thinking about immigration and green cards and such.
Alice didn’t know any of these things about how and why someone can work in this country. She was intimidated by these two because they talked fast and were pushy. I am sure these two feed on people like Alice. You can bet they wouldn’t try it on an experienced property manager.
I asked Alice how they were going to pay the rent if they were deported for working here without a green card. You see, if they were to be deported for that, they wouldn’t be able to come back to the United States for 10 years.
Then there’s the issue of Social Security numbers. They don’t have any. In order to work in this country, everyone needs to have a number that gives the IRS somewhere to credit income taxes. It might not be a Social Security number; it could be a ITN. But either way, everyone who works has to have one.
Alice wouldn’t be able to verify anything if these two did fill out an application. They said have never rented before because they own property in Ireland. From their description, it is a palatial estate. Of course, Alice could verify their ownership, or at least that someone owns it, relatively easily. But the big question is still the right to work in the United States.
As landlords, we have every right to be satisfied that someone is able to pay the rent. Without a green card, an alien can’t work here. That means there will be no source of income. He or she would have to prove to us that there is a source of income. Without it, we must reject that person as a tenant.
My suspicion, of course, is that these two might have seen a TV program about Ireland once, but have never been to Ireland in their lives and are scam artists, and professional bad tenants.
Here’s the most important thing for every landlord to remember when screening applicants: you are in charge. The pushy, the sleazy, the overbearing, the pathetic, the victims will try to make you be in a hurry or feel sorry for him or her. But remember, the only two times a landlord gets into trouble are when he’s in a hurry and when he feels sorry for someone.
I am glad Alice called me just in time once again.
