What to Look for in Tenant References (And the Questions That Actually Matter)

Most landlords know they’re supposed to check references. Fewer know what to actually do with them.

Calling a prior landlord and asking “was this tenant good?” is about as useful as asking a stranger if they’re trustworthy. You’ll get a yes either way. The real skill is knowing which questions dig past the rehearsed answers, which references to be suspicious of, and when a hesitation tells you more than any answer would. If you want the fuller picture of how reference checks fit into a complete process, understanding your tenant screening process is worth reading before you place your next tenant.

This post covers what we’ve learned after 16 years and 450 properties managed in Salt Lake City. Some of it might surprise you.

In This Guide

The Reference Call Most Landlords Skip

Here’s something we tell every new owner who comes through our door: the most recent landlord reference is the one you should trust least.

Think about it. If a difficult tenant is finally leaving, what’s the fastest way to make sure they actually go? Give them a glowing reference to whoever calls next. We’ve seen this play out more times than we’d like. A landlord who’s been dealing with late payments, maintenance headaches, or lease violations has every reason to say “fantastic tenant, highly recommend” if it means the problem walks out the door and becomes someone else’s.

The landlord before that one has no such motivation. They’re not getting rid of anyone. They have nothing to gain by softening the story.

Our standard at Rhino is to verify at least two prior tenancies, which means going back at least 24 months of rental history. Anything shorter leaves a window where a problem tenancy could be hiding right before the one you know about. One landlord reference is a sample size of one. A pattern only shows up with two.

Why Written Reference Letters Are a Red Flag

We worked with an owner who placed a tenant in a condo unit without ever calling the prior landlord directly. The application looked clean. There was an emailed reference letter that said all the right things. So they moved forward.

After move-out, our team discovered over $4,000 in property damage. When we tracked down the actual prior landlord, they confirmed the tenant had a documented history of unauthorized pets and repeated late payments. The letter had conveniently left both out.

Written letters can be fabricated. They can be written by a friend posing as a former landlord. They can be cherry-picked to highlight three good months and omit fourteen bad ones. And in Utah, by the time you’ve worked through an eviction and restoration, you’re looking at $4,000 to $6,000 in total costs before you’re back to square one.

A live phone call is non-negotiable. It allows follow-up questions. It lets you hear tone. Silence and hesitation carry information that a letter can never deliver.

The Questions That Actually Reveal Character

Asking whether a tenant paid rent on time is almost useless. Most landlords will say yes, either to avoid conflict or out of genuine uncertainty about what they can legally say. The better questions are behavioral.

Here’s what our leasing agent Bernadine uses on live reference calls:

• “Would you rent to this person again?” Then pause. Don’t fill the silence. How long someone takes to answer tells you plenty.
• “How did they communicate when something went wrong?” This surfaces maintenance dispute patterns, which matter a lot in a state where tenants can use Utah Code §57-22 as leverage.
• “How did they leave the unit?” Move-out condition is one of the most predictive signals for how someone treats a property long-term.
• “Did they have any guests or occupants you weren’t aware of?” Unauthorized occupants are one of the most common problems we trace back to weak screening across our portfolio.
• “Were there any neighbor complaints during their tenancy?” This one catches what the other questions don’t.

A pivot, a long pause, or an abrupt “no comment” tells you more than a straight answer about payment history ever would.

What Unauthorized Occupants Actually Cost You

One owner transferred to Rhino after a tenant dispute involving someone not on the lease who had been living in a unit for four months. A proper reference call with the prior landlord would have revealed the applicant had a documented history of adding unlisted occupants. That information was available. Nobody called to get it.

The unauthorized resident triggered neighbor complaints. It took two months to resolve through legal channels.

That’s a scenario we see in the Salt Lake City market more than people expect, partly because the metro has grown fast. Tech sector migration has brought a large pool of applicants with out-of-state rental histories, which means reference calls sometimes go to landlords in Denver, Austin, or Phoenix. Those calls still matter. Out-of-state references require the same live verification. Distance doesn’t change what you need to know.

How Vacancy Pressure Creates Bad Placements

Salt Lake City’s rental market has tightened considerably over the past several years. Owners feel it. A vacant unit at $1,800 a month creates real pressure to fill it fast, and we understand that.

But rushing reference checks to avoid a few weeks of vacancy is one of the more expensive shortcuts we see. The math doesn’t work in your favor.

A tenant who stops paying after month two represents $3,600 in lost rent before an eviction even begins, not counting legal fees that can vary considerably in Utah depending on the complexity of the case and the attorney retained. The eviction timeline here typically runs two to four weeks after proper notice, depending on the grounds for eviction and court scheduling., which means a non-paying tenant at $1,800 a month costs a landlord roughly $1,350 to $2,250 in unrecovered rent just during that window.

Many of the 225 owner-clients we work with came to us as accidental landlords. Salt Lake City has a strong owner-occupant culture, and a lot of people end up renting out a home they didn’t plan to manage. One owner came to Rhino after self-managing a single-family home and accepting a tenant based on a single reference from a friend of the applicant, not a prior landlord. Three months in, the tenant was behind. The owner absorbed over $5,400 in lost income before regaining the property.

Nobody taught them how to do a reference check. That’s not a character flaw. It’s just a gap.

How We Document and Track What References Reveal

Reference checks don’t live in a vacuum. What Bernadine learns on a call gets logged and connected to what we’re seeing in real time once a tenant moves in.

We use PropertyMeld to track maintenance requests and response patterns across our portfolio. A tenant who submits four maintenance requests in six months, especially requests that don’t hold up on inspection, is a pattern worth noting. Maintenance abuse is one of the most common issues we deal with across our 450 properties, and it almost always has a backstory that a prior landlord could have flagged.

When a prior landlord mentions the tenant “called a lot about things that weren’t real issues,” that’s a signal. When they say “the unit was spotless when they left,” that’s also a signal. Both go into the picture we’re building.

The combination of a live reference call and a documented maintenance history across tenancies gives us visibility that a rental application form alone can’t provide. Utah has a rental application process under state law, but the form captures facts. The call captures character.

Local Compliance Worth Knowing

Reference checks are one layer of a broader screening process. Owners operating in Salt Lake City should also know that the city runs programs connecting landlords and tenants to resources, including the Salt Lake City Tenant Resource Center and the Housing Stability Division. The Good Landlord programs in Salt Lake City and nearby cities like West Jordan are designed to encourage landlords who operate responsibly, offering benefits such as reduced rental license fees., and strong screening practices are part of that picture.

Proper documentation of your rental process, including reference verification, also keeps you cleaner if a fair housing question ever comes up. The rental business license requirements in Salt Lake City are separate from screening, but landlords who take screening seriously tend to run tighter operations across the board.

Working With a Property Manager on Reference Checks

If you’re handling references yourself, the framework above gives you a solid starting point. If you’re considering whether to hand this off, the reference check process is a good window into how a property management company actually operates day-to-day.

One owner described working with our team this way: “The team has been fantastic throughout the entire process. They made onboarding straightforward and ensured everything was organized before moving forward. Their communication is consistent, and they provide excellent follow-up.”

That consistency isn’t an accident. Every week our team holds internal huddles to talk through problems across our portfolio and figure out how to fix them. When Bernadine flags a reference call pattern she’s seeing, the whole team hears about it. That kind of shared knowledge is hard to replicate when you’re managing on your own.

We offer both flat rate and percentage-based fee packages, depending on how your portfolio is structured, so the financial side is flexible. But the process is the same either way.

If tenant reference checks feel like more than you want to manage yourself, we’re open to a conversation.

FAQ

What questions should I ask a previous landlord during a reference check?

The most useful questions are behavioral, not factual. Ask if they’d rent to this person again, how the tenant handled problems when they came up, and what condition the unit was in at move-out. Silence or hesitation after “would you rent to them again?” often reveals more than the actual answer.

How many prior landlords should I contact for a tenant reference?

Aim for at least two, covering the last 24 months of rental history. One reference is a sample size of one. A pattern of late payments or lease violations only becomes visible when you look at more than a single tenancy.

Can I accept a written reference letter instead of calling the prior landlord directly?

We’d strongly recommend against it. Written letters can be fabricated or written by someone posing as a landlord, and they can’t be questioned. A live call lets you follow up, hear tone, and ask the questions that actually matter.

How does Utah’s eviction process affect the cost of a bad tenant placement?

Utah requires a 3-business-day notice to pay or vacate for nonpayment before a landlord can file an unlawful detainer action., and the full process typically runs two to four weeks after proper notice. At $1,800 a month, that’s roughly $1,350 to $2,250 in unrecovered rent just during the eviction window, before you add legal fees that can vary considerably depending on the complexity of the case and the attorney retained.

Is the most recent landlord always the best reference to call?

Actually, no. A landlord who has a difficult tenant they’re trying to move out has every reason to give a positive reference. The landlord before the most recent one has no such incentive and is often more candid. We always try to go back at least two tenancies for exactly this reason.

Should I still call out-of-state landlords if an applicant recently moved to Salt Lake City?

Yes. Salt Lake City has seen significant population growth from out-of-state migration, particularly from the tech sector, and many applicants have rental histories in other states. Those references are just as important. Distance doesn’t change what you need to find out.