Renting to a Non-English Speaker?

Renting a home or apartment comes with many challenges.  It is tough to find potential renters who will take care of the property responsibly and pay their leases on time.  Dealing with unmet expectations and broken lease agreements takes excessive time, energy, and resources.  You may find renting to a non-English speaker intimidating because of the language barrier and the greater possibility of misunderstandings.  However, some easy ways exist to overcome this and successfully expand your pool of potential renters.

Tips for Renting to a Non-English Speaker

1. Understand the potential renter may be a friend or family member to assist.  Many people in the United States who do not speak English well will seek the help of a trusted friend or family member to interpret for them and understand cultural norms or laws that may not exist in their home country.  Of course, treating these individuals with the same level of respect you do your potential client is essential.  You may want to verify with them that they understand anything being discussed and feel confident providing an oral interpretation of your conversation with the client.
2. Avoid making assumptions based on the client’s home country or language.  It can be easy to develop biases or assumptions about how responsible a tenant will be or their ability to pay based on language, but you must break free of this tendency.  Not only is it inaccurate, but you could be violating rights provided under Fair Housing Laws.  Fair housing laws don’t explicitly identify language as a protected class, but the country of origin is.
3. Provide translated versions of important information and the rental agreement.  If your property is in an area populated by many families speaking another language, it’s cost-effective and straightforward to have documents translated into another language beforehand.  Think about the essential rules you have for your property:  payment dates, landscaping expectations, inspection timelines, responsibility for damages, etc.  Prepare a document ahead of time so that prospective renters know what you’re looking for when they visit your site.  By providing an accurate translation of the leasing agreement, you can rest assured your client fully understands your expectations, and you will have a solid remedy in place if they don’t uphold them.

What is an easy way to get accurate and legal translations of rental agreements and other disclosures?

If you want to rest assured your documents will be defensible in a court of law, then you need to have them translated by professionals with expertise in the work.  At The Perfect Translation, our team combines language fluency with subject matter expertise and experience so you’ll receive the most accurate translations of your legal materials possible.  Our translators understand cultural variances and will ensure the context of the translated document is clear in the target language and matches your intentions accurately.  Contact The Perfect Translation for a free quote today.