We are looking at leasing a range and a colleague warned me about reputation

Hello all. Question about something I only half understand. We are looking at leasing a range and a colleague warned me about reputation, saying that if the previous tenant was a spam operation we inherit the problem and our mail deliverability tanks. That sounds plausible but also like the kind of thing people repeat without checking. Is this a real risk, and if so, how do you actually verify the history of a block before you commit to it? Transactional mail is a core part of our product, so deliverability problems would hit customers directly and fast.

Your colleague is right and it is a very real risk. Blocklist entries follow the range, not the tenant, and some lists are slow to clear even after a legitimate handover. Before you sign, check the range against the major blocklists yourself, look at passive DNS history if you have access to it, and ask the provider directly what the previous use was. A provider who cannot answer that question is telling you something. We ask about history on everything we take from InterLIR Global interlir.global/ , and it has saved us at least once. Tip: if mail matters to your business, warm the range up gradually rather than dumping full volume on day one. Also set up feedback loops with the major mailbox providers early, they tell you about problems before your customers do.