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Landlords Need Criminal History and Credit Checks for Prospective Tenants

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A quick Google search using the words “landlord horror stories” results in nearly 200,000 hits. Website after website is devoted to stories about landlords who find out far too late that the prospective tenants who seemed like the perfect match cause problems so severe they have to eventually be evicted, a process that can be long and arduous.

Credit Checks

Some tenants quit paying rent. They may have a history of evictions. Others may have a serious criminal history. Landlords have discovered after the fact they have rented the property to a sex offender. All landlords should conduct a tenant screening background check prior to signing the lease agreement in order to avoid having their own landlord/tenant horror story.

Landlords need to conduct both background checks and credit checks on prospective tenants

Landlords need to have each adult who is a prospective tenant fill out a detailed application including authorizing the landlord to do credit checks and background checks. If more than one person is hoping to move in, it is possible that one person may have stellar credit with no skeletons to be revealed in the credit checks, but the other one may have monumental debts on their credit report along with numerous eviction reports and a criminal history.

  1. Credit checks: Landlords often charge prospective tenants a fee to do credit checks. The credit check reveals whether or not the prospective tenant has the income to pay the rent and whether they have a history of late payments.
  2. Background checks: A background check reveals whether the prospective tenant has any evictions on their record, whether they have a criminal history as well as relevant information that may be found in other public records.

Fair Housing Act (FHA) Compliance

Some landlords may be wary about running afoul of the FHA, which prevents landlords from refusing to rent property to people based on discrimination. People who have poor credit or a criminal history are not in a protected class under FHA and the FHA does not require landlords to rent property to them.

Doing credit checks and background checks can save landlords money as well as the stress and headaches that can be caused by renting to an unknown criminal or a non-paying tenant.

Disclaimer: The information on this website does not constitute legal advice and is governed by our Terms of Use. We make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to this website and its associated sites.

TenantScreening.biz names CoreLogic as preferred tenant screening provider

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We are excited to announce our partnership with MyRental.com by CoreLogic®, an online tenant screening service designed for independent rental owners to facilitate educated leasing decisions.

CoreLogic SafeRentMyRental.com is backed by CoreLogic® SafeRent® – the nation’s single largest aggregator of current tenant screening data and analytics. Information in the CoreLogic SafeRent databases is updated 24 hours a day, seven days a week and undergoes seven layers of quality control to validate and clarify the data.

MyRental offers a unique Tenant Score, which ranks the relative risk of each applicant, including the ability to pay rent on time. It also offers Tenant Score PLUS, an enhanced score that allows landlords to compare an applicant to others in the same area, including accept/decline percentages of other nearby landlords.

We also chose to partner with CoreLogic because they aim to provide services that are not only reliable but also easy to use, with a simple tenant screening signup process and no membership or on-site inspections required.

Through our CoreLogic SafeRent partnership, we are able to offer the customers the flexibility of purchasing single reports or conveniently bundled packages. You can contact TenantScreening.biz with any needs, questions or comments you might have.

The tenant screening products offered include:

  • Credit Report – Receive a full credit report on your applicants to verify Social Security number, name and alias as well as known addresses; the report also provides public record information, trade-line data, previous inquiries and credit score.
  • Criminal Search – Determine if a potential tenant has a background containing violence, property destruction, sex offense or financial crime.
  • Eviction Report – Select applicants who are most likely to fulfill the lease by reviewing these reports gathered from public landlord and tenant court records.
  • Sex Offender Registry Search – Find out if a prospective tenant is a registered sex offender. This search runs automatically with our criminal search report and provides case information and conviction details so you can stay informed with quick, actionable intelligence about your applicants.
  • Terrorist Database Search – This search is run automatically with our criminal search report and enhances applicant criminal information. If the search identifies a suspected terrorist, law enforcement will be alerted so appropriate action can be taken.
  • Tenant Score – Identify applicants who are most likely to fulfill the obligations of a lease with this three-digit score. Using inquiry, credit, and eviction data, MyRental generates a score that summarizes the potential risk of a potential tenant compared to others.
  • Tenant Score PLUS – Take scoring one step further. At a glance see how your applicant’s tenant score stacks up against the average in your region (by Zip code, city and metro).

Get started today! Visit TenantScreening.biz to create an account.

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