TL;DR
- Use standard, written criteria to evaluate a renter's income, credit, and rental history.
- Verify an applicant's income, employment, and rental history rather than trusting the information in their application.
- Follow Fair Housing and other federal laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, when conducting tenant screenings.
- Watch for patterns in a tenant's behavior and history rather than denying a potentially qualified applicant based on a single red flag.
- Document everything so you'll be prepared if an applicant tries to dispute your decision.
As a landlord, you have to deal with seemingly endless tasks: property maintenance, collecting rent, accounting, listing vacant rentals (the list goes on and on). But of all those tasks, knowing how to screen tenants consistently and accurately is perhaps the most important.
Thorough, accurate tenant screenings help landlords protect themselves, their properties, and their other tenants. If you leave the decision up to gut feelings, you could end up facing a costly, time-consuming eviction to get rid of a tenant who violates the lease terms or doesn’t pay rent on time.
While screenings aren’t a guarantee of finding a good tenant, they do give you the valuable information you need to make the best housing decision possible. Here, we’ll go over everything landlords need to know about screening tenants, from setting written criteria to accepting or denying applicants.
What Does a Tenant Screening Do?
In short, landlords use tenant screenings to vet applicants and determine whether they can be trusted as tenants. The full screening process allows landlords to verify an applicant’s income, financial, and rental history, in addition to their criminal background.
Typically, a comprehensive tenant screening includes:
- A rental application,
- A credit report,
- A background and eviction check,
- Income and employment verification,
- References from past landlords, and
- A short interview.
While you don’t want to irritate applicants by asking for too much information right off the bat, these data points will help you make your final decisions when it comes to tenant selection.
Federal, State, and Local Tenant Screening Laws
Before you begin accepting rental applications and conducting tenant screenings, it’s crucial to understand the federal, state, and local laws that regulate the screening process. If you have any staff, they’ll also need to stick to the law, since landlords can be held liable for any violations committed by their employees.
Here’s what you need to know on how to screen tenants correctly:
Federal Laws
A few important federal laws impact how you screen tenants nationwide. To start, there’s the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits housing decisions based on the following protected characteristics:
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- National origin
- Sex
- Familial status
- Disability
Meanwhile, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires landlords to obtain the tenant’s written permission to run a background check during screening. Per the law, landlords must also give tenants an adverse action notice if they deny housing based on information in the credit report.
State and Local Laws
In addition to federal laws, many states, counties, and municipalities have their own rules protecting tenants from unfair practices during the screening process. Some also enact their own fair housing laws that include additional protected characteristics, such as sexual orientation and source of income.
Since these laws vary widely by location, you’ll need to read up on your local regulations to make sure you stay within your legal rights when you screen tenants. In particular, check for limitations on criminal and eviction history review, additional protected characteristics, and screening fees.
How to Screen Tenants in Six Steps
As with any part of being a landlord, tenant screening should be an easily repeatable, standardized process. Follow these six steps to screen tenants accurately and efficiently:
Step 1: Before Receiving Applications, Set Your Screening Standards
At some point during the rental listing process, you’ll need to determine your requirements for tenants. Will you only accept tenants who earn three times the rent? Do you want to set a minimum credit score requirement? And will you allow questionable renters if they have qualified co-signers?
No matter your conditions to rent, you need to apply the same standards to every renter. You might get tempted to make exceptions here and there (for tenants with housing vouchers, for instance), but these rules exist to make your tenant selection process easier and, most importantly, fully legal.
Beyond simply determining a list of screening criteria, write your requirements down and publish them where potential renters can see them. By including these standards in the rental listing, you can help unqualified applicants self-screen and instead attract high-quality tenants.
Step 2: Use the Same Application for Every Tenant
Next, send a thorough rental application to all interested applicants. These forms collect tenants’ contact details, income, rental history, references, and written consent to run a background check. Every adult who will sign a lease (including roommates) should complete the same application form to ensure legal compliance.
If a tenant is applying with a guarantor or a co-signer, you’ll have to evaluate them, too. To conduct a credit and background check, get their written consent at the beginning of the application process.
Of course, all of these checks aren’t free. To cover screening costs, landlords typically require tenants to pay between $35 and $70 as an application fee, though some states and municipalities impose strict caps on charges.
Step 3: Conduct the Screening and Review the Reports
With the applicant’s consent, you can pull their credit, criminal, eviction, and identity reports. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, eviction judgments will show up on a background check for 7 years, bankruptcies for 10 years, and convictions indefinitely.
Some states and cities limit how far back landlords can look when reviewing criminal or eviction history. Colorado, for example, limits consideration of most criminal convictions to the previous 5 years, while some local laws impose 3-year limits on certain criminal or eviction records.
For first-time landlords, the information in background checks can be confusing, so don’t take screening reports at face value. Instead, use the information in the report to cross-reference and verify everything else the tenant provided in their application.
Step 4: Contact the Applicant's References
On that note, you should always take the time to contact the applicant’s references. By speaking with an applicant’s employer, you can confirm their job title and salary and deduce whether they’ll be able to pay rent on time each month.
It’s also well worth reaching out to more than one of the applicant’s previous landlords to get a better sense of what they’ll be like as a tenant. First, confirm that they actually own and/or manage the address that the applicant reported, then ask the same three questions:
- Did the applicant pay rent on time?
- Did the applicant ever violate the terms of the lease?
- Would you rent to this person again?
While you should still contact the applicant’s current landlord, they could provide overly positive (but incorrect) information about the applicant in an effort to get rid of them. So, you’ll have to take that reference with a grain of salt.
Step 5: Keep the Interview Short and Sweet
You’re almost done screening tenants, but before you give an applicant your stamp of approval, schedule a digital or in-person meeting. A short interview will help you catch any small inconsistencies in the application, and besides, it’s always good practice to have a quick chat with the person who will live under your roof.
During the interview, ask each applicant the exact same, fair questions. Stick to details like desired move-in dates, the number of occupants, and pets. Per federal fair housing laws, you can’t ask questions about an applicant’s religion, national origin, or disability (or assistance animals, which don’t qualify as pets).
The goal here isn’t to see if the applicant has an amazing personality or a heart of gold. Instead, this interview is to ensure they’ll meet all your standards for renters. If you uncover any information that conflicts with what you found in the application, follow up with the candidate before you make a decision.
Step 6: Pick the Most Qualified Tenant
Now that you have all the information you need, pull up those tenant standards you wrote down in Step 1 and determine which applicant would make the best possible tenant. Evaluate renters based on their income, credit, criminal and eviction history, and suitability for the unit as you decide.
If more than one applicant meets all of your minimum criteria, make a selection based on timing. As a tie-breaker, you should go with whichever tenant submitted their complete application first. Reach out to let them know you’ve approved their application, and confirm that they still plan to move in.
After making your decision, document your reasoning to create a clear paper trail and defend yourself against potential accusations of Fair Housing violations. You should also securely store all applications and screening reports for 1 to 2 years before disposing of sensitive information in accordance with federal law.
Red Flags to Consider
During the tenant screening process, you’ll likely come across some eyebrow-raising information that makes you wonder whether or not to deny housing to the applicant. While the concerns below shouldn’t lead to an automatic denial of housing, you may want to keep a closer eye on an application if:
- The answers on the application don’t match the screening reports,
- An applicant refuses to provide references or consent to a background check,
- Late loan payments or collections appear on the credit report,
- The applicant has moved many times within a short period, or
- You speak to a landlord who wouldn’t rent to the applicant again for a well-documented reason.
Though screening tenants typically turns up correct information, landlords should also be aware of the possibility of errors. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, errors in screening reports have affected countless renters across the country, making it all the more important to verify the information you’re looking at.
How to Legally Deny a Rental Application
From a legal standpoint, declining an applicant based on information in a consumer report requires landlords to take another step. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, landlords must send an adverse action notice to applicants they deny.
Per the FTC’s guidance for landlords, the notice must include:
- The name, address, and phone number of the reporting agency,
- A statement that the agency didn’t make the decision, and
- The right to dispute errors and get a free report.
In certain states, landlords must send an adverse action notice regardless of the reason for denial. Some landlords also consider it best practice and a common courtesy to provide applicants with a denial notice, even if their local laws don’t require it.
Choosing a Tenant Screening Service
Now that you know how to screen tenants, consider a service to make it easier. The right screening service should do the heavy lifting for you, without cutting any legal corners. As you pick your screening agency, ask yourself these five questions:
- Does the screening service comply with the law? A detailed screening provider will comply with state and municipal laws and generate adverse action notices with all requisite details.
- Does the screening service operate as a consumer reporting agency? An agency selling searches based on public records may not provide accurate or complete information.
- Will tenant screening cause a hard or soft credit pull? A hard credit pull can negatively impact applicants’ credit scores, discouraging them from applying in the first place.
- Who pays for the screening (and how much)? Either the landlord or tenant may cover the screening fee, depending on how you handle applications. Some states also cap how much landlords can charge.
- How does the screening service handle disputes? The process for resolving disputes should include an estimated turnaround time and a way for the applicant to correct inaccuracies.
- When choosing a screening service, landlords will inevitably have to decide between a standalone tool and a fully integrated platform. The former provides only screening reports, while the latter includes additional property management tools, like rental listings and lease management.
Learn How to Screen Tenants the Right Way
Skipping a tenant screening can lead to major problems down the road. If you shortcut the process, you could end up with a nonpaying tenant or with someone who damages your property or breaks the law. Without a thorough screening, there’s simply no way of knowing who you’re renting to.
TenantCloud has you covered. Our tenant screening tools (powered by TransUnion) provide credit, criminal, and eviction reports, plus a rental-specific ResidentScore. Not to mention, you can also use our all-in-one software to handle virtually every other aspect of managing your rentals.
Sign up for a free 14-day TenantCloud trial and run your next applicant from start to finish. (Pricing starts at only $15 a month.)
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does tenant screening take?
Obtaining reports on credit, criminal, and eviction history typically just takes a few minutes. However, a full tenant screening could take 1 to 3 business days, as contacting references and verifying employment and income sometimes takes extra time. So, the duration of a background check can vary significantly.
Can a landlord deny an applicant based on criminal history?
Yes, as long as there are no local laws that limit housing denial based on criminal history. Still, landlords should never issue a “blanket ban” on all applicants with criminal history. Instead, they should evaluate each application on a case-by-case basis to determine whether or not the criminal history is relevant.
What is a good minimum credit score for renters?
Many landlords require tenants to have a minimum credit score of 620 or higher. This number can vary, though, based on local standards and requirements.
Do I really need to send an adverse action letter?
Yes. If you reject someone based on what shows up in their credit or background check, federal fair housing laws say you need to send them an adverse action notice. This letter should include the name of the credit reporting agency and explain how the applicant can dispute any errors.
Can a landlord screen tenants who use Section 8 or housing vouchers?
Yes, though landlords must use the same criteria to evaluate all rental applicants and cannot require additional references, security deposits, or other fees. In many states, landlords cannot legally deny housing solely because an applicant uses housing vouchers.
Can I ask about pets, roommates, or smoking?
Yes—as long as you’re asking the same questions of every applicant and those questions are part of your standard rental criteria. Just be consistent, and make sure everything you ask is relevant to the lease or property rules.
What is the cheapest way to run a full tenant screening that includes credit, criminal, and eviction checks?
TenantCloud offers a Full Check screening report that includes a credit check, criminal background, and national eviction search in one report powered by TransUnion. No subscription is required to access it. You can also pass the cost to the applicant by having them pay at the time of application, keeping your out-of-pocket cost minimal. For landlords comparing options, this per-report pricing is often more cost-effective than platforms that bundle screening into a monthly software fee. Check TenantCloud’s site for current pricing.
How do you compare cost per report quality across different tenant screening services?
Break each service down by what is actually included in the report. A lower-cost service that only covers a credit check is not comparable to a bundle that includes credit, criminal background, and eviction history. Data quality matters as much as data quantity: services sourcing directly from TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian produce more accurate, legally compliant results than those relying on aggregated third-party databases. TenantCloud’s Full Check uses TransUnion data and includes a ResidentScore built specifically for rental risk assessment rather than general creditworthiness. Calculating cost-per-screened-applicant over a 12-month period often reveals that bundled platforms deliver better value than their per-report price suggests.
Can one tenant screening platform replace multiple screening tools without sacrificing report quality?
Yes—property management platforms that offer bundled screening reports can replace multiple standalone tools without reducing accuracy or depth. The most effective screening solutions combine credit, criminal, eviction, and identity checks into a single report, eliminating the need for separate logins or manual comparisons. Consolidation works best when reports are clearly structured and designed for fast decision-making.
Who in the household has to fill out an application?
Every adult who signs the lease agreement must complete the same application and undergo the same screening procedures. Landlords should also screen guarantors and co-signers using a different set of standards, though these individuals typically shouldn’t have to fill out a rental application.
