Where can I find a good service to use for screening new tenets? I’m looking for background checks, rental history, and credit history.
This is often asked. You can search for topics using the search button at the top of your screen. Here is my post about credit screening - reposted from another thread:
Tenant screening -
Check your county’s website and see if they post public records online. If so, this would be the easiest place to start. You should have each potential resident fill out a comprehensive application. Get as much personal information as you can. If your county posts the records online, just search the applicant’s name and see what comes up. Make sure you get their birthdate on the application so you can be sure you’re seeing the correct record. If the info isn’t on the web, you can go down to the public records office at the court house to do the same thing in person. This should be free and can be your first way to weed out the bad apples. You should also verify their employment. I like to do reverse phone number searches for free online to verify the phone number they gave me is actually for a legitimate business and not their friend Joe who was told to act like he’s their supervisor at work. Have them list at least their last two addresses and the landlord for each place. This doesn’t always produce fruit if they are young and were living at home or are a recent divorcee and previously owned their own house, but if you do get two prior LLs it can be helpful. Keep in mind their current LL may tell you they’re great just to get them to move out. The prior LL where they no longer live has no reason to tell you any lies.
There are websites you can use for background checks and credit checks. Here are some (some links may not be current):
www.atshome.com
www.e-renter.com
www.ntnnet.com
www.tenantalert.com
www.tenantcredit.com
www.accuratecredit.com
www.citicredit.net
www.publicdata.com
www.saferent.com
www.youcheckcredit.com
www.thelpa.com
www.mrlandlord.com
www.ntnonline.com
www.bestcheck.com
These websites charge varying rates for background and credit checks. The rules are fairly stringent for credit checks. You can get the agency to make a “credit decision” about the applicant, but you won’t be able to find out specific account information for them unless you have a home office set up, get it inspected, pay extra fees, and have the applicant’s signature stating you can pull their credit. Many lower income renters have horrible credit & that’s why they rent. You can generally rule out most people by doing a public records check on them and verifying employment. A couple misdemeanors are probably ok, but felonies should be grounds for denial. Just set your criteria and apply it evenly while also adhering to Federal Fair Housing Laws.