To screen tenants, set lawful written rules, check the facts on the application and record your decision. Get a signed application and consent for your checks. Give the applicant a way to correct missing or wrong information. Screening software can help you gather records. You still need to read what they show.
Use the sequence below to organize the work for your rental. Federal consumer-report rules apply to covered reports. The state-law examples here are for California; check your property’s state, city and housing-program requirements before adopting the process.
1. Set lawful criteria before accepting applications
Write down the evidence you will use to assess ability to pay rent and meet lease obligations. Explain your application process and lawful screening criteria in advance. Keep the same standards for similarly situated applicants, including how you accept alternative proof and consider reasonable accommodations.
Eligibility criteria must not use protected characteristics as selection tests. The Fair Housing Act protects race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. California CRD’s housing guidance describes additional state protections, including source of income. A criterion does not become lawful just because you apply it consistently.
Have the property’s move-in charges and screening-fee process checked against current law before publishing them. Avoid copying a first-and-last-month requirement or a deposit condition from an old checklist. Pet policies also need an accommodation route: California CRD explains that necessary service and emotional-support animals are not subject to ordinary pet restrictions or pet rent.
2. Collect a completed application and explain consent
Ask for the information needed to check the published criteria. A practical application checklist includes:
- The applicant’s name, phone number, email and current address.
- Relevant employment or other income-source information and proof of income.
- Prior rental addresses, tenancy dates and rental-payment history.
- Former-landlord and, where relevant, employer reference contact details.
- A signed authorization explaining the credit or other screening checks and reference contacts you plan to make.
- Relevant occupancy and vehicle information for the property, without unrelated personal or medical questions.
Make accommodation requests easy to raise separately. Don’t turn a question about accessibility into a demand for a diagnosis. CRD says accommodation requests need not be in writing or use particular words. Its guidance limits what disability-related documentation you may seek.
Request missing fields directly and explain acceptable alternatives. An incomplete application needs follow-up; it is not proof of dishonesty. Keep the signed application as a record of what was submitted, without assuming it proves fraud or gives you an automatic right to evict later.
Before ordering a consumer report, establish a permissible housing purpose and certify the intended housing use to the reporting company. The FTC’s FCRA landlord guidance explains these duties. Written authorization is a useful part of your process; check additional state disclosure and consent rules with your provider.
If a service offers an investigative consumer report based on personal interviews about character or reputation, additional FCRA disclosures apply. The FTC describes notice and scope-disclosure obligations for those reports. Confirm the required disclosures before ordering that service.
3. Confirm income using appropriate evidence
Match the document request to the income source. Pay records can support wages; authorized employer contact can confirm current employment and permitted pay details. Self-employment, benefits and rental assistance need suitable alternatives. Avoid a universal demand for several months of full bank statements when narrower proof answers the question.
Check the pay period, payment frequency and whether the evidence reflects current income. Compare figures on the same basis. If something differs, ask for an explanation and supporting records through a secure channel. Record what you confirmed and what remains unresolved.
In California, consider lawful, verifiable income sources, including housing assistance. If you use an income-to-rent standard for a subsidized applicant, calculate it against the applicant’s portion of rent. California also requires an opportunity and reasonable time to supply lawful, verifiable ability-to-pay evidence instead of credit history for applicants with rental assistance. If supplied, consider that evidence instead. These requirements are explained in CRD’s source-of-income FAQ, questions 7–10.
4. Validate rental history and independent references
Confirm that a reference actually represents the employer or rental property named on the application. Find a published employer contact route independently. Check a landlord or manager’s connection to the prior address before relying on their account.
Where available, contact both a current and an earlier landlord. Ask the same relevant questions about tenancy dates, rent-payment timing, documented lease issues and the condition at move-out. A second reference can add context, but don’t assume a current landlord is lying or that every applicant has two former landlords.
Ask for the basis of negative statements. A documented unpaid balance and a vague complaint about attitude are different kinds of information. Give the applicant a way to address a disputed statement. If history is limited or a reference cannot be reached, use the lawful alternatives in your policy and record the attempt.
5. Verify the identity of each adult applicant
Apply your lawful identity-verification process to each adult applicant, including proposed roommates. Confirm that application and report identifiers refer to the person applying. Review name variations and inconsistent addresses through that process rather than substituting a relative’s records.
Collect only identifiers your lawful check needs. Do not make a full Social Security number a universal requirement just because an old form includes it. Confirm the provider’s permitted identification options and any applicable legal limits. Explain the secure submission route; never ask an applicant to send account passwords or banking login details to you.
A common name, a changed surname or a mismatch calls for clarification. Mugshot resemblance and social-media impressions do not reliably resolve a report’s identity match. Keep those shortcuts out of the decision.
6. Review report accuracy and geographic limits
Read the underlying report rather than relying only on a pass/fail recommendation. Check names and other lawfully obtained identifiers, dates, duplicate records and case outcomes. A court filing does not tell you how the case ended. If an applicant identifies an error, explain how to contact the reporting company and review the corrected information.
The CFPB describes applicants’ report-dispute rights. Give applicants time to verify an unresolved record under your lawful process. Don’t treat a reporting error as evidence of application fraud.
Criminal-history screening needs a location-specific policy. California CRD identifies prohibited information, including arrests without convictions, sealed or expunged records and juvenile matters. It prohibits blanket criminal-record bans. Its criminal-history FAQ describes directly related convictions, accuracy checks, written notice of the opportunity to present mitigating information and consideration of that information.
The same California FAQ advises delaying a third-party criminal-history report until financial and other qualifications have been verified. Follow the applicable California rules and check for stricter local restrictions. This is not a nationwide criminal-history timetable or permission to investigate social-media affiliations. Other states, cities and housing programs can require different procedures.
7. Resolve open questions, then document the decision
Before deciding, identify any missing item, conflicting reference or disputed record. Tell the applicant what needs clarification and what evidence you can accept. Use a consistent follow-up process, with reasonable accommodations and any required local response periods.
Write factual decision notes: the criterion, the supporting record, the verification date and the resolution of discrepancies. Leave out guesses about personality, family life or health. If a material issue remains unverified, describe it accurately instead of calling it proven fraud.
If a consumer report contributes to denial or another unfavorable condition, provide the FCRA housing adverse-action notice. The FTC includes report-based co-signer requirements, higher rent and larger deposits as adverse actions. Such conditions must also comply with applicable housing and deposit law.
The notice must give the reporting agency’s name, address and phone number. Explain that the agency did not make the decision and cannot give the specific reasons for it. State the applicant’s dispute rights and right to a free report requested within 60 days.
If a credit score contributed, add the written or electronic score disclosures the FTC specifies. Include the score, source, creation date, model range and key adverse factors in order of importance.
Offer a route for correcting errors before deciding where possible, and for reviewing corrections afterward. That recommended review step does not replace the required housing notice. Don’t substitute an employment pre-adverse-action checklist for the housing rules.
8. Protect the application file
Use encrypted transmission and protected storage for financial and identity documents. Limit access to staff who need the information for the application. Keep accommodation information confidential and separate from routine leasing notes.
The FTC recommends a written retention policy covering what you keep, why, for how long and how you dispose of it. Set that schedule against your actual legal requirements and any legal hold; there is no single retention period in this article. The FTC’s landlord guidance requires secure disposal of consumer-report information when you finish using it.
If a manager or screening provider handles part of the process, agree who verifies references, reviews errors and sends notices. Ask how the provider restricts access and handles deletion. Assign responsibility for the final decision rather than assuming the software has completed every check.
Sources and scope
Sources checked October 7, 2026:
- HUD: Fair Housing Rights and Obligations.
- California CRD: housing discrimination and accommodation questions.
- California CRD: Fair Housing and Source of Income.
- California CRD: Fair Housing and Criminal History.
- FTC: Using Consumer Reports—What Landlords Need to Know.
- CFPB: screening report denials and disputes.
- FTC: Protecting Personal Information—A Guide for Business.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check the federal, state, local and housing-program requirements for your property. California examples do not establish screening, fee, deposit or criminal-history rules elsewhere.
