Yes. You can look at proof of income, past rent payments and checked references as well as a credit score. Each helps you answer a different question about the lease. Read the records behind the score before you decide.
If you’re deciding what to do with an otherwise promising application, start with the evidence behind the number. You don’t need a judgment about someone’s personality or their entire personal past. You need a fair way to check their ability to meet the lease terms.
Read the credit history behind the score
Check which report and scoring model you’re looking at. Review the accounts, balances, payment dates and disputed entries that relate to your written criteria. A thin credit file gives you less information; it does not, by itself, show a history of missed rent.
Ask the applicant to explain a discrepancy without asking for unrelated private details. Compare the explanation with verifiable records. Keep a disputed account separate from an established missed payment, and check that the report actually belongs to this applicant.
The CFPB explains applicants’ rights to dispute inaccurate or outdated screening information. Offer a clear route for raising an error and reviewing corrected information. A provider’s recommendation should not prevent you from checking the underlying record.
Verify income that can cover the applicant’s rent
Use evidence suited to the income the applicant receives. Recent pay records and authorized employer confirmation can help with wages. Self-employed applicants may have tax records or documented business income. Benefit statements and housing-assistance documents call for a different check. Choose relevant proof under a written policy rather than demanding wage slips from everyone.
Review dates and payment frequency before comparing income with rent. Annual earnings, a one-time deposit and a current recurring payment describe different things. Ask for clarification when records don’t line up. Request only what you need to make that check, and provide a secure way to send it.
California protects source of income, including housing subsidies. Under the California Civil Rights Department’s source-of-income FAQ, an income standard for a subsidized applicant must use the applicant’s portion of the rent. It must not use the full rent paid partly by the subsidy.
That FAQ also explains the California credit-history alternative for applicants with rental assistance. If you plan to use credit history, offer the applicant reasonable time to present lawful, verifiable evidence that they can pay their portion. When they provide that evidence, consider it instead of credit history. The agency identifies benefit records, bank statements and pay stubs as possible evidence. This is a California-specific requirement, not a credit-screening rule for every state.
Use rental history to answer rental questions
Rental history can help answer whether rent was paid when due and how documented lease obligations were handled. Ask for prior addresses, tenancy dates and former-landlord contact details. With the applicant’s authorization, compare those details with payment records or a rent ledger where available.
A first-time renter may have no former landlord. Use the lawful alternative evidence your policy allows instead of treating missing history as misconduct. Where a report lists an eviction case, check the case outcome and the identity match before treating the entry as an established finding against the applicant.
For landlord references, ask factual questions about payment dates, documented lease violations and property condition at move-out. Separate damage from ordinary wear and ask what records support a negative statement. A vague opinion about someone being difficult gives you little to verify.
Authenticate the reference before relying on it
Verify reference phone numbers and email addresses independently. For an employer, find the organization’s published contact route and ask for the appropriate person. For a former landlord or manager, check the connection to the prior rental address. A phone number supplied on the application is a starting point, not independent confirmation.
Keep personal references in perspective. A friend may confirm how they know the applicant, but that does not establish rent-payment history. Likewise, an employer can confirm permitted employment and pay information without offering a character assessment.
Allow time for references to respond, and tell the applicant what remains outstanding. Following up about an application, arriving late to a showing or needing help with a form does not establish future lease performance. Give the applicant a consistent opportunity to supply a missing item or explain why a reference is unavailable.
Keep identity checks and lawful criteria separate from impressions
Confirm that the identity used for the application, references and screening report is consistent through your lawful verification process. A name variation or address mismatch needs checking. It is not enough to label someone dishonest.
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. Your criteria should address lawful tenancy requirements without using protected characteristics as eligibility tests. California has additional protections, described in CRD’s housing guidance.
Consistency also includes considering reasonable accommodations. An applicant may need help completing a form or an adjustment to a procedure because of a disability. CRD explains that you cannot demand a diagnosis or medical records to verify an accommodation request. Ask only for information permitted and needed to assess that request.
This article uses federal consumer-report rules and California examples. If your property is in Portland, Las Vegas or another market, check that state’s and city’s screening rules before applying a threshold, deposit condition or criminal-history policy. The California examples do not establish those places’ requirements.
Record the decision and give the required notice
Record which criterion you applied, what you verified and how you resolved conflicting information. Keep the evidence of the decision, not comments about whether someone seemed patient, friendly or like a good fit. No combination of screening factors guarantees future payment or property care.
Under the FTC’s landlord guidance on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, adverse-action notice is required when a consumer report contributes to an unfavorable decision. That includes denial and report-based requirements for a co-signer, higher rent or a larger deposit. A notice does not make an otherwise unlawful condition permissible.
The notice must identify the reporting agency by name, address and phone number. Explain that the agency did not make the decision and cannot give the specific reasons for it. State the right to dispute the report and the right to a free copy requested within 60 days.
If you used a credit score in the decision, the FTC also requires written or electronic score disclosures. Include the score, source, creation date, model’s range and key adverse factors in order of importance.
Use a secure decision file with access limited to people who need it. Follow a retention schedule that accounts for applicable law and any legal hold. The FTC’s information-security guidance recommends collecting and keeping only needed information; its landlord guidance requires secure disposal of consumer-report information when you’re done using it.
Sources and scope
Sources checked October 7, 2026:
- CFPB: rental denials, screening reports and report disputes.
- California CRD: Fair Housing and Source of Income, questions 7–10.
- HUD: Fair Housing Rights and Obligations.
- California CRD: housing protections and reasonable accommodations.
- FTC: Using Consumer Reports—What Landlords Need to Know.
- FTC: Protecting Personal Information—A Guide for Business.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by property, housing program and location. Confirm the applicable federal, state and local requirements before making a screening decision.
