Recommendations for Checking a Prospective Tenant’s Rental History

Sleuthing together the pieces of a potential tenant’s rental history can sometimes make you feel more like a detective than a landlord. But, considering what’s at risk if you don’t do your due diligence, it’s absolutely worth it to pull out your magnifying glass.

After all, the last thing you want as a busy, independent landlord is to let lax screening practices lead to potential ill-fitting tenants and rent nonpayment, extensive property damage, or expensive eviction costs.

Further, resorting to eviction may be more common than you think. The U.S. Office of Government Accountability states that, while difficult to collect and decentralized, their data suggests that, nationwide, millions of tenants are evicted every year.

However, while this number may seem shockingly high, it’s important to remember that it includes all kinds of eviction charges brought to tenants. It could include people who eventually paid their rent and didn’t go to court, people who had a hard time once and then never again, or people who have a habit of not paying rent and bouncing between unsuspecting landlords.

Every case is different. It’s important to ask potential tenants about their rental histories, but also back up their story through data. This includes collecting reports like a previous eviction check through a reputable tenant screening service like SmartMove®.

This article covers things you need to know about checking into a rental applicant’s past housing outcomes, including how to check rental history, what to prepare, how to look for past evictions, and other recommendations to help better protect yourself when choosing new residents.

What is a Rental History Report?

According to Bay Property Management Group, a “rental history report” refers to a comprehensive summary of a person’s previous rental records. It can include things like:

• Previous addresses
• Rental rates
• Evictions
• Late payments

It may also include contact information of the landlord or property manager at the time. Rental history is typically put together through a variety of different sources, including:

1. Information supplied by the applicant directly, such as a list of previous rental addresses and landlord information.
2. Information received from previous landlords through a reference check, such as if there were any late payments, damages, or if the security deposit was returned.
3. Information requested through a background check company, such as past eviction reports, or credit checks.

As a landlord, you may need to buckle down and go through all of these channels to get a better understanding of your potential tenant. If you don’t, it could come back to bite you in the future––and hard.

Why Do Landlords Check Rental History?

There are many reasons to get the details about a potential tenant’s rental past. According to an article from 302 Property , landlord reference checks help you learn more about a tenant’s previous behavior and trustworthiness.

For example, looking at a potential tenant’s credit history gives you an overall view of their financial habits to help answer questions like:

• Do they pay their debts on time?
• Do they make enough to pay the rent?
• Are they responsible with money?

All of these could impact your rental decisions.

Similarly, looking into someone’s rental history may help you understand how they tend to act in rented spaces. If they’ve completely destroyed the last ten apartments they’ve lived in, you may think twice before handing over the keys to your own unit.

The 302 Property article also explains that taking the time to validate an applicant’s rental history can also help you learn:

• How they maintained the unit
• About their payment record
• If they ever broke the lease terms
• If they neglected or damaged your property

Not only does an applicant’s rental history help to give you the bigger picture of who they are, but it may also help to guide your overall tenant decision.

What if My Tenant Doesn’t Have a Rental History?

In some cases, you may receive a tenant application that lists no rental history at all. For example, college students or Gen Z rental applicants may be new to the rental market. This means they may not have had the opportunity to obtain rental history.

While first-time tenants may lack a record, you don’t necessarily have to disqualify them as a potential tenant. It’s important to note that lack of rental or credit history doesn’t necessarily mean an applicant won’t make a good resident.

If you find yourself in this situation, there are several pieces of information you may want to consider instead, including pay stubs, tax return stubs, or co-signed leases.

According to listing site Redfin, there are several ways potential tenants who have no rental history might try to prove they will be a good fit for your property.

• Provide references or a co-signer: Having someone like a parent, family member, roommate, or friend with a healthy rental history as a reference, cosigner, or guarantor, might make you feel more comfortable with first-timers.
• Proving financial stability: Does the applicant have a steady income? You can find out by validating their employment. Additionally, you can review documents like pay stubs, credit reports, or even Income Insights to help you analyze your applicant’s financial behavior.
• Accept a higher security deposit or upfront rent: Some first-time tenants might offer to pay a higher security deposit or prepay several months of rent in advance. If you decide to accept this route, just make sure your arrangement follows all applicable laws.
• Meet in person and consider your first impression: Were they respectful and courteous? Did they show up on time? While first impressions alone may not be enough to base your decision on, your first meeting with a tenant can be telling on how they will treat you, their neighbors, and your rental property.
  
  

All of these are options to keep in mind as you consider first-time rental applicants or those with limited rental histories.

How to Check Rental History?

While the exact tenant screening process may vary from landlord to landlord, reference checks often follow a general pattern, which may include the following recommendations:

Set Your Tenant Criteria and Expectations

Before you list your rental property on the most popular rental listing websites and begin to receive rental applications, be sure you understand what your ideal tenant’s background might look like.

For example:

• How will you handle someone with a relevant criminal history?
• Will you accept a tenant who has paid late rent in the past?
• What about someone who broke their previous lease?
• Will you accept a tenant who doesn’t have any rental history?

Questions like the ones above can help you to create a template of who your ideal tenant would be. They can also guide you when you’re reviewing applications.

That said, it’s important to stay realistic. If your screening criteria is too strict you may have trouble finding qualified tenants. If it’s too light, you may be overwhelmed with potentially ill-fitting applicants. Either way, make sure to always abide by any applicable laws.

Let the Applicant Know You Need Their Rental History

To learn more about your prospective tenant’s rental history, you should gather the applicant’s information. You can ask about these details directly on your rental application.

Common information to request on rental applications includes:

• Addresses of previous rental locations
• Length of time they stayed
• Previous landlord or management company contact information

You may also want to ask how much rent they paid at previous apartments. For example, if you have a rental application that managed to pay a rate higher than your rate for three years without missing a month, it may be a good sign they can afford your rate, too.

Have Applicant Sign a Rental History Release Agreement

Apartments.com recommends obtaining consent from your rental applicant before contacting their previous landlords. This not only shows you respect your tenant’s personal data, but also increases fairness. What's more, you can show that you received permission in case issues or questions ever arise. 

Past rental application information might include:

• Length of residency with previous properties
• Rental amounts paid in the past
• Rental payment history

Also consider including the requirement for rental history review when writing your rental ad. That way, you may start to weed out any applicants who aren’t keen to share their past rental information. In the end, those who can and do provide this information upfront may be more desirable for your rental property.

As always, make sure you follow any applicable laws and contact qualified legal counsel if you have any questions.

Review the Rental Application and Rental History

• Start the rental verification process by reviewing the prospective tenant’s history section in the initial application. According to landlord software site RentSafe, you can check for information and ask for clarification on things like:

• Housing gaps: if there is a significant gap in rental information or frequent house hopping, it could be a warning sign. Perhapsthey moved back in with their parents to save money––or maybe it could be some other explanation.
• Incomplete address: Has the applicant left out rental payment history or street numbers from their previous addresses? Did they not include contact information for previous landlords? Could it be an honest mistake or maybe something more?
• Missing contact information: Did they fail to list their previous landlord’s email and phone number? Perhaps they just didn’t have it on hand, or perhaps they don’t want you to know.

As you review, keep an eye out for incomplete information or less obvious warning signs. Key omissions could indicate that your applicant doesn’t want to share their tenancy history, or that they don’t want you to be in contact with previous landlords.

Conduct a Landlord Reference Check

Taking time to ensure your tenant is reliable and responsible may save you the hassle of eviction and costly repairs down the road. Evictions can be expensive and can take a long time to run their course.

Thankfully, getting quality tenant screening data and checking with previous landlords may help you get the information you need to make confident leasing decisions.

Once you’ve reviewed the prospective tenant’s application, you should call their current and previous landlords. A landlord reference check can help you answer important questions, such as:

• Will they keep my rental property in good condition?
• Are they likely to pay rent on time?
• Will they cause trouble with the neighbors?
• What can I expect when communicating with this applicant?

A simple 15-minute phone conversation with an applicant’s current and previous landlord may help provide insight about whether or not your prospective tenant is a good fit.

According to Lamacchia Property Management Group, some potential questions to ask previous landlords during a reference check include:

1. Can you confirm the applicant rented from you for the dates and rate specified?
2. Did the applicant pay their rent on time every month?
3. Did they take reasonable care of the property?
4. Were there any major issues beyond normal wear and tear?
5. Was the applicant disruptive to neighbors or others?

Would you rent to this applicant again?

Of course, this list contains only a few possible questions to ask, but is by no means exhaustive. You can use these questions as a starting point and add your own. Come up with queries that will provide the information you need to help make a confident leasing decision for your property.

Once you’ve received applications and gathered the information you need, you can begin to validate a prospective tenant’s rental history in a few additional steps.

Check for Past Evictions

Thoroughly examining rental applications and conducting landlord reference checks may be essential steps when investigating a prospective tenant’s rental history. However, it’s crucial that you also validate the information they’ve self-reported.

One way to help do that is through running a previous eviction check. SmartMove eviction checks, include eviction records that have a final judgment, which may include:

• Tenant judgement for possession and money
• Unlawful detainers
• Tenant judgements for small claims

Armed with this knowledge, you may better understand if the history on your potential tenant’s application was correct, or if you need to ask some follow up questions.

Additionally, with SmartMove, you get a ResidentScore® included in every screening package. Unlike traditional scores that were made for money lending, ResidentScore is a proprietary calculation that was specifically designed for landlord/tenant scenarios.

Here are the benefits of a ResidentScore over a traditional credit score:

• Helps predict future eviction risk15% better than a general credit score alone.
• This important score can further help you validate your potential tenant’s information. After all, knowing what’s happened in an applicant’s past could help inform future leasing decisions.

Conduct Tenant Screening

On top of eviction records, getting additional background check reports can help validate the claims on a rental application. Here’s a few ways this can work:

• Credit reports: credit reports often contain previous addresses, which you can check against the history listed on the rental application. Additionally, it may help you determine if they have a habit of paying bills on time or letting them pile up.
• Income Insights: here, you can verify your potential tenant makes the income they claim. This may help you determine if the rental rate they said they’ve paid in the past makes sense with their income.

• Tenant Criminal background check:this report scours hundreds of millions ofcriminal records searching for a potential match for your applicant. It may help you determine if they have any related criminal history that could be a threat on your property.

• Identity check: one of the most important verifications, this report may help confirm your applicant is actually who they say they are. After all, an excellent rental history is meaningless if it doesn’t apply to the person standing in front of you.

In the end, picking a great tenant all comes down to deciding if the applicant is the right fit for your rental property. With the right information, this part of the process can be easier.

Ideally, a landlord wants a tenant who:

• Pays rent on time
• Has an acceptable criminal and eviction history
• Will treat the property as if it’s their own

With a thorough rental history review and tenant screening reports from a well-established company like SmartMove, you might just find what you’re looking for.

Help Get Rental History Insights with SmartMove Tenant Screening

Sometimes, your potential tenant’s past is a mystery that can be difficult to unravel. But, before you don your trench coat and deerstalker hat, know that there are more than just indecipherable paper records and past landlord leads that go nowhere. Bring your search into the modern age with fast, flexible online tenant screening through SmartMove.

Your rental applicant’s past conduct in a rental property may be a helpful predictor of their future.

Dig into their history with rental credit report, eviction report, a criminal report, Income Insights report, and a ResidentScore to help you make a informed leasing decision.

Designed specifically for independent landlords with only occasional screening needs, you can get most reports are delivered same day after the applicant verifies their identity. . Plus, you get only the reports you need and only when you need them. There are no subscriptions, monthly minimums, or hidden fees. Simply create a free account and start screening today.

All reports are backed by TransUnion, a major credit agency with forty years of data expertise. This means you can feel more confident in the data you use to help verify your tenant-supplied information.

Don’t let ill-fitting tenants lead you off the trail. Help verify rental history information for your potential rental applicant with fast, online tenant screening through SmartMove.