What Is Tenant Screening?

When a person looks for a new place to rent, he will find very quickly that each potential home has requirements that tenants must meet. The requirements are not the same from place to place. Most apartment complexes and rental properties make tenant screening a standard phase of their application process.

Definition

Tenant screening is the examination of potential tenants by the management of an apartment complex or other rental property. The results of the screening are used by the management to determine whether a potential tenant is a suitable candidate for tenancy. Potential candidates therefore are rejected or accepted by property management based on the screening results.

Who Is Screened

In most instances, only those who would be on a lease for a property are subject to tenant screening. Minors therefore typically aren't screened unless they are emancipated. Cosigners also are subject to tenant screening even though they might not live on the property because they are legally tied to payments related to the property and to the tenants who will live on site pending screening approval.

What Is Examined

During tenant screening, screening companies investigate several factors, including rental history, credit history, criminal history and income (employment). Therefore, screening companies contact the management of the prospective tenant's previous places of residence and obtain credit reports. They also do a background check for any criminal history and contact the prospective tenant's place of employment to verify the tenant's income. The property management compares the results of the screening to its rental regulations to determine if a person qualifies to sign a lease. For example, one regulation might be that the tenant must earn three times the rent amount per month. The rental regulations must be in compliance with state and federal laws on fair housing.

Completion Time

The time taken for tenant screening varies from company to company. Some companies do enormous amounts of screening and thus take longer to get results back. The average time it takes to get screening results is between 3 to 7 business days. However, this can be lengthened if the screening company has trouble getting information, such as if a current employer for a potential tenant does not respond to a request for payroll verification.

Purpose

The purpose of tenant screening is to minimize risks to the property management and to other tenants. By checking a potential tenant's rental history, for instance, management can find out if a potential tenant has had disputes with other management, if the potential tenant was consistent with payments and how well they kept up the rented property and interacted with other tenants. By checking credit history, the management can decide if the potential tenant may be a financial liability.

Discrimination

Tenant screening is not intended as a means of discrimination. For instance, if two tenants, black and white, went through the screening process and both were found to have multiple, identical misdemeanors on their record, property management cannot use the misdemeanors as an excuse to deny the black tenant the chance to sign a lease if they do not also apply the same standard to the white applicant. The same standards must be applied to all individuals during the screening process, regardless of age, race, gender or religion.