Tenant Screening

Selecting the best tenants for your property is the very first step needed to ensure your health and wellbeing, as well as that of your investment, and the tenants themselves. Taking the time to learn their rental history, job history, and criminal background before they sign a lease may protect everyone – and everything – involved in the process.

We’ve looked around and compared different screening services for our clients. We found TransUnion SmartMove tenant screening service through the trusted BiggerPockets network that we are a part of and recommend it to all of our investor clients.

TransUnion SmartMove is a simple, online, tenant screening service. It allows landlords to directly receive screening reports while still keeping applicant information secure. TransUnion SmartMove offers a variety of screening report packages and allows the landlord to decide who pays for the report– the tenant or themselves.

Getting started is easy, just create a free account and then email the application to your potential tenant. Once they have completed the application, the screening reports will be delivered directly to you.

Every good investment property owner considers establishing a set of guidelines or criteria for selecting tenants to be compliant with the Fair Housing Act. It is important to establish the policies and expectations for tenants as well as identify criteria for screening results that could lead to denial of a tenant’s application. Providing this information to potential tenants will ensure that they know the expectations and allows them the opportunity to opt out before paying the screening fee.

We offer a template to our investor clients so that they may use it as an example for establishing criteria that satisfy their needs and ensure compliance with the Fair Housing Act. We strongly suggest that our investor clients seek legal guidance and review when creating their own standards as we are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice. Fill out the form below to contact us about our Tenant Screening Criteria template.