It is every landlord’s dream to get tenants who will take care of their property, pay rent on time and cause no trouble. A background screening process is the only way to ensure this. This article will discuss all that you need to know concerning a rental background check. With a background check, a landlord is able to identify any red flags and any other issues on the tenant that might be hidden.

A rental background check can be described as a tool used by landlords to identify a number of aspects on a potential tenant’s past conduct. It verifies their credit score, rental, criminal and eviction history to determine if they are perfect candidates for renting the rental space.

The information obtained help better reveal how responsible a tenant will be. Some landlords prefer to pay more attention on the person’s credit score while other prefer to pay close attention to the details on the report.

The Rental Background Check Process

Information on a potential tenant that usually comes with a rental background check include personal details, address, income, full credit score, address history, employment history, criminal records, eviction records, public records and a whole lot more other details.

The extent at which a rental background check may go varies from city to city and state to state. Some has restriction to observe while other prohibit the criminal record background altogether.

It is also recommended that background checks conducted on applicants must be the same across all of them to avoid being penalized for breaking the Fair Housing Laws or discriminating against a candidate based on their nationality, gender, race for example.

It is also advised that when you a landlord comes across a candidate that has a criminal history or an eviction, that they be given a chance to state their case further as means to fairly screen all potential tenants. Failure to adhere to this regulation might result in legal charges which will be determined by your local housing ordinance, landlord-tenant laws and HUD guidelines.

Before embarking on a rental background check, landlords need to get authorization. This is because the information obtained from such a background check is personal and sensitive. A landlord can choose to do a background check themselves or enlist the services of a background check service.

Rental Background Check Screening Services

Landlords who choose to use tenant screening services are at an advantage as these services have experience in the field. They also have countless sources where they can get the information quick and fast. Here are some rental background services you can try out.

Avail

A tenant screening process from Avail is very simple and easy for both the tenant and the landlord. The following steps can help you achieve a rental background check from Avail in no time.

• Log into account

In order to be able to screen applicants on Avail, it requires that you set up your properties.

• Navigate to the unit your applicant is interested in

Landlords with more than one property in their portfolio will find this step very essential.

• Click ‘Applications’

To navigate to the application’s default settings, you will need to click on ‘Edit’, which is located under the Applications tab. It is possible to rearrange your rental application to add personalized questions, require more reporting and other details.

• Add your preferred screening reports

With this function, you can add a criminal background check, credit report, plus an eviction report. The cost of these are supposed to be covered by the applicant.

• Access the results through your dashboard

You will be able to access your reports in minutes through your dashboard once the applicant has authorized the screening reports.

A rental background check from here normally takes from a few hours to a couple of days, depending on the speed of the applicant to authorize the background screening. The process is much faster when the tenant provides a renter profile during their application process as this will allow access to their criminal, credit, and eviction history.

Smart Move

In order to identify great tenants, you can try Smart Move for its convenience as you can get your screening reports in minutes from the platform.

All this can be achieved by observing the following easy steps.

• Request a tenant background check

You will need to create an account and sent an invite to your potential tenant for a background check.

• Get tenant approval for rental screening

The potential tenant will then receive the invite for a background screening and complete it.

• Receive tenant screening report

Smart Move will then verify the tenant’s criminal, credit, eviction and income insights reports and sent them to you.

These are examples of rental screening services that you can use to find more details on a potential tenant. For more rental background check services, you can go to Investopedia. The site covers some of the best tenant screening services in the industry today.