Tenant Screening Law
The tenant screen law states that landlords are allowed to conduct background checks on potential tenants. These checks can include civil background check, criminal background check, and credit history checking. However, once the landlord has done the checks, he or she has to inform the prospective tenant as to why he or she is refusing to rent out the property to them. (See Reference 1) This is stipulated by the law and the landlord has to follow it. |
A landlord has to get written consent from tenant to perform a background check. However, in doing so, the landlord cannot violate the rights of privacy of the prospective tenant as they are regulated by the FHA and Fair Credit Reporting Act. (See Reference 1)
When a tenant comes to rent a property, invariably the landlord would ask the tenant to fill up and sign an application for renting. When submitting the application, the landlord will also request for a nominal application fee. On accepting the application, the landlord has to inform the prospective tenant that he or she intends conducting a civil as well as criminal background check on the person. In addition, the landlord can also check whether the person had any problems with evictions in the past and if these cases went to court, what were the judgments. (See Reference 1)
Based on the information that the landlord gets on the prospective tenant, he or she can refuse to rent out the property. However, the landlord has to give it in writing to the prospective tenant as to why he or she is rejecting the rental application, and from where the landlord got the information on the person's background. (See Reference 1)
For conducting a credit history check, the landlord must get signed consent from the prospective tenant. The landlord can use this check to find out the person's payment history for loans. Based on the credit history check, if the landlord refuses to rent the property, he or she has to inform the tenant which credit reporting bureau was used for the credit check, what were the negative remarks on the credit check, the person has the right to dispute any information contained in the credit check and the person has right to get a free copy of his or her credit report within the next sixty days. (See Reference 1)
The landlord can also get in touch with the prospective tenant's previous landlords and find out whether the tenant was paying the rent on time, whether he or she honored the rental agreement and whether any checks for rent were dishonored. However, the landlord cannot ask any questions about the person's marital status, sexual orientation or social life. (See Reference 1)
Where employment is concerned, the landlord can ring up a prospective tenant's employer and verify whether the person is working for a company and if so, from when the person is employed with the organization. (See Reference 1)
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Tenant Screening Law
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