How to Access a Tenant’s Rental History Report
A rental history report is, put simply, a list of previous addresses that a tenant has spent time in or rented from. Rental history reports also include contact information for property managers or landlords for those addresses. Think of rental history reports as background checks for prospective tenants at your rental property.
Rental history reports are not downloaded or retrieved from an organization or special party. Instead, you make or access rental history reports from information provided by rental applicants and from your own research.
Rental history reports are worthwhile because they allow landlords to determine:
Whether a prospective tenant will be a good fit for a rental property
Whether a prospective tenant will be troublesome or can be trusted to pay their rent
Accessing and Using a Rental History Report
To make full use of a rental history report, you have to collect several pieces of information. Before you get started, ask yourself some key questions:
Do you plan to accept tenants with criminal histories?
Will you accept any tenant who has paid their rent late in the past?
Will you accept any tenants who broke previous leases?
Will you accept any tenants without rental histories?
Getting the answers to these questions early will help you filter out your prospective tenants more efficiently.
Now let’s break down how you can access a tenant’s rental history report in detail.
Gather Information About Prospective Tenants
First, you’ll need to get information about an applicant’s previous rentals. These include both the addresses of previous rental locations and the contact information of previous landlords. You should let applicants know this by:
Including the requirement on your website or advertisement for the property
Including the requirement for rental application paperwork. This can be a dedicated page or a small section at the bottom of an existing page of your tenant application
Generally, it’s a good idea to request at least three previous rental addresses and the relevant landlord contact information from each prospective tenant. That’s enough to establish a good idea of an applicant’s rental history and behavior with landlords.
Have Applicant Sign Tenant Information Release Form
Next, add a tenant information release form to your rental application. This legally binding document requires a tenant to authorize a prospective landlord to review their rental history information, including the rental amounts paid in the past, rental payment history, and the length of their residencies with previous rental properties.
Again, you can include this requirement on your rental listing or on your property website. In this way, applicants know what you expect upfront and you can filter out those applicants who don't plan to provide you with legitimate histories.
Review Rental Application
As you receive applications, you can begin the rental verification process and check rental histories. Take a look at the recorded information and see:
If there are gaps in the rental history report. If so, can a prospective tenant explain those gaps? Note that this is usually only necessary for several months of unaccounted time
If the applicant left out street numbers from previous rental addresses
If the applicant did not list previous landlords’ contact information
Basically, any missing information could be a red flag and a sign that a tenant is not trustworthy or worthwhile. That said, small gaps or bits of missing information could be explained – feel free to ask prospective tenants if you need to know more.
Do a Rental Tenant Reference Check
A big part of the tenant rental history examination is the reference check. You should call the previous landlords for a prospective tenant and see what their experiences with that tenant were. Ask them:
Did they find the tenant to be agreeable?
Did the tenant pay their rent on time?
Were there problems with the prospective tenant?
Ask them any and all questions that may speak to the tenant’s quality and reliability. However, avoid questions that may show bias or compromise the prospective tenant based on elements outside of their control. Just one conversation or email can give you great insight into the mindset of a prospective tenant and help you filter bad tenants from good ones.
Check for Eviction History
It’s also a good idea to conduct an eviction history check. Fortunately, you can use national eviction records from TransUnion and other background check companies. These organizations already record tenants’ credit activities to make credit reports/credit scores, so odds are they’ll also have records of evictions and similar events.
Since it can cost you many thousands of dollars to evict a tenant, plus cost you even more considering the time you’ll have to spend finding a new one, it pays to be wary of tenants who have been evicted in the past.
We recommend a credit check of credit history with Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax.
Finalize Tenant Screening
At this point, you can finalize the tenant screening process and extend an invitation for your rental property to applicants who make the cut. The ideal renter will:
Always make rent payments on time, plus offer a security deposit
Not have a previous eviction or criminal history/criminal background
Will not damage or destroy your property
Will not be difficult to communicate with
A phone or in-person interview can be a great way to see who a tenant is before extending an offer. If they have a cosigner, be sure to investigate them as well.
All this work takes time, but it’s very much worthwhile in the money and time you’ll save by not having to constantly evict or fight with bad tenants.
What if an Applicant Doesn’t Have a Rental History?
If an applicant doesn't have a rental history – such as if they're a young college student – you can examine other pieces of information to determine their rental worthiness. These include:
Proof of consistent employment
Pay stubs or income tax returns
Ultimately, a tenant rental history report is the best way to determine whether a prospective tenant is worth your time. Use rental history reports regularly to pick only the best tenants for your rental properties.
If you’re looking for more and better tenants, Cambridge Sage can help. As licensed real estate experts for Cambridge and the greater Boston area, we can help you find quality renters. Set up a free 15-minute call and we can discuss your options!
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