How to Screen Tenants: A 6-Step Guide for Landlords

To screen tenants well, write your criteria before you advertise, take a complete application from every applicant, verify income and identity, run credit and background reports with the applicant's consent, call past landlords, and then decide using the same written standard for everyone. Two federal laws shape every step: the Fair Housing Act, which bans discrimination against protected groups, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which controls how you use credit and background reports. State and city rules can add more, such as limits on application fees. The six steps below take you from listing to signed lease.

Step 1: Write your screening criteria first

Decide what a qualified applicant looks like before anyone applies, and put it in writing. Typical criteria cover income, credit history, rental history, and the number of occupants the property can hold. Share the criteria with every applicant, apply them in the same order, and keep a copy with each file.

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. Your criteria should be about the ability to pay and care for the home, never about who the applicant is. State and local laws can go further than federal law, so check the rules for your property's address.

A sample set of written criteria:

These are illustrations, not required numbers. Set your own, then use them for everyone.

Step 2: Take a complete application

Use one application form for every applicant. It should ask for full name, contact details, current and previous addresses with landlord contacts, employer and income, number of occupants, pets, and written consent to run credit and background checks.

Check your local rules on application fees before you charge one. New York is a clear example. Under Real Property Law Section 238-A, a landlord may charge no more than the actual cost of the background and credit check or $20, whichever is less. The landlord must waive the fee if the applicant brings a check done in the past 30 days, and must give the applicant a copy of the check and the receipt to collect the fee at all.

Step 3: Verify income and employment

The most common income test is simple. As tenant screening company VerticalRent puts it, "a tenant's gross monthly income should be at least three times the monthly rent," a threshold that "has become the informal standard across the rental industry." On a $1,800 rent, that means about $5,400 a month before tax.

Ask for proof, not just a number on the form:

• Recent pay stubs or an employment offer letter
• Bank statements for applicants who are self-employed or paid irregularly
• A call to the employer to confirm the job and start date

Apply the same documents rule to everyone. If you accept bank statements from one applicant, accept them from all applicants in the same situation.

Step 4: Run credit and background reports the legal way

Most independent landlords now use software for this step. In Avail's 2026 survey of 4,055 independent landlords, 65.2% said they use digital tools for tenant screening, and 88.4% ranked credit scores as the most essential screening factor, followed by income verification.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the FTC is clear that tenant background check reports are consumer reports. That includes a credit report, a rental history report and a criminal history report. You need a permissible purpose, and landlords have one for people who apply to rent or renew a lease.

The rule that catches most landlords is the adverse action notice. The FTC says you take adverse action not only when you reject someone, but also when you require a co-signer or ask for a deposit you would not require from another applicant, if the decision is based on information in the report. The notice must include:

• The name, address and phone number of the company that supplied the report
• A statement that the company did not make the decision and cannot explain it
• The applicant's right to dispute the report and to get a free copy if they ask within 60 days

When you are finished, the FTC says you must securely dispose of the report and any information taken from it.

Step 5: Know that reports can be wrong

A report is evidence, not a verdict. In 2022 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau analyzed more than 24,000 complaints about tenant background checks and described reports with wrong, old or misleading information. If a result surprises you, look at the details: is it the same person, the same date of birth, a recent record?

Renters have rights here too. The FTC tells renters that the background check company must investigate a dispute within 30 days. If an applicant tells you they are disputing an error, note it in the file.

Step 6: Check references and decide

Call the current and previous landlords. Ask the same questions every time:

• Did the tenant pay on time?
• Did they give proper notice before leaving?
• Was there damage beyond normal wear?
• Would you rent to them again?

The current landlord may want the tenant gone, so the previous landlord is often the more useful call. Then compare each applicant with your written criteria, record why you approved or declined, and send an adverse action notice if a report played any part in a no.

Tenant screening checklist

Before you list

• Written criteria for income, credit, rental history and occupancy
• Ad describes the property, not the ideal tenant
• Local rules on application fees checked

For every applicant

• Same application form and signed consent for reports
• Photo ID matches the application
• Income documents collected and employer confirmed
• Credit and background reports from a reporting company
• Same questions to current and previous landlords

Decision

• Decision matches the written criteria, reason recorded
• Adverse action notice sent if a report affected the outcome
• Reports stored safely, then disposed of securely

For the wider set of tasks before a first lease, see our first-time landlord checklist. If you are still pricing the unit, how much property managers charge explains what it costs to hand screening to a professional, and how to analyze a rental property shows how vacancy and turnover affect your numbers.

Do it with Blurben

Blurben is an AI real-estate companion on WhatsApp and iMessage. It works alongside landlords from finding the property, through checking the rent and the lease, to connecting with local services like screening providers, inspectors and property managers. Send it your listing and ask it to draft written screening criteria, or to list the application fee rules for your state. Ask Blurben on WhatsApp or iMessage at any step.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Tenant screening rules vary by state and city; check them or speak with a local professional before you rent.