Screening tenants without breaking the law

Good screening protects your property and your applicants. The key is a consistent, written process you apply to everyone, the same way, every time.

Set criteria before you advertise

Decide your income multiple, credit threshold, and rental-history requirements in writing, up front. Applying published criteria uniformly is your best defense against a fair-housing complaint.

What you can and can’t ask

• Focus on ability to pay and history of paying: income, references, prior tenancies.
• Never base decisions on a protected class (race, religion, family status, disability, and more).
• Document the legitimate, business reason for any denial.

Running every applicant through the same screening report is the simplest way to keep checks consistent. We compare the main options in our roundup of the best tenant screening services.