Tenant screening

src: www.rented.co.nz

Tenant screening is a process used primarily by landlords and property managers to evaluate prospective tenants. The objective is to assess the likelihood that the tenant will fulfill the terms of the lease or rental agreement and will also pay great attention to the rental property concerned. This process culminates in the decision whether to approve the applicant, approve the requester conditionally (such as requiring an increase in the deposit or cosigner) or refuse the lease.

Video Tenant screening

Tenant screening process

Tenant screening process usually begins when the prospective tenant (each adult applicant) completes the lease application, pays the registration fee and may deposit the ownership.

The rental application is designed to collect personally identifiable information (name, social security number and date of birth, etc.), address, occupation, crime and eviction history. Signatures are usually required, prove the accuracy of the information provided, agree to certain terms and conditions and authorize the procurement of tenant screening reports.

Official government photo identification is usually required to confirm the applicant's identity and in accordance with Federal Federal Flag Identity Theft (FTC's), Red Flags Rule.

Most landlords rely on tenant tenant companies to produce tenant screening reports - to collect relevant credits, public records and other necessary information for prospective tenant veterans. Information obtained from the application, the renter screening report and the owner's own research are used to arrive at a decision based on the land owner's lease criteria.

Applicants who started the filtering service started popping up. Under this model, applicants order reports on themselves and grant access to prospective landlords.

Maps Tenant screening

Tenant screening companies

Tenant screening services are special consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) or consumer investigative reporting agencies as defined and regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 AS. Ã,§ 1681 et seq.

CRA has many obligations under FCRA. Specifically, they must specify the identity of each end user (landlord) and the purpose of the information sought - before giving the renter screening report.

• They must "follow reasonable procedures to ensure the maximum accuracy of individual information about who is associated with the report".
• "Upon request, and subject to section 610 (a) (1) of FCRA (Ã,§ 1681h), expressly and accurately discloses to the consumer" all information in the consumer file upon request. "Failure to do so may result in strong regulatory actions. See http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/02/saferent.shtm.
• Additional CRA adherence procedures are described in Section 607 of FCRA (15 U.S.C. § 1681e).

src: curiouscasa.com

Tenant screening reports

Tenants screening reports contain one or more of the following elements:

• Consumer credit report (with or without score) - from one of the three national credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, or Transunion).
• The eviction record looks for
• Search for criminal records
• Search the criminal registry
• Specific designated country search (often referred to as OFAC search)
• Rental references
• Job verification
• Recommendations - based on home owner criteria (parameters)

Credit reports and database searches are often returned instantly via secure websites. Additional information resulting from deeper tracking of public records, rental reference and job verification may take from several hours to several days.

src: www.tenantscreeningblog.com

Landlord's responsibilities

Landlords are Consumer Reporters, as well as defined and governed by FCRA. FCRA imposes special requirements on landlords as Users. In particular, they shall "... provide verbal, written, or electronic notice of any harmful action taken in whole or in part on any information contained in the consumer report (renter screening).An adverse action is a determination that harms the interests of the consumer. only rejection of the lease is a disadvantageous act, but so do attach additional provisions, such as requiring additional deposits or co-signatories Notice must include:

• The names, addresses and telephone numbers of consumer reporting agencies (renter screening firms) that supplement the report; and
• The consumer's right to obtain free copies of the tenant's screening report; and
• Consumer rights to dispute the accuracy and completeness of the report.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) amend Section 615 of the FCRA to add new terms that a person (landlord) takes the Adverse Action... "gives the consumer a written or electronic disclosure (A) of The numerical credit score as defined in section 609 (f) (2) (A) [of FCRA] used by that person in taking any Adverse Action is based in whole or in part on any information in the consumer report, and (B) of the specified information in subparagraphs (B) to (E) of section 609 (f) (1), "including:

• Numerical Score
• Scores Range
• Score Factor
• Date Score
• Source Score

src: curiouscasa.com

Tenant filtering and laws

There is a substantial legal body that regulates consumer reporting. FCRA, 15 U.S.C. Ã,§ 1681 et seq. as amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Act Act of 2003 (FACTA) and recently by Dodd-Frank is the main legal entity governing consumer reporting. Many countries have laws governing consumer reporting as well. Section 625 of FCRA (15 USC Ã,§ 1681 t) discusses the Relation (from FCRA) to the law of the State by stating that "... this title shall not void, alter, affect or exempt any person subject to these terms. the title of compliance with the law of any State in connection with the collection, distribution or use of any information about the consumer,... except to the extent that the law is inconsistent with any provision of this title... ". The federal law is said to precede state laws for the extent of inconsistencies.

Dodd-Frank transferred the regulatory authority to the consumer reporting (and therefore tenant tenant companies) of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011.

Federal and state fair housing and housing tenants law impacted the process of screening tenants in several ways. In short, the violation of a fair housing law to treat individuals who are protected differently in the process of screening tenants. The law of a fair housing at the federal level is found in Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The tenant-occupant tenant law often limits what landlords can charge for screening the lessee for actual costs in obtaining background information, not exceeding the cost customs are charged by filtering services in public areas.

src: pvteyes.com

Legal and legislative trends

Equitable housing proponents have long argued for the application of different impact law theories (historically applied to labor practices) to the claim of Title VIII (Fair Housing Act). They argue, for example, that people of certain races and ethnicities are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, that the use of criminal record data for the purpose of screening tenants has different effects on individuals and is therefore discriminatory.

The debate was largely resolved by 2015 when at the Department of Housing and Public Affairs of Texas (The Department) v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. (ICP), the United States Supreme Court affirmed that visually neutral business practices that have different impacts on protected classes can form the basis of the claims of the Fair Housing Act. The decision was partly based on Housing & amp; The Urban Development Regulation (HUD) that interprets the Discriminatory Effects Discriminatory Standard of the Fair Housing Law - including the load removal framework to prosecute such claims.

There is little doubt that the use of criminal records can have different effects based on race and national origin. That said, landlords have the right and obligation to take reasonable steps to protect themselves, their residents and neighbors from prospective residents with a history of serious criminal offenses (for example).

Landlords can take steps to reduce their exposure to different impact claims by limiting consideration of criminal convictions (versus arrests), against violations relevant to the lease, and that happens within a reasonable period of time.

Note section 605 of the FCRA prohibits CRA from reporting arrest records which are from the date of the final disposition of antedate reports by more than seven years. Some states also restrict the reporting of criminal penalties - while there are no restrictions in FCRA.

src: www.mysmartmove.com

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia