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Are you looking for a new place to live or about to renew your lease? If so, you might want to know that a landlord, property manager, or other housing provider may ask a tenant background check company — also called a tenant screening company — to put together a report about you and other members of your household. The reports are called a tenant background check, resident screening report, or tenant screening report. Landlords often use these reports to decide whether to rent to you. This article includes information about tenant background checks and your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act related to them.

What To Know Before You Apply

Before you apply for rental housing, it’s important to understand how the tenant background screening process works. That includes what information you might need to provide to reduce the risk of errors and the factors the landlord might consider:

  • Give the landlord your full name — first, middle (if you have one), and last — and date of birth. This helps the background check company get information about the right person. The landlord will probably also ask for your Social Security number, prior addresses, and possibly other information as well.
  • Before you pay an application or background check fee, ask what information the landlord uses to decide whether to rent to you. The information that landlords might review as part of a tenant background check includes
    • your name, Social Security number, date of birth, and current and past addresses
    • your work and income history
    • the status of your credit cards and other accounts, including payment history
    • housing court records, for example, records related to eviction actions
    • criminal records, including arrest, charge, and conviction records
    • missed rent or other rent-related payments
    • whether you’ve filed for bankruptcy or have been sued (whether or not the lawsuit is related to housing)

The tenant background check company might also develop and share with the landlord a recommendation or score that they claim will predict what kind of tenant you will be (such as whether you will pay your rent or damage the property). You may not see any score in the report you get from the tenant background check company.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, tenant background check companies generally cannot report negative information if it’s older than seven years. For example, most civil lawsuits and judgments, including housing court cases, and arrest records can’t be included in a report after seven years. Tenant background check companies can report bankruptcies for 10 years. However, there is no time limit for criminal convictions.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, tenant background check companies are required to take reasonable steps to ensure the information in your report is accurate. Common errors may include

  • information that belongs to someone else
  • incomplete information, such as how civil or criminal cases or eviction actions were resolved
  • duplicate information, such as the same criminal record appearing more than once, suggesting they’re separate cases
  • outdated information, such as information that’s legally too old to be included in a background check
  • criminal record or eviction information that was sealed or expunged

If the Landlord Makes a Negative Decision

A landlord might use a background check, score, or recommendation from the background check company to make a negative decision, including

  • rejecting your application
  • charging you more for rent
  • requiring you to have a cosigner
  • demanding you pay a larger security deposit

If a landlord makes a negative decision about your application because of something in your report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to

  • Get a notice of the negative decision, called an “adverse action” notice. The landlord must give you the notice — in writing, electronically, or orally. The notice must
    • give you the name, address, and phone number of the tenant background check company
    • tell you about your rights to dispute inaccurate information and to get a free copy of the report from the background check company if you ask for it within 60 days of the landlord’s notice to you

If they give you the notice orally, ask them if they would be willing to get you a written copy for your records.

Local law may give you more rights related to this type of notice.

  • Get a copy of the tenant background check. You can ask the landlord if they’d be willing to share the tenant background check report with you. But even if the landlord refuses, the background check company must give you a free copy of the report if you request it within 60 days of the adverse action notice.
  • Dispute any errors on your report. To fix any errors, contact the background check company and tell them about the errors. Provide copies of any supporting documentation with your request. For example, if your report has an error in your criminal history or records from when you were evicted or sued over a housing or other issue, gather any paperwork showing how the action was resolved and provide copies as part of your dispute. Let the landlord know about your dispute. For more information, check out Disputing Errors on Your Tenant Background Check Report.
  • Tenant background check companies must investigate your dispute within 30 days. The background check company must also tell you in writing the results of the investigation. If the company makes a correction to your report, give the landlord an updated report or ask the background check company to send it to the landlord.

Other Steps To Take

Errors by tenant background check companies can hurt your chances to secure housing. Take the following steps before you start looking for housing:

  • Check your credit report. Get your free credit report and fix any errors. To get your annual free credit report from the three major credit bureaus, visit AnnualCreditReport.com or call 1-877-322-8228. You don’t have to buy anything or pay to fix errors. And if you have negative but correct information on your credit report, start working to fix your credit with steps you can take yourself — without paying anyone.
  • Check housing court records. If a previous landlord filed an eviction or housing court case against you, make sure the court records show the correct outcome of the case:
    • If the court records look wrong or incomplete, you may be able to contact the court and get the court to correct any issues.
    • You may be able to get your previous landlord to submit updated or correct information to the court along with a request to the court to update or correct its records. Making this request to the landlord in writing may increase the chances of getting cooperation from your landlord.
    • You may want legal assistance to help you clean up your record. Some courts have local self-help centers that can help you. If your local court doesn’t have a self-help center, speak with a local lawyer or legal aid office to discuss your options for correcting or updating information about unpaid rent, rent disputes, or evictions.

Where To Get Help

You can get additional help if a background check company included errors in your background check, doesn’t respond to your dispute or correct false information, or if a landlord did not provide required information about the tenant background check company. For example, you can

Additional Information

FTC

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Credit, Loans, and Debt
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