Tenant Screening Checklist for Landlords

A tenant screening checklist is a fixed list of steps you run for every applicant, in the same order, so each decision is consistent and documented. Use the stages below: set your criteria, take a complete application with consent, pull reports, verify income and references, decide against your written standards, and send any required notices.

Print it, or copy it into your own file for each applicant. For the reasoning behind each step, read the full guide on how to screen tenants.

Stage 1: Before you advertise

• ☐ Write your screening criteria on one page: income ratio, credit standards, rental history, eviction look-back, criminal history policy (if any), occupancy limit, pets, smoking, guarantors
• ☐ Decide how you will choose between qualified applicants (for example, first complete application)
• ☐ Check your state and city rules on application fees, criminal history and source of income on our landlord-tenant law by state pages, and review which application questions are legal
• ☐ Set one application fee for everyone and write down what it covers
• ☐ Review the listing for words that signal a preference about family status, religion, national origin, sex, disability, race or color, which 42 U.S.C. §3604(c) prohibits (see fair housing laws for landlords)
• ☐ Choose a screening company and confirm what its report includes

Stage 2: Pre-screening and showings

• ☐ Share your written criteria with every inquiry
• ☐ Confirm the basics with the same questions for everyone: move-in date, number of occupants, pets, whether they meet the income standard
• ☐ Show the unit on the same terms to everyone who asks
• ☐ Avoid questions about marital status, children, pregnancy, religion, origin or disability

Stage 3: Application and consent

• ☐ Give every adult occupant the same rental application form
• ☐ Collect full legal name, date of birth, contact details and address history with landlord contacts
• ☐ Collect employer, income and any other income the applicant wants counted
• ☐ List every person who will live in the unit
• ☐ Get signed authorization to obtain consumer reports and contact references
• ☐ Collect the application fee, if any, and give a receipt
• ☐ Check the application is complete before running anything
• ☐ Log the date and time the complete application arrived

Stage 4: Screening reports

• ☐ Order the same report package for every applicant
• ☐ Credit: review payment history, collections, rent-related debt and bankruptcies
• ☐ Eviction search: read the actual record and note whether it was a judgment, dismissal or settlement
• ☐ Criminal history: apply only your written policy and any state or local limits
• ☐ Confirm the reports match the applicant's identity (name, date of birth, address history)
• ☐ Store reports securely; don't email them around

Stage 5: Income verification

• ☐ Employees: recent pay stubs plus employer confirmation using a number you looked up yourself
• ☐ Self-employed: recent tax returns and bank statements
• ☐ Benefits or other income: award letter or statement showing the amount
• ☐ Calculate the ratio the same way for every applicant
• ☐ Note any mismatch between documents and deposits

Stage 6: References

• ☐ Call the current and previous landlord
• ☐ Confirm you're speaking with the owner or manager (check property records)
• ☐ Ask: lease dates and rent, on-time payment, lease violations, notice given, deposit deductions, would you rent again
• ☐ Write down answers, the date and the name of each person you spoke with

Stage 7: Decision

• ☐ Compare the file against your written criteria only
• ☐ If you allow offsets (guarantor, extra history), apply them the way your policy says
• ☐ Write the reason for the decision in the file
• ☐ If a consumer report played any part in denying, requiring a co-signer, raising the deposit or raising the rent, send an adverse action notice (Stage 8)

Stage 8: Adverse action notice (when required)

Under 15 U.S.C. §1681m(a) and the FTC's guidance for landlords, the notice must include:

• ☐ The adverse action taken
• ☐ The credit score and its details, if a score was used
• ☐ The screening company's name, address and phone number
• ☐ A statement that the screening company didn't make the decision and can't explain it
• ☐ The applicant's right to a free copy of the report if requested within 60 days
• ☐ The applicant's right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information
• ☐ Send it in writing and keep a copy

Stage 9: Approval and file retention

• ☐ Confirm move-in date, deposit and first payment in writing
• ☐ Send the lease promptly (our free lease agreement generator works for this)
• ☐ Keep each applicant's file (approved or denied) for at least two years, the window for a private fair housing lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. §3613(a)
• ☐ Destroy reports securely (shred or permanently delete) when you no longer need them, as the FTC guidance requires

Sources

All sources checked 2026-10-26.

• FTC: Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know
• 15 U.S.C. §1681m, requirements on users of consumer reports
• 42 U.S.C. §3613, enforcement by private persons
• 42 U.S.C. §3604, discrimination in the sale or rental of housing