Background checks for landlords, done the way the FCRA and HUD expect.

What a tenant background check actually includes

A modern landlord background check is a packaged consumer report covering three data categories, each furnished by an independent consumer reporting agency:

• Criminal history — convictions and pending cases sourced from a national database, supplemented by county-level searches in the applicant's address history (sourced through Asurint).
• Sex-offender registry — a match against the federal Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website and state-equivalent registries.
• SSN trace — on tiers that include TLO data, the applicant's Social Security number is matched against historical name and address records to surface aliases and prior residences. RentalApplication.ai does not perform driver's license verification, document-image analysis, or selfie-to-ID matching.

None of these are credit data. The credit report and score are a separate product within a full tenant screening report.

How background checks work for tenant screening

The flow is built around two FCRA requirements: written applicant authorization, and a clear "permissible purpose." A landlord screening for a tenancy decision satisfies the permissible-purpose test under FCRA § 604(a)(3)(F).

1. The applicant signs an FCRA Disclosure and Authorization — a standalone written document explaining that a consumer report may be obtained.
2. The applicant's SSN is run through a TLO trace (on tiers that include it) so the criminal-history search can be matched against the correct address and alias history.
3. The criminal-history search runs in parallel against the national database and any county supplements relevant to the applicant's seven-year address history.
4. The packaged report is delivered to the landlord with the data displayed as the originating CRA furnished it — we do not modify, augment, or score the substantive data.

Legal considerations: criminal-history use and HUD guidance

Using criminal-history data in housing decisions is one of the most regulated parts of tenant screening. The current legal landscape:

• HUD Office of General Counsel guidance, April 4, 2016. A blanket policy of "no applicants with any criminal record" can violate the Fair Housing Act under a disparate-impact theory. Landlords should evaluate criminal records individually, considering the nature of the offense, time elapsed, and rehabilitation evidence.
• State and local "fair-chance housing" laws. California, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, Cook County, Seattle, and a growing list of other jurisdictions limit when and how landlords can ask about or use criminal-history information.
• FCRA § 605 reporting limits. Most non-conviction criminal records older than 7 years cannot be reported. Convictions can be reported indefinitely under federal law, though some states (notably California) impose a 7-year limit on conviction reporting too.
• Adverse-action notice obligation. If you decline based on a background check — even partially — FCRA § 615 requires a written notice. See our adverse-action guide.

What landlords can't screen for varies by jurisdiction. Our compliance reference page covers the federal floor plus state-specific carve-outs.

Best practices for using a background check

• Write your screening criteria first. Decide what offenses are disqualifying, how recent they need to be, and how you weigh rehabilitation evidence — in writing, before you see a single applicant. Apply the same criteria to everyone.
• Run the check after pre-qualification, not before. Don't pay to background-check applicants who haven't already cleared income and credit thresholds.
• Don't use criminal history as a sole disqualifier. HUD's 2016 guidance is clear: blanket bans risk disparate-impact liability.
• Send the adverse-action notice. Every time. The FCRA penalty for skipping is up to $1,000 per violation plus attorneys' fees.
• Don't share the report. Consumer reports are single-use under FCRA — you can't forward them to other landlords, your accountant, or a co-investor.

Common background-check mistakes

• Pulling a "background check" without written FCRA authorization (federal violation, statutory damages)
• Treating any old conviction as automatic disqualification (HUD disparate-impact risk)
• Using a stale report ("we ran one on this person two years ago") — reports are single-use under FCRA
• Skipping the adverse-action notice on a quiet decline
• Asking the applicant about criminal history before the formal application stage in jurisdictions with "fair-chance housing" laws