Tenant Screening in New York

FCRA-compliant tenant screening for landlords in New York — serving New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, Syracuse and every other New York market. Reports start at $24.99 with no subscription. New York-specific reporting-law overlays are applied automatically before the landlord sees any record.

What landlords in New York can include in a screening report

• Credit report and score — TransUnion VantageScore plus tradeline detail.
• Criminal background — nationwide criminal record search with New York-specific look-back limits applied.
• Eviction / housing-court records — sealed, dismissed, and time-barred records filtered before they reach you.
• Income verification — optional payroll + bank-link verification via Pinwheel.
• AI landlord reference call — optional AI agent calls the applicant’s prior landlord and produces a structured summary.

Eviction record reporting in New York

New York Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 prohibits the use of certain eviction records in tenant screening; sealed and pre-judgment cases are excluded.

Statutory citation: NY Real Property Law § 227-f

How reporting limits interact with what you may lawfully consider is covered in what landlords can screen for and the investigative consumer report explainer.

Criminal-record reporting in New York

Federal FCRA 7-year limit applies. NYC has additional Fair Chance Housing protections.

Fair housing in New York

The NY State Human Rights Law applies in addition to the federal Fair Housing Act. Source of income is a protected class statewide in New York — landlords may not refuse to consider an applicant solely because they intend to pay with a housing-choice voucher or similar lawful source.

Notable New York considerations

Source of income is a protected class statewide. NYC has rent-stabilization and additional source-of-income protections.

How RentalApplication.ai works for New York landlords

1. You start a screening at rentalapplication.ai/apply. Enter the applicant’s name and email; pick the reports you want.
2. The applicant gets an email with a secure link, completes the application, and authorizes the screening (FCRA § 1681b(b)(2)).
3. The applicant pays at the moment of submission (or you can land-lord-pay).
4. Reports are delivered to you in minutes (credit) to a few hours (housing/criminal). State-law overlays are applied before the landlord sees any record.
5. If you decline based on the report, we generate the FCRA § 1681m adverse-action notice for you.

This page is an informational summary, not legal advice. State and local landlord-tenant law changes frequently — verify against current statute and local counsel before relying on this content. RentalApplication.ai is a reseller of consumer reports under FCRA § 1681a(u) and does not make tenancy decisions. The landlord (the “end user”) is the party who decides whether to approve or deny an application.