A tenant eviction check shows if a tenant has been evicted at any point in the last 7 years. Given that the true cost of an eviction lies between $3,500 and $10,000, predicting the likelihood of a future eviction is one of the most important parts of the tenant screening process.
Why Should I Do an Eviction Check?
If a tenant has been evicted before, it’s reasonable to expect that they are at a greater likelihood to be evicted again. This can be because they have demonstrated at least one major instance (and perhaps a pattern) of irresponsible behavior.
Check out this list of benefits of an eviction check and the risks associated should a landlord not complete this step.
| Benefits | Risks |
| Avoid renters with a history of eviction | Frequent late or unpaid rent |
| Avoid the cost of eviction | Spend up to $10,000 to remove a tenant |
| Avoid potential property damage and vacancy | Property repairs and prolonged vacancy |
It is important for all landlords to check eviction records on all tenants, despite the time and cost commitments.
The eviction process has different timelines in different states, but it can be a few weeks or even several months (such as in California). A tenant going through the eviction process is unlikely to continue paying rent, further increasing the cost of an eviction for landlords.
How to Run an Eviction Check on a Tenant
Here are the steps to run an eviction check:
- Ask About Evictions on the Application
- Get Signed Consent
- Get Necessary Personal Information
- Use a Tenant Screening Service
- Manually Look Up Evictions (Optional)
- Call Previous Landlords
- Ask Clarifying Questions
1. Ask About Evictions on the Application
The first step in the process is to give the applicant a chance to explain if they have any prior evictions. While the applicant shouldn’t be completely trusted to give accurate information, there are still a few good reasons that make asking about evictions here useful:
- Start building a profile – It’s important to ask on the application because it’s easy and landlords will get their first data about the applicant here. It’s not vetted information yet, but it’s a starting point.
- Auto-reject lowest-quality applicants – At this point, landlords can use predetermined baselines to decide whether to continue screening an applicant. For example, a landlord may decide to reject applicants with an eviction in the past 12 months, no matter the circumstances or the strength of the rest of their application.
- Compare to future data points – All of the data they provide on the application will be vetted, and landlords can compare it to the information gathered during the screening process. If the information doesn’t line up, then it’s either time to reject the applicant for being dishonest or to dig deeper to unearth any important context.
- Get fewer applicants – Some applicants with prior evictions may apply, hoping that the landlord has lax standards and won’t do much screening. By asking about evictions on the application (and stating that all information will be verified), these lower-quality applicants are less likely to apply.
It’s simple to ask:
“Have you ever been evicted before?”
“When were you evicted? What was the property address?”
2. Get Signed Consent
Before gathering potentially private information, be sure to get signed consent from the applicant. Without it, many references and screening services will refuse to help you. Not to mention that you’ll likely get hit with a lawsuit.
On the consent form itself, be sure to mention all the ways you plan to gather information about the applicant to cover all your bases. For example, mention that you’ll be using a tenant screening company, talking to prior landlords, and looking up state or county court records—even if you don’t plan on doing all of those things.
Be sure to consult with an attorney before having applicants sign anything.
3. Get Necessary Personal Information
The most important information needed is name, address, and date of birth. Landlords can require a social security number (SSN) on the application, but it’s not needed. Most tenant screening companies have evolved to handle requests without an SSN.
4. Use a Tenant Screening Service
The most common way to screen applicants is to use a tenant screening service. The data and reports given to the landlord vary widely based on the chosen service.
Here are a few options for tenant screening reports that include eviction histories:
| Service | Cost | What’s Included |
| AAOA Basic | $19.95 | State-specific criminal & eviction histories, address history |
| Rtenant Enhanced Landlord Rental Eviction History | $20.95 | Evictions, liens, civil filings, judgments |
| RentPrep Background Check | $21.00 | Eviction history, bankruptcies, judgments & liens |
| MyRental Basic | $24.99 | Eviction history, nationwide criminal report, previous address history |
| Apartment.com Tenant Screening & Background Checks | $29.00 | Credit report, national criminal & eviction history |
| AAOA Red | $29.95 | State-specific criminal & eviction histories, address history, credit score |
| MyRental Premium | $34.00 | National criminal & eviction history, previous address history, credit report, proprietary SafeRent score |
| AAOA White | $35.95 | State-specific criminal & eviction histories, address history, credit score, sex offender & terrorist check |
| SmartMove Full Credit Report | $38.00 | Credit reports, SSN verification, nationwide criminal & eviction reports, bankruptcies |
| AAOA Blue | $39.95 | State-specific criminal & eviction histories, address history, credit score, sex offender & terrorist check, tenant pay option |
| SmartMove SmartCheck Plus | $39.99 | Credit reports, national eviction & criminal reports |
| SmartMove SmartCheck Premium | $41.99 | Credit reports, national eviction & criminal reports, income verification |
| AAOA Gold | $49.95 | State-specific criminal & eviction histories, address history, credit score, sex offender & terrorist check, tenant pay option, SSN fraud check |
In most states, landlords can charge an application fee which generally is used for paying the tenant screening service costs. However, some states limit the amount that landlords can charge, so the costs would (at least partially) come from the landlord.
The cost is generally worth it, considering that getting the best tenant possible into a rental unit is the most profitable activity a landlord can do.
The best practice with tenant screening is to gather complete, nationwide data. Relying on state-only or less-than-thorough reporting from subpar screening services opens landlords up to significantly more risk.
5. Manually Look Up Evictions (Optional)
In the case that a landlord doesn’t want to pay for a tenant screening service, it is possible to manually look up prior evictions.
Evictions are part of the public record. The most common place to find these is on the state’s website, which allows access to search court records.
In some states, you may not be able to get a full record of the case, but you can see a thorough briefing. Be sure to check that the tenant was actually evicted, as a landlord may have tried to wrongfully evict the tenant, which shows up on the court records as well.
Some courthouses won’t have all the information available online as online files aren’t official records. Some files may be in paper-accessible files only, while others are only available in the court’s archive.
6. Call Previous Landlords
All landlords should contact an applicant’s prior landlords to put together a thorough rental history. This is a great time to ask the landlord if the applicant had to be evicted or had any other red flag issues.
Late payments cannot be reported to credit bureaus until they’re at least 30 days late. If the tenant had a history of paying a week late each month, this wouldn’t show up on an eviction record. However, talking with a landlord may unveil issues that would discourage you from renting to the applicant.
Just be sure to avoid discussing anything other than the facts of the tenants’ rental experience. Asking about anything protected by the Fair Housing Act could open you up to a lawsuit.
7. Ask Clarifying Questions
When a landlord reaches the end of the screening process, there will likely only be a few applicants left. At the same time as checking eviction history, landlords will most likely be verifying credit, criminal, and income histories. You will have a very good idea of the type of person the applicant is.
It’s possible to have an applicant who appears to be a great potential tenant in every way, except they have a prior eviction. In this situation, it’s worth reaching out to the applicant to get some more context.
If the applicant was evicted 6 years ago during a crazy life event, the landlord might consider overlooking the eviction. If it happened 6 months ago and it could have been easily prevented, move on to the next applicant.
How to Legally Reject Applicants For Their Eviction History
An unfortunate task for landlords is rejecting the majority of applicants—especially since it’s possible to be guilty of discrimination when doing so.
Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
- Do not deny applicants for belonging to a protected class – the Fair Housing Act (FHA) defines groups of people that cannot be rejected because they belong to those groups. So, when dealing with applicants with prior evictions, be sure to not take into account things like marital status, race, country of origin, or anything else listed on the FHA’s site.
- Send rejection notices – It’s good practice to let each applicant know the reason they were rejected. This keeps applicants from inventing reasons they were denied and opening a discrimination lawsuit.
- Use the same criteria for every applicant – If two applicants both have evictions in the last year, don’t reject one and keep the other because you “like them better.” This is fertile ground for the rejected one to claim they were rejected for an unlawful reason.
