Bad screening is the single most expensive mistake a landlord makes. Every eviction, every trashed unit, every month of unpaid rent traces back to the moment you handed over the keys to someone you should not have.
Proper screening costs about $50 per applicant. A bad tenant costs $7,000-$8,500 on average. The math is not complicated.
Credit Reports: Look Beyond the Score
A credit score of 650 is the minimum threshold most professional managers use. Below that, the risk of nonpayment increases sharply. But the score alone does not tell the whole story.
Pull the full report and look at the tradelines. What you want to see: consistent on-time payments on recurring obligations (car loans, credit cards, student loans). What should concern you: collections from utility companies, prior landlord judgments, maxed-out credit lines, and recent inquiries from other apartment applications (they may be getting rejected elsewhere).
Medical Debt
Medical collections are treated differently by many landlords. A $3,000 ER bill in collections does not necessarily indicate someone who will skip rent. Weigh it in context with the rest of the report.
Income Verification: Trust but Verify
The standard is 3x monthly rent in gross income. For a $1,200/month unit, the tenant needs to show $3,600/month gross.
Require the two most recent pay stubs and verify employment independently. Do not call the number the applicant provides. Look up the employer’s number yourself and call HR or the supervisor directly. Ask: “Does [name] work there? What is their position? How long have they been employed?”
Self-employed applicants should provide two years of tax returns and three months of bank statements. Look at actual deposits, not what they claim to earn.
Section 8 and Source of Income
New York State law prohibits discrimination based on source of income. This includes Section 8 vouchers, Social Security, disability payments, veterans benefits, and any other lawful source of income. You cannot reject an applicant solely because they receive government assistance.
You can still apply the same screening criteria (credit, rental history, background) to Section 8 applicants. You just cannot reject the voucher itself as a reason.
Rental History: Call the Right Landlord
This is the most important call you will make, and most landlords get it wrong.
Do not call the current landlord. The current landlord has every incentive to give a glowing reference to get rid of a problem tenant. “Oh yes, they are wonderful, never late, please take them.”
Call the landlord before the current one. That landlord has no incentive to lie. Ask specific questions:
- Did the tenant pay rent on time?
- Did you ever have to serve a pay-or-quit notice?
- Did the tenant leave the unit in good condition?
- Were there noise complaints or lease violations?
- Would you rent to them again?
That last question tells you everything. If there is a pause before the answer, you have your answer.
Eviction History: Search eCourts
New York’s eCourts system lets you search for prior court filings by name across counties. Search the applicant’s name in Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, and Oneida counties at minimum.
Look for nonpayment petitions, holdover proceedings, and landlord-tenant disputes. An applicant with two prior eviction filings is not someone who had bad luck twice. It is a pattern.
Keep in mind that a filing does not mean a judgment was entered. Some cases are dismissed or settled. But the filing itself is a data point worth considering alongside everything else.
Criminal Background Checks: Do It Right or Skip It
New York does not prohibit criminal background checks for housing, but you cannot have a blanket policy of denying anyone with a criminal record. The standard is individualized assessment.
Under fair housing guidance, you must consider:
- The nature and severity of the offense
- How much time has passed since the offense
- The applicant’s conduct since the offense
- Whether the offense has a direct relationship to tenancy
A 10-year-old misdemeanor shoplifting conviction does not justify denial. A recent conviction for arson or manufacturing drugs in a residential unit does. Document your reasoning for every decision.
Arrest records without convictions cannot be used as a basis for denial. Period.
Fair Housing: Consistency Protects You
The best defense against a fair housing complaint is proving you treat every applicant the same way. Use the same application, the same criteria, the same screening company, and the same decision matrix for every single applicant.
Document everything. If you deny an applicant, send a written adverse action notice citing the specific reasons (credit score below threshold, insufficient income, negative landlord reference). Keep records for at least three years.
Protected classes under federal and New York law include race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military status, and source of income. If your denial could be interpreted as targeting any of these, you need a clearly documented, non-discriminatory reason.
The Cost of Skipping Screening
Here is what happens when you rent to the first person who shows up with a deposit check.
Vacancy cost while you screen (14-21 days at $1,200/month): $600-$850. Screening cost per applicant: $35-$50. Total to screen 3 applicants and select the best one: $975 maximum.
Cost of a bad tenant: 3-5 months lost rent ($3,600-$6,000), eviction legal fees ($2,500-$5,000), turnover and repairs ($1,500-$4,000). Total: $7,600-$15,000.
Spending $975 to avoid a potential $8,500 loss is not an expense. It is the single best investment you make on every unit.
Screening Checklist
- Credit score 650+ with clean tradelines
- Income verified at 3x monthly rent
- Employer verified independently (not applicant-provided number)
- Prior landlord reference (not current landlord)
- eCourts search for eviction filings in CNY counties
- Criminal background with individualized assessment
- Consistent criteria applied to every applicant
- Written adverse action notice for every denial
If you own rentals in Syracuse, Oswego, Auburn, or Utica and want screening done right, RenPro Property Management runs full background, credit, income, and rental history checks on every applicant. No shortcuts. Call 315-400-2654.
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