You may have heard about landlord’s conducting rental history reports on prospective tenants. But do you know what that means?
While the term rental history is used, most rental history reports go beyond just looking at your past as it relates to housing. Therefore, having a good rental history means more than just always paying your rent on time (although that certainly helps). There are a few other important things that landlords look at. Here’s the profile of someone with a good rental history:
* A credit report with no major blemishes. If you pay your bills on time and don’t have any large outstanding debts or other issues that would cause your credit score to plummet, you’re in good shape.
* No evictions. Since evictions are filed in court, this would be the most likely housing-related issue to show up on a rental history check.
* No criminal record. Landlords don’t want to be responsible for bringing criminal activity to the neighborhood. They also don’t want to be on the hook if a tenant can’t pay rent because he’s dealing with legal issues, or worse, is in jail.
* Good record of paying on time. Services like RentBureau™, used exclusively by landlords, gives landlords access to payment history data from participating landlords. For obvious reasons, landlords are more likely to rent to potential tenants that have a history of paying on time.
If you are wondering if you classify as someone with a good rental history, there’s a sure way to find out. My Rental History Report gives you the opportunity to run your own rental history reports, which includes a background check, payment history information and a credit check for renters.
