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How to Handle
Tenant Screening in 2022
By: Contemporary Information Corp. (CIC)
Tenant screening was created as a solution for rental properties to use consistent, reliable information to determine whether they should approve or deny applicants. The old school methods relied on factors that were inconsistent, potentially discriminatory and didn’t provide a level playing field for renters to have a fair opportunity to be approved for a home. Tenant screening solved many of these issues by looking at the same factors, such as credit reports and criminal histories, to review all applicants using the same criteria and provide an equal method of finding qualified tenants. Unfortunately, there are some who view tenant screening as a problem that prevents people from having a fair chance to find
a rental home, and they’ve been waging a war to end the practice. CIC has been a reliable provider of tenant screening for nearly four decades, and has been on the frontlines advocating on behalf of the needs of the rental housing industry. Some battles have been won and some were lost, but the need to find tenants that can be trusted to pay on time while keeping the property and community safe is more important than ever. Is Tenant Screening Still Possible in 2022? Yes, and it’s still incredibly helpful in providing fair housing opportunities to all applicants. CIC has been through waves of new legislation forcing changes to how they provide tenant screening, and they’ve been on forefront
of developing new methods for access to reliable tenant screening reports. How do they do this? Safe Access to Criminal Records Among the most challenging arguments for tenant screening is the use of criminal records, and their impact on preventing applicants from access to safe housing. When used incorrectly this can be a fair argument, but tenant screening providers have the power to deliver this information in a way that’s safe to use for rental properties. A significant complaint about criminal records is that they aren’t accurate. Some of the most common reasons for this is that there’s no national database of records with consistent practices, and poor policy-making over the February 2022 socalrha.org | 19
