You MUST know what is in your own Rental History Report if you are a current renter or prospective renter. A Rental History Report is going to have the record of the last 7-10 years of not only your rental life but more than likely your credit check and background check attached to it as well.
In this article, I am going to take you through what exactly IS your Rental History Report, what it means for you as a renter, how to get your own copy for free, and how landlords use this report when deciding who to rent to and who not to rent to.
Also, I’ll be going over the things to go to clean up your Rental History and some steps to make sure that it stays clean from here on out.
Let’s begin!
What Is Your Rental History?
Your rental history is a list of all the places in the last 7 years, including the name of the apartment or other unit, the address, the dates you stayed there, and the manager or landlord if available.
The section that tenants don’t care about is the one with anything about Landlords in them. But there is a REASON why your Rental History is so crucial to the next place you want to move. Landlords base their Number 1 and Number 2 criteria… “Will the tenant be able to afford the rent?” and “Do they have any past evictions?”… on whether they are going to rent to the person who just put in an application.
So, your rental history means a TON.
How Do People Check Rental History?
There are two ways to check a person’s rental history. The first is to have them give you a list and addresses of every place they have stayed with contact info attached, or when a credit check is run for an application, any delinquencies or evictions associated with previous rental experience will show up on there.
Landlords will ask for one of two things regarding your rental history.
The first way, the more traditional way to do it is for the landlord to simply ask the tenant to provide them with a written list of the places they have stayed over the last several years. Many times, there is a place to do this right on the lease application.
Now obviously, there is a bunch of room here for applicants to be less than honest when it comes to telling a new landlord about their past experiences and behavior at another place. It can be really convenient to leave out that place 3 years ago you and your friends were evicted from.
Lucky for landlords AND tenants, technology has changed all that.
When I say “Lucky For Tenants” I mean just that. You may think that the LESS scrutiny there is at a complex, the better it is for a tenant because it removes a barrier to entry to the complex. But this is a sharp, double-edged sword that cuts both ways. Not having sufficient checks on tenants allows OTHER bad tenants to move in right next to you. So, if you are a tenant or current renter, you WANT the apartment complex to have some hoops to jump through to screen tenants.
Because right now…..
Your rental history can be obtained by your landlord simply by having you complete a credit check as a part of the application process.
Now, the credit report isn’t going to necessarily show all the places you have stayed, but what it WILL show is all the places you have been evicted from or still owe payments to. It skips all those places your new landlord doesn’t have to call, and just narrows in on the problem areas.
Your landlord doesn’t have to sift through all the places fishing for information. They can simply see if you have been evicted or haven’t paid anywhere in the last 7 years, and then follow up with your previous landlord at that point. And obviously, if your credit report comes back clean, then maybe no one needs to be called and approval is almost a given.
How Long Does Rental History Last?
Your Rental History will last for at least 7 years on your credit report.
Seven years may not seem like a long time, but when compared to how many years we humans get to spend on Earth, it is a pretty sizable chunk of your breathing hours. The last thing you want is an anchor hanging around your feel for all that time.
Now, you can get your credit report cleared, especially when dealing with your past landlords if you have the courage to sit down and talk with them about resolving the past issue.
If you have a notice on your credit report for an eviction or missing payments, you can call your landlord and work it out with them. If they accept your efforts, they can call the reporting agencies and verify that all the payments were made and you can have your credit report cleaned up. But this is something that you have to do on your own.
How Is Rental History Verified?
Rental History is verified by calling the different facilities where a person has stayed and asked about their time there. Additionally, a credit report will tell exactly where, when, what happened, and how much the person owes to a previous landlord.
Do landlords really call other landlords? We have an ENTIRE ARTICLE about this because You Bet They Do!! Landlords have to do their due diligence on their tenants if they want to keep their place looking nice, feeling safe, and having renters that pay their rent on time every month. A person’s rental history helps them do this.
If I see that a person has an eviction on their credit report, I am going to immediately call the complex they stayed in and ask the manager what happened specifically with that renter. Why were they evicted? What happened? Did they leave the apartment a disaster zone and stiff them out of months of rent?
Every renter has a story, but the story that the manager is going to have is going to be centered around what actually happened, because all they are concerned about is cash flow and if the person was a good tenant or not.
Is Rental History On Your Credit Report?
Any problems that you have had at an apartment complex, such as an eviction or delinquent payments will show up on your credit report for approximately 7 years.
Many times, I will have applicants who neglect to put down all the places they have stayed without realizing that any evictions or delinquent payments will show up on the credit report that they have to go through if they want to apply. This is a MASSIVE red flag.
Applicants need to be aware that in the digital age, virtually everything in your life is tracked, especially the bad things, and they can follow you around for a long, long time.
As a landlord who is constantly moving people in and out of an apartment complex, I cannot stress ENOUGH, that you learn how to be a great tenant. That is something that you may not get a gold star for, but the real world prizes of being approved for another apartment, for a bank loan, or for a new car or house is going to feel pretty sweet!! If you have a bunch of problems with your credit score, you can be assured to have a tough time doing any of those.
Keeping your credit score clean is something that is everyone’s personal responsibility, and having a good credit report will smooth the path for many things you want to do in life.
Background and Credit Checks For Your Apartment
Background and credit checks are the standard operating procedure for most apartment complexes. These checks allow a landlord to see how great of a risk they are going to take by allowing them into their apartments.
Both background and credit checks are going to cost a bit of money when you apply for a new apartment. Don’t fret about the cost of the checks.
Realize that the people that are REALLY concerned about these two background checks are more than likely going to be people you probably don’t want to be neighbors with and aren’t likely to pay the money just to have the application show that they have been evicted from the past 3 places they have rented from.
Tenants should also welcome the background check, not just for themselves necessarily, but for the peace of mind that everyone else that they are going to be living in close proximity to for the next year or so have been through the exact same background checks.
Apartments With No Rental History Check
You can find apartment complexes that will rent to you with no rental history check. Just realize that if they are renting to you under these conditions, they are also renting to everyone else as well.
If you are in the unfortunate position of having a poor rental history, there ARE apartment complexes that will rent to you. However, this goes back to what I have been saying about the TENANT should like the fact that there are background checks being done for their safety as well, not looked upon as some sort of affront to them.
My suggestion to you is to find a private landlord who only owns and manages a few units, not a big, corporate complex where the rules are going to be more inflexible. With a private person, you can talk to them face to face, let them know why you want to rent from them, why you would be a good tenant, and go from there.
In this way, you can also begin to clean up your rental history with a track record of renting from someone without any problems. Then, the next time you move, you have a good reference from your last landlord when the next one calls.
Your Rental History Report is something, no matter how it is derived by the landlord, that is used to make the ultimate decision whether or not to let you into their apartment complex or not. Having marks on your rental history bad enough to get onto your credit report will stay there for seven years, so it is imperative that you keep it clean and be a great tenant!
