What’s Inside a Rental History Report and How to Check Yours for Free

If you’re a new renter, you may be thinking about what a rental history report is, especially if a landlord asks for it. While most renters pay their payments on time and leave the property in decent condition, a few tenants pose a more significant threat to property owners.

To help combat this, landlords improved their tenant screening processes. They reviewed credit scores, employment, background, and work references before approving an applicant’s rental application. This is why there are now rental history reports. We’ll shed a little more light on these reports in this post.

1- What is Rental History Report
2- Landlords Look at Rental Reports
3- What if I Don’t have any Prior Rental History
4- How to Deal with Negative Rental Record
5- Check Rental History Free

What is a Rental History Report?

A rental history report tells landlords everything they need to know about their previous rental experiences. This includes who your landlords were, their current addresses, and contact information. The report also includes the date you first signed a lease and any evictions or damage you might have caused to previous units you’ve rented.

Rental history reports are like credit reports for your rental history. It gives landlords an opportunity to assess the risk of accepting you as their tenant.

Can All Landlords Look at Rental Reports?

Landlords are checking rental history reports now more than ever before. This is large because credit reports don’t always provide them with the whole picture of a renter’s history.

A rental history report demonstrates to your landlord what your payment habits are and your willingness to abide by your rental agreement.

What If I Don’t Have Any Prior Rental History?

Many applicants, especially those who’ve never owned a home, have a high credit score because they have no rental history. However, your prospective landlord may want you to provide proof of income in the form of a letter of employment, tax returns, pay stubs, or other documentation instead. Most landlords will overlook your lack of rental history as a reason to decline your rental application.

A landlord also is more likely to verify the following points throughout the application process:

Your Earnings and Employment

Landlords can do income and employment verification in several ways. You can give your employer a heads-up that you’re applying to rent a property or provide proof of income, such as pay stubs, tax forms, or bank statements. You can still be denied based on other criteria, but a landlord will want to know that you make enough money to cover the monthly rent.

Credit Score

When looking for a rental property, some landlords prefer to see credit scores. Your credit report can include information about prior bankruptcies, unpaid bills, and other financial information. In addition to containing information about your financial habits. Your credit report provides information on your monthly debts. Which can be relevant if it affects your ability to pay your rent each month.

Consider these tips if your credit score is problematic when you submit rental applications:

• Lower your Expectations: Choose an apartment or a rental property in a less popular part of town where required credit score requirements are lower.
• A Less Expensive Solution could be Worthwhile: Think about an apartment with cheaper rent. Lowering your rent takes up less of your money and has a more negligible impact on your credit score.
• Recognize your Strengths: Emphasize your ability to pay above and beyond your standard rent amount if needed.
• Consider a Landlord who does not conduct a credit check: Some landlords are comfortable renting to people with lower credit scores.

Criminal Background

For rental purposes, your criminal history, pending cases, outstanding warrants, and prior felonies and misdemeanors can all impair your chance to be approved. Tell your prospective landlord if you know your criminal past contains troubling information. It may also be a good idea to provide a basic overview of why you believe that your previous mistakes will not prohibit you from becoming a good renter now. You can run a background check on yourself on PublicRecord.com to see what you need to disclose.

What If I’ve Had a Negative Rental Track Record?

Many landlords check applicants’ rental histories, but having a history of not paying rent is not always a deal breaker. Before denying your application, most property owners will inquire about any concerning information in your property history record. It might not be a problem if you have a proper explanation. If you don’t, You’re ready to pay additional money for a security deposit, they might approve your application. The biggest drawback of having negative tag on your rental history record is that it may take more time for you to get approval to rent, so prepare beforehand.

How To Check Rental History Free?

You might be thinking of ways to check rental history for free. Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can review your rental history record once a year for free. All you have to do is visit a list of rental history report companies to learn more about your prior rentals. Once you have finished exploring the rental history report database, you can contact your preferred rental history report firm and get a copy of the report.

Here Are Top Free Rental History Check Tools

1) RentMe
2) Experian
3) Spark Rental
4) Burbz

Are Negative Rental History Reports Valid?

You can remove the wrong information from your rental history report. To do so, contact your former landlords and give an explanation for which you have seen the report, Ask what you can do to help get the information removed.

If your landlord refuses to work with you to get the wrong information removed from your report. You can be capable of getting the item erased by writing to the reporting organization and documenting why the information should be removed.

My Report Contains Some Incorrect Information!

How Do I Deal With This?

You should contest any wrong information, even if it is only a discrepancy like the payment for your rental.

Once you identify the incorrect information, write a letter to the reporting organization explaining what is incorrect. A single letter of complaint is usually enough to initiate a review of your credit report. Don’t be afraid to try again if the previous attempts have failed. Be prepared to provide supporting documentation to support your claims that the information is incorrect.