What is a tenant screening report?
Updated 2026-10-18, 8 min read
7 years
How old most negative items, evictions among them, can be before federal law keeps them off the report. Convictions are the exception. 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, checked 2026-10-18.
A tenant screening report is a consumer report about a rental applicant, compiled by a screening company from credit, court and other records and sold to you. The FTC puts it in one line: "Tenant background check reports are consumer reports." That sentence is why the Fair Credit Reporting Act governs how you get one, read it and act on it.
What the report is, legally
The company that assembles the report is a consumer reporting agency. Some are the national credit bureaus, many are specialist tenant screening companies, and some resell bureau data with their own court searches added. The FTC's guidance says agencies "prepare consumer reports for other businesses, including landlords," and the same rules apply whichever kind you use.
This page covers the document itself. The process around it, from written criteria to the decision, is in the tenant screening guide.
The report, section by section
The CFPB lists what a tenant screening report can include. Not every product includes every part, and you choose much of it when you order. What each part means in practice:
| Section | What it shows | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | Name, date of birth, addresses the file links to | That the addresses match the application. A stranger's address points to a mixed file. |
| Credit | Accounts, payment history, collections, public records, often a score | Rent-sized debts in collections and recent late payments. A thin file is not a bad file. |
| Rental history and evictions | Eviction filings and court outcomes | Whether a case was a filing, a judgment for the landlord, or dismissed. |
| Criminal records | Convictions and, within limits, arrests | Date, offence and outcome. Read it through an individualised assessment, never as a blanket bar. |
| Sex offender registries | Registry matches | That the match is the applicant and not a similar name. |
| Watchlist | National terrorist watchlist check | Name-only matches. Confirm identity before relying on one. |
| Employment or income check | Verification, where you ordered it | That it covers the job on the application, not an old one. |
| Score or recommendation | A risk score or accept/decline built on criteria you selected | The criteria you set. The output is only as fair as they are. |
A score without the records is a weak basis for a decision
If the report gives you only a recommendation, ask for the underlying records before you decline. You will need to point to something specific if the applicant disputes the result, and the agency's score alone is hard to defend.
Two things a report does not do: confirm the applicant can pay this rent from current income, and tell you how they kept the last unit. Those come from pay records and a call to the previous landlord. Use the tenant screening questions to cover them.
What the law keeps off it
The FCRA limits how far back a report may reach (15 U.S.C. § 1681c, checked 2026-10-18). If you see an item older than these limits, it is an error to raise with the agency, not a reason to decline.
- Bankruptcy cases10 years
- Civil suits, civil judgments, arrest records7 years, or the statute of limitations if longer
- Collections and other adverse items7 years
- Criminal convictionsNo federal limit
The CFPB adds that "if your eviction was sealed or expunged, it should not be on your report" (Review your rental background check). Some states set shorter lookbacks or restrict criminal history in housing, so check your state's statute before you set a lookback in your criteria.
Your duties before and after you read it
- 01Permissible purpose. "You can only get a consumer report if you have a permissible purpose." An application to rent or renew is one. Written consent on the rental application shows it.
- 02Adverse action notice. Required when you act on the report against the applicant, "even if information in the consumer report wasn't the primary reason for the decision."
- 03Credit score disclosure. If a credit score fed the decision, the notice includes the score and its key factors.
- 04Secure disposal. When you are done, the report and anything taken from it must be destroyed securely, for example by shredding paper.
Adverse action is wider than a refusal. The FTC's examples include requiring a co-signer, a deposit or a larger security deposit than another applicant would pay, and charging more rent than another applicant would pay (FTC guidance, checked 2026-10-18).
What the notice must say
The agency's name, address and phone number; that the agency did not make the decision and cannot explain it; that the applicant may dispute the report's accuracy or completeness; and that they can get a free copy if they ask within 60 days.
The applicant's copy and dispute
After a denial, the applicant can get a free copy of the report from the screening company if they ask within 60 days. If they dispute an item, the agency generally has 30 days from receiving the dispute to reinvestigate. That can stretch by up to 15 more days if the applicant sends relevant information during the first 30 (15 U.S.C. § 1681i, checked 2026-10-18).
In practice, if a good applicant tells you an eviction or a debt is someone else's, decide now whether you will hold the unit while the dispute runs. Whatever you decide, offer the same to every applicant in the same position.
Which screening products give you the full records and which give you only a score, and who pays, is set out in SmartMove vs RentPrep and free tenant screening services.
Sources read for this page
- FTC: Using Consumer Reports, What Landlords Need to Knowchecked 2026-10-18
- CFPB: What is a tenant screening report?checked 2026-10-18
- CFPB: Review your rental background checkchecked 2026-10-18
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681cchecked 2026-10-18
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681ichecked 2026-10-18