Screening
Rental application template
An application that collects what you may ask and nothing you may not.
Screening & Software
1 tool, 3 guides, 9 comparisons
Applications, screening reports and adverse action on one side; the landlord software people actually compare before they buy on the other.
Screening is a sequence: a written application, a consumer report pulled with the applicant's knowledge, a decision against criteria you set before you read anything, and an adverse-action notice when the report counts against someone. The guides walk that sequence and the federal duties that come with it.
The comparisons price the software that runs the sequence — and, often, the banking and bookkeeping around it — from each vendor's own pricing page on the date the page states. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, no figure is given.
Tools
Guides
Tenant screening guide
Criteria, the report, adverse action, and the FCRA line you must not cross.
11 min
Tenant screening questions
What to ask an applicant, and the questions that are illegal to ask.
7 min
What is a tenant screening report?
The report section by section, what the law keeps off it, your FCRA duties.
8 min
Comparisons
TurboTenant vs Avail
Two free-to-landlord platforms, priced on what the tenant pays.
TurboTenant vs RentRedi
Free-with-fees against a flat landlord subscription.
Buildium vs AppFolio
Where a self-managed portfolio outgrows itself — and what that costs.
SmartMove vs RentPrep
Same-day TransUnion report against a human-reviewed background check.
Zillow Rental Manager vs Avail
Listing reach against a full lease-and-payments workflow.
Free tenant screening services
Which screening is genuinely no-cost to the landlord, and who pays instead.
Stessa vs Baselane
Two free landlord banking apps: free-tier books, Schedule E and real APY.
Hemlane vs TurboTenant
Per-unit service tiers against free software and flat-fee full service.
Baselane vs Avail
Equifax add-ons against TransUnion pick-your-reports, and who pays.