Prior Tenant Documentation Retention Period

[Mike M.]

I'm on my second set of tenants in my first two properties.  I have the prior tenants' application, lease, DL's, paystubs, etc...  What is everyone's experience with needing to hold on to this information?  I can see holding onto the Release of RIghts of Possession and perhaps the SD accounting form, but is there value and/or need in holding onto other documents associated with prior tenants?  What do other landlords do with prior documentation? 

I do have the capability to scan and dump to my Google Drive or store somewhere else.  Obviously some of this information is personally identifying (SS#, name, etc.) and I'd love to shred it unless there's a compelling reason not to.

Thanks for your responses.

[Michele Fischer]

I've been keeping all applications and rental paperwork for 7 years, filed by destroy date.  I have not yet gone digital, but have considered it.  I would use the cloud, not an external hard drive.  We had a robbery a few years back; they stole all of the computers and nearby external hard drives, so we lost all of our data.