How do you handle it when someone doesn't have a rental history?

Question

I have an applicant who is moving out of the home of her kids' father (how she puts it in the application). She has no rental history given. How do you handle that? Do you balance it with some of the other income or credit criteria? Looking for ideas.

Kyle J. · Answer

Look at other qualifying factors, such as does she have a stable job history and the required 3x income (or whatever you require)?  Does she have other credit accounts (i.e. car payment, credit cards, etc) and does her credit report reflect that she has paid those on time?  Some landlords will also require their applicants to have a minimum credit score.

And even though she lived with another person, you should still do landlord reference checks (if they were renters) to see if collectively they were good tenants, paid their rent on time, don't owe any past due rent or damages, etc.  Also conduct an eviction search to make sure she was never even named in an unlawful detainer action (I don't allow any prior evictions, ever).

As you can see, there's lots of things you can still screen for (and you should).  Good luck.

Cameron Tope · Answer

Rental History is important but it's only one piece of the puzzle. I've had tenants who owned a home and relocated, lived with family, etc.

The key is to see how the lack of rental history fits into their overall character. Is their credit score high? Do they have a steady job? Is there income high? Do they have any evictions, felonies, etc?

If everything else checks out, then we would definitely take an applicant who doesn't have rental verification.

Also, you could always ask for more of a deposit.