Applicants past landlord won't give rental verification

[Randy Garner]

So we require 3 years of verifiable rental history as part of our application process. A current applicant has a previous landlord, on of the top 3 largest property management companies in the US, that will no longer give any level of rental verification. As this PM has thousands of properties we are going to be dealing with this more often. Looking for any input on how you guys worked around this if at all, and if others are experiencing this as well. Thanks!

[Drew Sygit]

This Verification of Rent (VOR) issue is becoming more common due to lawsuits and Fair Housing issues:(

We address it thus:

1) If they have high enough credit scores, we do not need VOR.

2) Usually tenants can print out from their tenant portal or get a copy from the office. We then verify it with the landlord that it is legitimate.

3) Ask prospect to supply 6-12 months of bank statements showing rent payments.

None of this covers if they trashed the place or have been a PITA tenant.

NOTE: many of the biggest PMCs are reporting rent payments to credit bureaus, so may show up on credit check.