Landlord Certification Process

As summer approaches, you will find more and more interest in your vacancies which means the applications will start pouring in. Are you ready? Have you decided what type of tenant screening you will be conducting on your applicants? Do you know the cost of the reports you will be ordering so you can pass that processing fee on to each applicant? (RCW 53.18.257) I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to conduct a tenant screening on each qualified applicant that applies for your rental property. RHAWA recommends checking credit, criminal and civil records as well as verifying rental history and income. RHAWA offers all of these products and more when it comes to screening prospective tenants – this is one of the opportunities available to you as an RHAWA member!

If you haven’t screened an applicant in a few years you may not be aware of the Certification Process required on prospective tenants. Federal regulations now mandate that any rental property owner or manager who wants to receive credit details or even a leasing recommendation on their applicant, first undergo a process that shows you have a valid need for obtaining such information.

Because of these regulations RHAWA offers Full Credit Reports. The Full Credit Reports provides you with a detailed credit report on your applicant. This means you will be able to know if they have any collection accounts, what type of credit accounts they have and what their monthly payment requirement is in order to responsibly manage their credit. These reports also provide a credit score and fraud detection. It only takes one business day to complete the certification process, however don’t wait until you already have an application that needs to be processed to get certified. If you have not yet gone through the certification process contact our tenant screening department today.