8 Best Online Tenant Screening Services in 2023

Owning and operating rental property can be a tedious process involving tenant searches, rent collection, account management, maintenance, and repair management.

Protecting your rental income should be a priority, but leasing your property to the wrong tenant can cause rent defaults, property damage, safety hazards, neighbor complaints, and expensive evictions. Thorough tenant screening is the best solution to help you mitigate such risks.

Tenant screening services enable landlords, realtors, or property managers to determine the suitability of a person to rent a house or an apartment. Tenant screening services include previous rental history, income verification, a background check, and a credit report.

In this article, we will review eight of the best tenant screening services to help you get accurate information and protect your investments.

Tenant Screening Services

Some tenants can default or delay rent payments, damage your property, or drag you into various legal conflicts. Dealing with such tenants can cause you losses and turnover costs which takes a toll on you. 

Tenant screening is the process of seeking and understanding a potential tenant’s background, credit history, and financial status to predict their likelihood to pay or default on rent payments. A platform with the best tenant screening services provides effective tenant screening and selection to streamline your property management experience and make it more profitable.

Effective tenant screening helps you identify and avoid potential problematic tenants before they cause real issues. This saves you money, time, and unnecessary stress.

What Does Tenant Screening Entail?

A screening report gives you insight into the likely performance of the applicant based on their history. The report shows you whether an applicant has personal loans or student debts.  The report also outlines whether the applicant can meet monthly rental payments.  Producing the report is a lengthy process involving various steps. 

Platforms with the best tenant screening services incorporate seven major steps with many minor steps to provide you with comprehensive screening reports. 

These steps involve pre-screening, financial assessment, performing a credit check and calculating a credit score, checking the eviction report, understanding the criminal report, validating the rental history, and verifying current and prior employment.

Tenant Selection

Tenant selection is the process of identifying a tenant who’s a good fit for your property. A bad tenant is the most costly expense for property managers and owners. Selecting the best qualified tenants can smoothen the move-in process.

After analyzing the screening report, some applicants may not meet your rental property’s qualifications. Some of your qualification thresholds may include a monthly income of three times the rent, a minimum credit score of 650, and pet restrictions. 

Tenant selection goes deeper than the qualifications you’ve set for your property. It creates a win-win situation for you and your tenants. To reduce vacancy and make your property occupied sooner, you can consider accepting a cosigner or guarantor who meets the minimum qualifications to sign the lease with a non-qualified tenant.

8 Best Tenant Screening Services

Tenant screening services vary depending on price, turnaround time, the scope of services, and enhancement of data algorithms with human research. The best include:

Hemlane

Hemlane is a top-rated property management software designed to reduce stress and give you peace of mind when it comes to your rental properties. 

Hemlane offers effective and thorough tenant screening and selection to streamline your rental property management experience, helping you mitigate risks and increase profit. This tenant screening report includes a soft credit check and a background check. Then, Hemlane's smart algorithm provides you with instant recommendations on whether to accept or politely decline applicants.

Outside of tenant screening, Hemlane is an all-in-one property management software that puts your properties on autopilot.

Hemlane can advertise your property across the top 30 rental listing websites, providing online rental applications, credit, and background checks.

Hemlane offers a flexible and transparent solution for rental owners, landlords, and real estate investors. Providing applicant tracking, online rent collection, and lease management. It also provides around-the-clock management of tenant maintenance and repair requests.

Hemlane offers three subscription plans, with prices based on the unit count: Basic starts at $2 per unit per month, Essential at $12 per unit per month, and Complete at $32 per unit per month.

RentRedi 

RentRedi offers tenant screening services for landlords with an easy-to-use mobile app. Its features include certified tenant screening, a mobile property management software application, and customized recommendations to help you identify high-quality tenants.

You can request a TransUnion credit report, a criminal and eviction report, and pre-screening services on RentRedi.

RentRedi allows you to collect rent via its mobile app, manage maintenance, and list vacancies. It also has a free tenant lease agreement signing tool, allowing safe and secure sending, signing, and storage of leases. RentRedi, in partnership with REI Hub, provides rental property accounting software.

RentRedi’s base pricing offers monthly ($19.5/month), 3-month ($15/month), and annual ($9/month) subscription plans.

Buildium

Buildium is a property management software designed for property managers and real estate experts. Its main features include rental listings, tenant screening, maintenance requests, lease management, rent collection, and property accounting. You can approve lease applications, settle maintenance issues, manage payments, and update financials wherever you are.

Buildium is a simple and unified platform that enables you to manage all portfolios, whether five doors or five thousand units.

Through credit card and ACH payments, you can automate rent collections and payments to vendors. You can also receive and process cash payments through PayNearMe.

Buildium has three packages; an essential plan at $55/month, a growth plan at $174/month, and a premium plan at $375/month.

Zillow Rental Manager

Zillow Rental Manager features project management tools to help you create a lease through a lease builder or template and e-sign it with your tenants. You can also upload your own lease. It also allows you to collect rent, utilities, and move-in fees, which are deposited directly into your bank account at no cost.

Zillow rental manager permits you to list your property for free on its platform, which boasts over 30 million visitors monthly. Messaging and tenant screening are blended into its listing platform, enabling you to find and screen applicants easily.

The platform allows online tenant screening through online rental applications. You can also get a credit report, eviction history, income verification, and a background check for each tenant.

Zillow charges $9.99 per listing every week after the first free listing. Applications and screening reports will cost you $29 each.

Stessa 

Stessa was one of the first platforms to launch a rental property management mobile app. Its efficient screening services for landlords have attracted over 200,000 landlords.

Stessa offers comprehensive tenant screening with a proprietary approach that reduces tenant default rates by 25%. It also allows you to run background and credit checks.

Stessa gives you access to over 50 legal templates and e-signing. Signed documents are then stored in your Stessa account for quick retrieval.

The platform reduces your property management tasks by sending payment reminders, charging late fees, and making deposits. This leaves you with free time to handle other roles.

Stessa has two plans: a free plan (essentials) and a premium plan (Pro) which costs $20/month. It also has a cash management strategy where your deposits earn 3.12% APY for the free plan and 5.08% APY for the premium plan.

Apartments.com Rental Manager

Apartments.com is an all-in-one property management and tenant screening software designed to simplify your rental management processes. 

Listing on Apartments.com discloses your property to over one billion visitors. This expands your visibility, attracts potential renters, and gives you a competitive edge. The company gives you insights into your property’s value and free rent comparison reports so that you can price your listings correctly.

The platform provides convenient and free online rent collection. After automating your rent payments, Apartment.com sends reminder emails to your tenants, automates late fees, and gives you the necessary tax documents.

Apartment.com offers flexibility to renters by allowing them to pay via bank transfers, credit cards, Google Pay, or set up automatic payments. This motivates your tenants and reduces rent defaults.

Apartment.com provides 50 state-specific, legally binding lease templates that your applicants can sign online.

Apartment.com offers comprehensive tenant screening services with lots of information about your renters. Such information includes employment status, rental history, and income-to-rent ratios. You can personalize the screening process to get a tenant’s eviction and criminal history, TransUnion credit report, and credit score.

The platform helps you manage rental maintenance requests and track your rental expenses. It also provides reports to enable you to claim rental expenses when filing your taxes.

A background check and a credit report cost $24 each on Apartment.com. The platform also provides a range of advertising packages to choose from so that you can make sure it aligns with your marketing needs.

Turbo Tenant

Turbo Tenant’s built-in tools offer quick and efficient tenant screening services for landlords. 

Turbo Tenant allows you to create one professional listing and send it to various listing sites, such as Apartments.com, Redfin, and Rent.com, and track the leads in your dashboard.

Turbo Tenant offers online applications and tenant screening with TransUnion screening reports. It gives you the financial, criminal, and eviction history of your potential tenants at zero costs.

Individual state-specific lease agreements cost $59, but you can get unlimited leases with a premium subscription.

You can automate your online rent payments, manage your property with integrated accounting software, manage your renters, and organize crucial documents in one place.

You can choose a free Turbo Tenant account or a premium plan at $8.25/month.

DoorLoop 

DoorLoop is a property management software that helps you manage, grow, and automate your property in over 100 countries.

DoorLoop offers efficient tenant screening with a detailed background check, eviction, credit checks, and renters insurance.

With DoorLoop, tenants can pay you automatically every first day of the month. The platform allows you to run custom reports, track your cash flow, and create data-driven solutions with its robust and easy-to-use accounting features. It offers financial transparency and secure sharing of documents.

The online portal lets you receive maintenance requests, wire money to vendors, and check mail. Besides tenant screening, you can market your property on Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, etc, and build a custom website. You can then e-sign lease agreements online with new applicants from your website.

DoorLoop is integrated with thousands of apps and comes with three payment plans. Starter $49/month, Pro $99/month, and premium $149/month.

FAQs

What criteria did we use to choose the best tenant screening services?

We looked at companies that provide a credit score and/or credit report, availability of online rental applications, criminal background checks, eviction history, and pricing of the services.

The companies are Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Fair Housing Act (FHA) compliant.

What are the requirements to perform tenant screening?

You’ll need a prospective tenant’s full name, address, and email. Some packages may require additional information such as the tenant’s date of birth and social security number.

How much do tenant screening services cost? 

Tenant screening costs depend on individual companies. Most of them have free and different categories of premium plans. Those without free plans have free trial options.

Who pays for tenant screening?

Payment for screening depends on local laws in the state where the property is located. Some states will allow you to charge an application fee while others won’t, so you should check with the local laws first.

What is eviction history?

It is a summary of records of unlawful actions concerning a prospective tenant, which landlords lawfully consider during tenant screening. After seven years, the information can not be considered during the screening process.

What is a credit score?

A credit score is a numerical rating that evaluates your creditworthiness. It is based on your credit history (number of accounts, total debts, repayment history, etc) and ranges between 300 and 850. The higher the score, the better the tenant’s potential to pay.

The Best Tenant Screening Services

The best tenant screening services provide you with comprehensive information and data to help you make informed decisions. It is essential to review the list and choose the most suitable for your needs. You should also consider the value you get for your money.

Hemlane is a nationwide property management software with local agents in various cities. It provides efficient tenant screening and selection with comprehensive credit and background checks to ensure you make accurate data-driven decisions. Try Hemlane for 14 days free!