You’ve listed your rental. Showings are done. Applications are coming in. Now someone’s sitting in your inbox and they seem great — friendly messages, stable job, says they’ve never had any issues with a landlord.
Now what?
Most landlords at this stage do one of two things. They either move too fast and trust their gut, or they run a $20 background check through some consumer website and call it a day. Both approaches can cost you thousands of dollars, and in some cases, real legal exposure.
This is the part of property management that looks simple from the outside and absolutely isn’t. We’ve been managing rental properties in Austin for 25 years, and tenant screening is still the piece we see self-managing owners get wrong more than anything else. This post breaks down how to do it right — what to check, what the numbers actually mean, and where the traps are.
In This Guide
A Written Policy Is Not Optional
Before you screen a single applicant, you need a written, uniformly applied screening criteria document.
This isn’t bureaucracy. It’s your legal protection.
Texas landlords are subject to the federal Fair Housing Act, and Austin has pursued tenant-friendly housing policies — making consistent, well-documented screening criteria an important risk-management practice for local landlords. If you approve applicant A and deny applicant B using different standards, you’ve opened a door you cannot close. A written policy that applies identically to every applicant is how you demonstrate that decisions are based on criteria, not characteristics.
Our criteria at Trend cover identity verification, income, employment history, residential history, credit, criminal background, and occupancy limits. Every applicant gets the same checklist. No exceptions, no gut-feel overrides.
Written screening criteria applied uniformly to every applicant are your first line of defense against Fair Housing complaints. No policy means no protection.
Start With Identity Before Anything Else
This sounds obvious. It isn’t always.
Every applicant 18 and older must provide a government-issued photo ID before we process anything else. Driver’s license, passport, Social Security card. Identity comes first because nothing you verify afterward means anything if the person filling out the form isn’t who they say they are.
We actually get a head start on this because Trend is one of the only property management companies in Austin offering self-guided tours through ShowMojo. Applicants register and complete ID verification at the showing stage, before they ever submit formal paperwork. By the time Jaynah, our property manager, is reviewing an application, the identity question has already been partially answered.
It’s a small thing that makes a real difference in catching misrepresentation early.
Income Verification: The Math Is Non-Negotiable
Three times the monthly rent. That’s the floor.
Across our portfolio, average rent runs around $2,250 per month. So we’re looking for a combined gross household income of at least $6,750 per month before we proceed. That number isn’t arbitrary — it’s based on what gives a household enough cushion to pay rent reliably after all their other expenses.
“Across our portfolio, average rent runs around $2,250 per month.”
Here’s what we require to verify it:
- Employed applicants: Two months of recent paystubs plus an employment letter or contact
- Self-employed applicants: Three months of bank statements and two years of W2s, 1099s, or tax returns
- Military applicants: A current Leave and Earnings Statement (LES)
- Retired or non-employed: Signed tax returns, bank statements, or documentation of any income source
We don’t take an applicant’s word, or an employer’s verbal confirmation. One owner we worked with early in our relationship relied on a verbal income check from an employer rather than requiring paystubs. The tenant’s actual income was well below the 3x threshold, and the lease ended in a payment default within six months. Paystubs exist for a reason.
Credit Checks: What the Score Actually Tells You (and What It Doesn’t)
Our minimum is a 600 credit score. Applicants below that face automatic denial, or are required to pay an additional deposit and secure a co-signer.
But here’s a take most property managers won’t give you: credit score alone is a bad screening tool if it’s your only tool.
A 720-score applicant with no rental history and income barely at the 3x threshold is statistically riskier than a 620-score applicant with five years of verified on-time rent payments and income at 4x. Credit score measures debt management. It doesn’t measure whether someone has ever successfully been a tenant.
And here’s the legal angle: using credit score as your sole filter, without a documented written policy covering other factors, is exactly the kind of practice that draws Fair Housing complaints. Score plus history plus income together, applied consistently, is a defensible standard. Score alone isn’t.
We pull credit directly through AppFolio. While many landlords choose to pull credit reports independently through an authorized screening service, the FCRA does not legally prohibit them from reviewing a credit report provided directly by the applicant — we run it ourselves through AppFolio. That eliminates one of the most common fraud vectors in self-managed screening, where applicants submit screenshots or PDFs of reports they’ve altered.
Criminal, Eviction, and Sex Offender Database Checks
This is where “I ran a background check” falls apart for a lot of DIY landlords.
Consumer-facing background check websites may miss sex offender registries, pull incomplete eviction records, or fail to meet the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act—making it important to use a service specifically built and certified for tenant screening. We’ve talked to an owner who came to us after placing a tenant who turned out to be a registered sex offender. A $20 consumer check had missed it because the service didn’t include a sex offender database search.
Trend runs criminal background checks, sex offense database searches, and terrorist database checks on every applicant 18 and older as part of the AppFolio screening process. It’s standard. Not optional.
Our criminal history criteria:
- Violent or physical felonies: Automatic denial, no exceptions
- Multiple felonies: Automatic denial
- Single felony conviction: Must be out of prison or jail for at least 5 years to even be considered
- Sex offenders or multiple offenders: Automatic denial
One note on Section 8 and HUD properties: a 2016 HUD guidance document discouraged blanket criminal bans and recommended individualized assessment for federally assisted housing, though that guidance has since been rescinded by HUD. Trend manages Section 8 and HUD properties, and we build that distinction into our criteria so owners aren’t inadvertently exposed to Fair Housing liability through overly rigid policies applied to protected programs.
Running a background check in a non-compliant manner and then using it to deny an applicant could expose a landlord to legal liability under multiple laws — and if the denial has a disparate impact on a protected class, it may also raise Fair Housing Act concerns. The $75 application fee at Trend covers a legally compliant, multi-database pull. Skipping it to save money is rarely the trade-off it looks like.
Rental History: Three Years, Verified
We require a minimum of three years of verifiable residential history with landlord contact information.
And we verify it. Not just by calling the number the applicant provides.
Trend cross-checks landlord contact information against Travis County Central Appraisal District public records. The CAD system is a Texas-specific tool that lets us confirm whether the person listed as a prior landlord actually owns the property in question. Falsified rental histories are more common than most owners expect, especially in high-demand submarkets like 78704 (South Congress and Bouldin) and 78701 downtown, where competition for units is intense and some applicants know exactly what landlords want to hear.
A prior eviction or broken lease is an automatic denial under our criteria. No case-by-case exceptions. An owner we work with self-managed for years and once accepted a tenant who had a solid explanation for a broken lease on their record. Within four months, rent stopped. By the time the eviction was complete, the owner was out roughly $6,750 in lost rent (three months at $2,250) plus legal fees. Trend’s automatic denial policy exists because of situations exactly like that.
Co-Signers and Guarantors: They Need to Qualify Too
Co-signers are not a free pass.
If an applicant needs a guarantor, that guarantor must show gross income of at least 5x the monthly rent. At $2,250 per month, that means a co-signer needs to demonstrate at least $11,250 per month in gross income. That’s not an arbitrary hurdle — it’s what makes the guarantee actually collectible if the primary tenant defaults.
We had an owner managing a townhome in Round Rock who approved an applicant without independently verifying the co-signer’s income. Assumed the co-signer’s word was enough. The co-signer’s actual gross income came in around $9,000 per month, well below the $11,250 threshold. When the primary tenant defaulted, the guarantee was effectively uncollectable.
Verify the co-signer the same way you verify the applicant. Paystubs or bank statements, not a phone call.
The Fees, Timeline, and What Happens After Approval
Here’s how our process flows from application to lease:
- Application fee: $75 per person 18 and older, plus a one-time $125 admin fee per property. Non-refundable, paid before verification begins. Payments accepted online via credit card (with transaction fee) or ACH, which is free.
- Verification window: We normally complete the review within 2 business days, assuming all documents are in and all verifications respond without delays.
- Acceptance deadline: Once approved, the applicant has until 5:00 PM the following calendar day to pay the deposit and first month’s rent through the tenant portal. We don’t remove the property from the market until the lease is signed and deposits are paid.
- Lease execution: All documents go out for e-signature through AppFolio. Keys and access arrangements follow once everything is completed.
One thing worth knowing: we don’t charge management fees on vacant units. For a 1-2 unit owner, that’s $175 per month only while the property is leased. That structure means we’re as motivated as you are to place a qualified tenant quickly and keep them in place.
FAQ
How do landlords run background checks on rental applicants in Texas?
In Texas, landlords can run background checks through tenant screening services that are FCRA-compliant, or through property management software like AppFolio, which pulls credit, criminal history, eviction records, and sex offender databases in one integrated report. While many landlords choose to pull credit reports independently through an authorized screening service, the FCRA does not legally prohibit them from reviewing a credit report provided directly by the applicant.
Can a landlord in Texas deny an applicant based on criminal history?
Yes, with some nuance. For standard rentals, landlords can set written criminal history criteria and apply them consistently. For Section 8 or HUD-assisted properties, the 2016 HUD guidance discouraged blanket bans and recommended individualized assessment — though that guidance has since been rescinded by HUD — meaning a flat “no felonies ever” policy may create Fair Housing exposure on federally assisted units.
What income do tenants need to qualify for a rental?
Most professional property managers in this market require combined gross household income of at least 3x the monthly rent. On a $2,250 rental, that means applicants need to show at least $6,750 per month in gross household income. Co-signers typically must meet a higher threshold, often 5x the monthly rent.
What automatically disqualifies a rental applicant?
At Trend, automatic disqualifiers include prior evictions or broken leases, credit scores below 600, violent or physical felony convictions, registered sex offenders, and applicants who have been out of prison or jail for less than five years following a felony. False or incomplete applications also result in denial.
Is a $20 online background check good enough for screening tenants?
Almost never. Consumer-facing background check websites often miss sex offender registries, pull incomplete eviction data, and aren’t FCRA-compliant. Using a non-compliant report to deny an applicant can itself create legal liability. A compliant, multi-database check through a professional screening platform costs more upfront and protects you substantially more.
How long does tenant screening take?
With a complete application and responsive verification contacts, Trend typically completes the process within 2 business days. Delays happen when documents are missing, applicants haven’t paid fees, or prior landlords are slow to respond. Getting everything submitted correctly on day one is the fastest path to a decision.
If screening your rental properties feels more complicated than it should, we’re open to a conversation. You can reach Trend Property Management at 512-554-8554 or at trendpm.net.