Evaluating a renter’s eviction history report is an important tenant screening process for landlords and property managers. An eviction history report will show court records for evictions filed and processed on a rental applicant. Understanding what’s included on an eviction history report will help you understand why an eviction might be missing from a report.
In this video, Kaycee Miller from Rentec Direct dives into everything landlords and property managers need to know about eviction history reports and their role in tenant screening. Learn how to use eviction data effectively to make informed rental decisions and find the most qualified tenants for your property.
Why Some Evictions DON’T Show Up on Eviction History Reports – Video
Why Some Evictions DON’T Show Up on Eviction History Reports – Video Transcript
Would you rent to someone who has been evicted from a previous home before? Hmmm, maybe?
Now, how do you, actually, determine if they’ve been evicted from a home before? Are they likely to give you that previous landlord’s or property manager’s information to call as a rental reference?
Well, that’s why the eviction history report comes into play when you are performing a tenant screening check on your rental applicants. But is every eviction reported on an eviction history report?
I want to dive deeper into what it means to actually get evicted and how that information may or may not show up on an eviction history report when you are doing tenant screening on a rental applicant.
My name is Kaycee Miller. I work for Rentec Direct property management software. I’m also a landlord, a real estate investor, and a real estate developer. I’ve also been writing about landlord-related topics for over a decade on the Rentec Direct blog.
Today we’re going to be talking about the eviction history report and what it means to actually have that record show up on an eviction history report.
The Legal Eviction Process
When you go through an eviction process, it’s actually a legal process that has to be filed with a court and you need to go to court, have a judge rule in favor of a landlord in order to proceed with an eviction, get an unlawful detainer, which is the legal term for an eviction.
And then that is the record that goes on an official eviction history report that might get reported when you order a tenant screening report.
When an Eviction Might Not Show Up on a Report
You might have a rental applicant that says they have been evicted before but are confused as to why there is no eviction showing on their eviction history report.
Typically, my analysis of what that could mean, is that a tenant might have received notice from a landlord to cure or quit, which is basically a notice about a lease violation or non-payment of rent, where a landlord is then saying, “Hey, you either need to remedy this situation, pay the rent or fix the problem that got the lease violation notice, or you’re going to have to move out.”
Moving out after receiving a cure or quit notice is not the same as getting evicted.
A cure or quit notice can make a renter feel like they are getting evicted because they are being told they will have to move out if they don’t remedy the situation. This renter might not realize that moving out after receiving a cure or quit notice is not an official eviction and will not show up on their official eviction history record.
Vacating a rental property due to a property sale is not an eviction.
I’ve heard of tenants even feeling like they are getting “evicted” when a landlord sells the property and asks the tenants to vacate the property. No lease violations happened in this situation, but, but the tenant is feeling, oh my gosh, I’m getting evicted and using that kind of buzzword evicted to feel like they’re getting displaced from their housing even though there’s nothing wrong legally that a tenant did, and it’s not gonna go on their record.
The Importance of an Eviction History Report
Now that you understand the difference between a notice to vacate compared to an actual eviction, you can see why an eviction history report is a valuable tool for tenant screening. It’s a long process to go through an eviction and demonstrates a tenants inability to remedy a lease violation.
An eviction happens when a lease violation leads to a notice that then leads to an eviction filing, then a court date, and a judge ruling in favor of the landlord to move forward with the eviction. And that’s where the sheriff can show up, and you can officially escort a tenant off a property, change the locks, completing the official eviction process. This type of official eviction, with a court order, is what will show up on an eviction history report.
Someone who just violated a lease, got the notice to cure or quit and then left the property that would not have shown up on an eviction record report.
Verifying Tenant History Through Address Checks
In order to determine if a tenant vacated a property after receiving a cure or quit notice, I would reference an address history report.
With the information in an address history report, I can Google the property address, find out who owns or manages the property, give them a call and ask them about my rental applicant.
Sometimes, in that phone conversation, the owner of the house or the property manager or the landlord might share their experience with that applicant as a renter. Like, yes, they lived there and here’s my experience with them as a renter.
Considerations for Evaluating an Eviction History Report
So eviction history reports can be really useful in the tenant screening process because you have to consider what were the cases that made this tenant not be able to fulfill their lease term or leave on not great terms with their previous landlord or property manager.
I would also consider other factors like:
- Did this eviction happen a really long time ago?
- Was it in the middle of one of the recessions?
- Are there situations that could have caused this displacement of housing or requirement to move out or cure or quit?
- Was the cause of this eviction likely to not get repeated?
Benefits of a Tenant Screening Report Package
As part of your tenant screening process, we always think about all the different reports that you can look at that can help you make a rental decision in order to find the most qualified tenant for your rental property.
In tenant screening, you can look at a credit report, a criminal background report, an eviction history report, an address verification, a social security number verification report, and a registered sex offender report.
These are all different reports that give you great data in order to make a decision on whether or not your rental applicant is going to be a qualified tenant to live in your rental house.
Final Thoughts
My name is Kaycee. I work for Rentec Direct property management software.
You can always find lots of advice about how to be a great landlord, how to be a great property manager, and different tips on what it takes to be successful in the rental industry on the Rentec Direct Blog.