Credit Report and Background

[Gavin Henry]

Hello everyone, I have a property that I have listed for rent with a realtor. The realtor called me and informed me that he has a prospective tenant and they are interested in acquiring the property. I was estatic to hear the news. The realtor told me that the tenant's credit score is 720 and he makes $140K per year. I asked the realtor to send me the credit report and the background check so I can review it and make an informed decision. The realtor said he is not allowed to send me the credit report or the background check. Is this accurate? Because how I am supposed to verify the information the realtor is providing to me? 

[Marcus E. Turner]

Hey there, great to hear you’ve got a strong applicant lined up—720 credit and $140K income is definitely promising!

Now, regarding the credit report and background check: your realtor is technically correct. Due to privacy laws (like the Fair Credit Reporting Act), they can’t just hand over those reports directly to you unless you’re a licensed party authorized to receive that kind of sensitive information. That said, it’s completely fair for you to want to verify the tenant’s qualifications.

What most landlords do in this situation is ask the agent to summarize the key findings—credit score, any red flags, eviction history, criminal record, etc.—without sending the full report. Some landlords also include in their lease-up agreement that they want final approval on tenant selection, which gives you the ability to say yes or no based on the agent’s summary.

Alternatively, if you want full visibility next time, you can consider pulling reports yourself through a tenant screening service or require applicants to apply through a platform like Avail, Zillow, or RentSpree, where both you and the realtor can view the reports securely.