Q Re: WI credit checks, cost and "3rd" party 'resellers'?

[Kelly G.]

Greetings fellow WI landlords (and all others interested in this post)

I am about to become my own property manager for my SFH in Milwaukee. I was about to sign up with Cozy for their rental management including credit and background screenings. In short, my Q is: does Cozy (or Smartmove or someone else) qualify as a 'reseller' of credit reports??

I know WI only allows $20 for credit checks when screening applicants, and I cannot charge for background checks (per ATCP 134.05(3).  But apparently that law also states that the rule does not ' allow landlords to charge applicants for credit reports obtained from local or regional consumer information databases, credit  brokers, resellers, criminal background checks, reference checks, and sources of other  personal information not contained in one of the three listed national credit repositories."

SO:  If I use Cozy - or some other service like 'Smartmove' - am I violating the credit reporting fee law and do I have to eat the entire cost?  Cozy charges $39 for credit and background, so I'd have to pay at least $19 for the background check portion of the 'combined' fee. 

Thanks   

also - I might need a good RE lawyer to review docs

Kelly

[Nathan Letourneau]

I'm not sure of the legal aspects of your question, but I know landlords that don't charge the tenant anything to do the credit/background check and others that charge the full amount (even if it far exceeds the $20).  The ones who don't charge just figure it's a cost of doing business and in their areas they only have move outs every 2-5 years.  The ones who charge the full amount figure they will deal with the consequences when and if they are ever challenged.  I know others who have mentioned on BP that they use smartmove (I'm pretty sure this was the service mentioned) with the option for the tenant to pay for the info directly (not through you).  Their argument was that now it was the tenant requesting and paying for the info and not you the landlord so you weren't liable for the increased cost.  I'm not sure if this is correct, but that was their opinion.  You could do a search of the forums for smartmove to see if the old discussion pops up.

I'd check around the area at some of the apartment complexes to see what they charge and who they use to do the background/credit checks.  Another resource would be to check with the southeastern WI apartment association.