Tenant Screening Reccomendations

[Joseph Cornwell]

Calling all landlords,

I would love to get feedback on what other landlords are using for tenant screening services. Company or service referrals, cost, pros, cons? I will be renting both units in my first duplex in the near future and I plan on using a professional screening service for background, credit, and criminal history. Has anyone had issues with good tenants paying an application fee? I am in the Cincinnati, Ohio market. Thank you for your input!

[Michael Plante]

Originally posted by @Joseph Cornwell:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Almost exactly one year later, I can report I chose Cozy.co for my tenant screening. It is a little bit more expensive (tenants pay), but they provide a credit report, eviction, criminal history, references, job history. So it makes the screening process very easy for landlords to do a thorough job. What I like most is that tenants can then set up automatic rent payments through their bank accounts after being approved. Both of my units pay automatically online, I never collect rent. I know on the 1st of the month if the payment was made, and I get a direct deposit a few days later. Cozy has been amazing for me, and so far the past 9 months or so my tenants have been amazing also. I hope all of you have found the same success this past year!

Joe Cornwell

Thank you for coming back to update 

Glad you like it

Does it allow tenants to make partial payments?

Does the screening include income verification?

How much does the tenant pay for the screening?

Thank you 

[Joseph Cornwell]

@Michael Plante

It notifies me what the payment amount is pending for on the first of the month, so I suppose it would allow them to make a lower payment? However, the rent amount is set by you and it shows them that amount each month. It does not actually verify income but it does require you put in current and previous employer information with contact information, so not only did I require copies of pay stubs, I also contacted the employers to verify employment with their HR as well. The application fee was $40 dollars for each tenant over 18. 

[Ethan Rozenfeld]

We have been using Tenant Background Search for three years, but I was very unhappy today to discover that they only reported 11 out of 20 offenses for a recent applicant. When I went to my local clerk of court website this morning to look further, I discovered the additional offenses, including a domestic battery charge they had not reported that was less than 4 years old and an eviction proceeding less than 2 years old, neither of which were included in the report from TBS. They reported a DUI and several traffic violations, but I really need to know about an eviction and domestic battery conviction more than a speeding ticket. I am now looking into SmartMove and Cozy. Other suggestions are welcome!