Cook County IL Just Housing Ordinance Question

[Sean McKee]

Hello Everyone!


This discussion is really geared towards Cook County investors, but any advice is welcomed.

Cook County recently passed The Just Housing Ordinance. This question is only focused on the screening process and not all the other requirements that came with the law.  Under the new ordinance, landlords can no longer inquire about criminal records at the beginning of screening process. Instead we have to first screen all other criteria first(income, employment, housing history, credit scores, etc.) Only after we have approved them based all other criteria, can we run the criminal background check.

The problem arising from this, is that many of the tenant screening services do everything at once, and usually include criminal background checks. This is now no longer allowed. I was a big fan of Transunion SmartMove. This was incredibly efficient and allowed me access to the tenants full credit report, eviction history, and of course criminal record. So naturally I’m very disappointed not to be able too use this anymore.

I am curious as to what services everyone will be using to still adequately screen tenants without adding a lot of time and cost to the process?  I would hate to charge more for applications.

Thanks!