First some background: I am screening tenants to rent a room in a house I am living in.

tl;dr: Seems that the applicant was rushing when filling out the application and had many errors in the application - not obvious until after references were checked. Is the applicant hiding something? Is the applicant just careless? What is the best way to turn the applicant down legally? If we have been corresponding via email, should I send an email rejection? Am I legally required to send a written rejection? The applicant would be denied based on false and misleading information provided in the application, not anything in the credit/criminal background check.

The Details:

This applicant looks great and sounded great during the initial screening call, but their application has some concerns. The application looked acceptable until I contacted the applicants landlord references. From doing research, I know that both references are family members. One admitted to being family during the phone call, and I forgot to ask the other reference, but know that they are related due to publicly available information. The problem with the information from the landlord references is not that they are family, though. The problem is that the information in the application for each of these residences is all mixed up and doesn't match what the applicant's landlord references told me. Even if I assumed that the applicant unintentionally mixed up the addresses and landlords (listed current landlord as previous landlord, and listed previous landlord as current landlord), the residence information still does not match. The amount the landlords said was paid in rent does not match what is on the application (the rent amount on the application is inflated by more than 2x reality). Additionally, the number of rooms and square footage is extremely different from reality. The applicant also put his previous landlord's phone number as his own phone number (I verified with the landlord that they never shared a phone or phone number).

One of the first flags was that in the online screening application, the applicant put his/her previous residence rather than his/her current address that is on the application (only know that the address he/she put is his/her previous address after speaking to his/her landlord reference). Another flag was that the applicant put his/her previous landlord's phone number as his/her own phone number even though he was in contact with me using a different phone number.

Other potential red flags:

 - Applicant seemed to be very desperate and has texted that he/she "really needs this rental" (paraphrasing).

- Applicant needed a lot of help figuring out how to get the application sent (will be moving from another state).

- Applicant only provided one reference which he/she already listed as his/her supervisor at his/her current job. - And my gut is questioning whether the supervisor was legitimate or not. The supervisor has a linkedin with a title that makes sense given the rest of the information in the application, however, the linkedin account only has 1 connection. Additionally, the job title the supervisor gave me did not match the job title provided in the application (it was close word-wise, but not so close with regards to the actual job). I told this to the co-owner of the house, and they think I am just being paranoid about this part, but I was the one who did the interview, and my gut is telling me something was off.

Am I being paranoid? Is there any reason to ask the applicant for his/her residence history for the gap in the provided history? Or should I just flat-out deny them now. I really feel like this level of false information is ridiculous. The lack of attention to detail really concerns me and makes me feel like they do not value my time. Is this the definition of a scam? Given this information, could the applicant be innocent?

Thanks in advance for the help/advice!