How do you break the news that you are going to pass on a tenant?

[Konrad R.]

How do you tell prospective tenants that you are not going to accept them? Do you give details on why you are denying them?

The most recent application I had came back with a clean criminal history. I then checked court records and found a misdemeanor that led to significant jail time due to probation violations. The credit check didn't come back either due to insufficient data. I used zillow as the application.

Do I mention the criminal records I found or just keep it a simple denial? If you have an example of what you say, that would be much appreciated.