Portable Tenant Screening options
I am curious if anyone can help me with a resource that provides Portable Tenant Screening reports! I am a landlord and property manager... I think these reports could be great! Where does a Tenant get an Approved Portable Tenant Screening Report?
Does the report come from the actual source that runs the screening, so that it cannot be manipulated before being sent to each landlord? I do not trust an email attachment to come directly from the Tenant with a Screening report, I can see how those will quickly become fraudulent!
Do the Zillow and Apartments.com screening applications count as a PTSR? Is there a resource to send a tenant for screening early on, so that they can use it as a PTSR if they choose not to lease with us or are not approved etc? I would love to get a screening report early on in the process since they can take it with them wherever they go!
Any insight is appreciated!
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Maryland has a similar law, we call it Reusable Tenant Screening Reports. Simply means they can process their report once on a service like Zillow and use it for up to 30 days or they can print it out and give it to you.
In Maryland you have to clearly state if you do not accept these reports. It's the first sentence in all of our ads, We do not accept reusable screening reports and it's on our application.
It sounds great but that's all. These reports do not provide all the information that we require. Plus I wouldn't trust them for anything.
Hey Forrest,
What exactly is a "portable tenant screening report"?
Our screening is all completed online, and our reports are electronic.
Therefore the reports can be "portable" on any electronic device...
Its a Colorado-specific situation, I guess I should have been more specific:
Portable tenant screening reports (PTSR) pursuant to HB23-1099 § 38-12-902(2.5).
(2.5) "PORTABLE TENANT SCREENING REPORT" OR "SCREENING
REPORT" MEANS A CONSUMER REPORT PREPARED AT THE REQUEST AND
EXPENSE OF A PROSPECTIVE TENANT BY A CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY,
WHICH REPORT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT A
PROSPECTIVE TENANT AND THE DATE THROUGH WHICH THE INFORMATION
CONTAINED IN THE REPORT IS CURRENT:
(a) NAME;
(b) CONTACT INFORMATION;
(c) VERIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME;
(d) LAST-KNOWN ADDRESS;
(e) FOR EACH JURISDICTION INDICATED IN THE CONSUMER REPORT
.....
@Forrest Bassett so as an FYI, the law (bill) was written by a tenant advocate attorney and is not really very clear as you have pointed out. The idea is that tenants can pay Zillow or any other online site taking applications and then not have to pay an application fee for each property they want to apply to. The attorney's I use have stated that the online sites do not technically supply all the information required in the bill and stated that if the landlord wants they can probably not accept any of the current online sites like Zillow. Your milage may vary and obviously this information is current for when they stated it and online screening is a evolving process.
Also be aware that you can make them complete your application and use that application and your in-house screening process, you just can't charge them to apply if they supply a PTSR.
Maryland has a similar law, we call it Reusable Tenant Screening Reports. Simply means they can process their report once on a service like Zillow and use it for up to 30 days or they can print it out and give it to you.
In Maryland you have to clearly state if you do not accept these reports. It's the first sentence in all of our ads, We do not accept reusable screening reports and it's on our application.
It sounds great but that's all. These reports do not provide all the information that we require. Plus I wouldn't trust them for anything.
It's funny, I have searched this topic and come across a lot of Tenants asking similar questions on Reddit.... They are also asking where to get a PTSR... I don't think anyone knows how to get a PTSR!! It is truly a mystery.
This is a new one for us in Colorado. It sounds like if they provide us with one, we can still run our screening, but cannot charge them if they provided a PTSR. So if they give us a Zillow screening, IT MIGHT count, but even that is unclear. It does not seem like a good idea to accept a screening if it does not come from the source directly!
Colorado landlord here — HB25-1236 builds on top of HB23-1099 and tightens the portable screening requirements further. The confusion I see most is landlords thinking they have to accept any report the tenant brings. The law requires acceptance of a qualifying PTSR but it has to meet specific standards — bank-verified income, biometric ID, etc. A printout from a free service doesn't qualify. We built Settl specifically around Colorado's requirements so reports are compliant out of the box. Worth bookmarking settlhome.com/colorado if you have CO properties.