This limits my ability to see if they are employed, any information on prior rental history, criminal history etc.I planned to ask the owner to get them to sign a month to month and tell them that my intention is not to put them out after each month (which it isn't) but in case things go bad I do not want to endure it for a year.

Thoroughly VET prospective tenants (criminal, background & credit history), check out their social media, get references.

It runs credit, criminal and eviction all for $26.00I do not like tenants mailing checks.

However, you won't be able to run a credit/criminal on them.

I would think criminal history would be more important than credit history.

They no longer show results for Massachusetts criminal screening.

And immediately file for eviction. if necessary I would file a criminal action. what he did is totally illegal theft of service an extortion.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/05/21/smug-seattle-to-mom-and-pop-landlords-criminals-are-welcome-your-rights-not-so-much.htmlSay it ain’t so ?

Before moving forward with anything, I think you should make sure that this person is qualified enough to buy the house.Or at the least can afford monthly payments and has no criminal background/evictions in the past.There are many online services that you can use for this.I would recommend to ask an attorney to draft a lease and an option document. 

How do you scan the application before requiring the deposit .i want to avoid making tenants pay unless they are going to really be in the running for the apartment. undefined I look at court records first to see if the applicants have any eviction or criminal records.