Many companies require you to use their application forms (on-line or faxed/e-mailed), which we do and add our own supplemental pages for info they don't request but we want.Think about the qualities of a good tenant, what your criteria is, and design a process to weed out undesirables and look at credit, criminal landlord history.  

.- Criminal record check is done.  

If you are managing it yourself, then absolutely meet them before letting them live in your investment.If you hire a good property management company, they will take care of the tenant screening by checking everything important like credit and criminal. 

It's easy for landlords to obtain credit, criminal, and eviction reports and I recommend running them all and having the tenant pay for it.  

The couple are being transferred here on a multi-year rotation for the husband's Amazon.com job and I have seen proof of expected income from the offer letter but would also like to check on credit and criminal history if possible.  

I notified a potential tenant via text that their application was denied after the $35 tenant screening service revealed an active, open bankruptcy (<6 months) (as well as two prior dismissed bankruptcy filings), a recent eviction filing and judgment (<6 months), two collection actions, and a prior but old criminal conviction (non-violent offense).

Unlike tenant eviction which is handled at the District Justice level and is easy to do yourself without an attorney, Ejectments must be done in the Court of Common Pleas, and while you CAN do it yourself, in almost all cases you will need an attorney.If they are the former owners or a tenant with a lease, then they are not trespassers, and their removal is not a criminal matter but a civil matter that will not be helped by you calling the police or filing a police report. 

I am assuming you have done criminal background checks as well?  

. #1 it's illegal, if the tenant can prove what you did, you'll get sued at best, or maybe arrested for theft or criminal mischief.

While, I recognize that breaking and entering is criminal conduct, I also recognize that it is possible to possess abandoned property without violating the law.You are correct that in many States forcible entry is indeed defined to include more than physical breaking.