Hi Account Closed - If you have consent from the applicant (online or paper), you can directly order the credit and criminal reports on them and have the results instant.  

Does this standard apply to low income areas where many tenants may have criminal backgrounds?

Simply treat them like you would a tenant.. ask for a 1003 so you can run credit and do a criminal background..

Not complying is illegal, and there are criminal penalties like jail.

You don't get the justice you deserve, you get the justice you can afford.Best wishes,Brian

My opinion regarding all of these programs is that most are of marginal value and charge fees that border on the criminal.

The state is like, here is a list of people most likely to be motivated to sell and would welcome your help... but if you use it you are a criminal! 

Here is an excerpt from our rental criteria:LEGAL/CRIMINAL HISTORY: 1.

If you're looking for an easy way to whittle down the number of tenants who apply to a bucket of people that you'd actually rent to, I would require them all to apply online, and pull credit, criminal and eviction reports.

Many do not realize that there can be criminal penalties for writing bad checks as outlined in the attached:http://www.ckfraud.org/penalties.htmlGail