I would recommend having applicants pay for a full tenant screening report, with credit checks, criminal history, eviction history, etc. before reaching out to employers and previous landlords, this will save you time.

@Larry Ott No offense but what are checks??

You can require a Veterinarians health report on the animal AND require it be annually updated; we require all are spayed or neutered to minimize aggressive behavior and prevent the issues arising from multiple offspring; the animal must be carried by the handler or in a carrier when in confined spaces such as elevators, stairwells laundry rooms etc. unless doing so prevents the animal from performing tasks it was trained for; handler must clean up after the animal in all common areas and prevent offensive odors from emanating from their unit; handler remains responsible for actual damages caused by the animal including cleanup and damage of yard areas; nuisance animals that bark or create other disturbances NOT related to their specific tasks are grounds for removal of the animal and/or the tenant with appropriate notice.Some states do have more or less restrictions within their Fair Housing laws, so you do need to check on that, but our policies have been reviewed and approved by our RE attorneys.

This will not be your last criminal tenant, if you stay in the business, so you might as well get educated now on the process.

@Jim KalishWe have bad the same experience with people thinking that since we are private owners vs. property management company that we will be more willing to overlook bad credit, prior eviction or criminal background.

Not sure what state you are in but if allowed do a credit check, criminal background check, verify income to be 4-5 times monthly rent ( my opinion ) and verify ID. 

This takes care of 80% of the noise.In addition to looking up court records online, you can also look up DMV for criminal.

Although I'm certain Steve can defend himself, the comment above is actually kind of offensive to other people besides Steve.

And we can confirm this by looking at criminal data in South Fresno.

The applicant pays fees directly to transunion and I just get a nice easy to read report of credit, criminal and eviction history.