Criminal Background Checks

Reviewing the applicant’s rental application Since 1995 when Orca Information, Inc. first opened its doors for business Nationwide, we found the following: The Landlord who reviews a rental application, making sure it is filled out correctly, all phone numbers are provided, signatures, etc., will receive a quicker turn-around time on the background screening report. This applies to this day.

Inaccuracies

Question: What happens if a community denies housing based on a screening report that contains inaccurate information about an applicant's criminal history?

Remove any ban based on arrests. The first thing to do is to check whether your policy includes any ban based on arrest records, Richer said. HUD's guidance clearly states that records of arrest should not be used to deny housing or terminate a lease.

It's also important to realize that there isn'tone source for information on all federal and state criminal records, said Richer, explaining what she considers to be the "biggest myth in resident screening." There is no single "national" database of criminal records available to screening company providers.

According to HUD, criminal background checks have a disproportionate impact on minority home seekers, largely due to disproportionate conviction and incarceration rates for minorities and others in protected classes.

Answer.   I’ll try.  First let’s start with some definitions:

Section 603 of the FCRA defines a “consumer report” as:

Answer:  In a word “Yes”. Today, the rule of thumb should be that subject to certain exceptions (listed below), you should not summarily reject applicants solely because of prior convictions.  I have written and spoken on this issue during 2016. 

Answer. Your confusion is understandable, because there are no black and white guidelines.  However, attached to this short article is a copy of a publication recently posted on the National Association of Realtors® website.