Getting a criminal background report is vital since the landlord does not really know if any of the information on the prospective renter’s application is correct. The landlord should do a nationwide check of criminal records, court judgments and previous addresses. If the background check shows different or more previous addresses than the applicant reported then you may have an issue with this applicant. If you find previous court judgments then this may not be a person who is known for re-paying their debt. Today, with all the privacy laws, calling previous landlords is not near as effective because people are afraid to say anything negative for fear of violating the privacy act.
A lot of landlords don’t run background checks because they don’t know how or they don’t want to pay huge fees to some local companies for this service. But with Landlords Online criminal background reports are easy to read and easy on the pocket book.