The Landlord Protection Agency® suggests the following steps to take before spending the money on a consumer credit report:

1. Pre-screen your prospects before showing the rental. It eliminates unnecessary appointments and saves you time. Use a free LPA Pre-screening Prospect card.

2. After showing the rental, have your interested prospects fill out and sign an LPA Rental Application. Be sure to collect a non-refundable screening fee and deposit as provided for in the application.

3. Verify the employment and tenant references contained in the application. Use LPA Landlord Reference Qualifier form to evaluate the legitimacy of the landlord reference.

4. Lastly, if you feel confident the tenant passed all your screening inquiries so far, run a credit report with a major credit bureau to review the prospect’s credit history on the payment of bills, delinquencies, address history, employment history and judgments.