What Qualities Make a Good Tenant?

A good tenant pays the full rent on time, cares for the unit, and follows the lease. Before you sign, you judge that from evidence: a record of paying rent and bills on time, income that covers the rent with room to spare, rental history without unpaid balances or evictions, and, where your state allows it, a background check limited to relevant convictions. You choose the standards, but the federal Fair Housing Act and state and local laws limit what you may ask and weigh, so write your criteria down and apply them the same way to every applicant.

What qualities do landlords screen for?

Each quality has a record behind it that you can check:

What you can find in an applicant's credit report explains the payment and collection items a report shows. Compare what the applicant writes on the application with what the reports and references show; the warning signs below are mostly mismatches between the two.

How do you verify each quality under one written policy?

A written screening policy lists your standards before anyone applies, so you measure every applicant against the same bar and can show which standard decided each application. Some states require parts of it. In Washington, before you collect any information, you must tell applicants in writing what types of information you will check and which criteria can lead to denial. Starting January 1, 2027, Colorado requires every rental application to describe the information you will check and the factors you will weigh, such as credit, rental history, income, and criminal background.

1. Write the criteria. Set the income multiple, the credit items that may lawfully lead to denial (for example, unpaid rent in collections), the rental history you require, any criminal history rule with a lookback period, and your occupancy limit. For applicants using housing subsidies, Colorado bars asking about or considering credit scores, missing scores, or negative credit events, unless federal law requires consideration of a score or its absence. California requires you to offer applicants with government rent subsidies the option to show other verifiable evidence of their ability to pay their rent share. If they choose that option, give them reasonable time to respond and reasonably consider that evidence instead of their credit history.
2. Publish them with the listing. Marketing your rental covers what to put in the ad.
3. Take a full application from every adult who will live in the unit. A rental application form collects identity, income, and residence history, plus signed authorization for reports.
4. Pull reports. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you may get a consumer report on a person who applies to rent, and you must certify to the screening company that you will use it only for housing. The FTC treats credit reports, eviction and rental history reports, criminal history reports, and reference checks done by a service as consumer reports.
5. Verify income and employment against documents and the employer directly. Verifying income and employment history lists the documents to request.
6. Call landlords. Call the current landlord and at least one earlier one. Ask factual questions: the monthly rent, whether it was paid on time, any notices served, deposit deductions, and whether they would rent to the applicant again.
7. Decide and record the reason. Note which criterion each applicant met or failed. If a consumer report played any part in a denial, or in approval on worse terms such as a cosigner, a bigger deposit, or higher rent, the FCRA requires an adverse action notice naming the screening company and the applicant's right to a free copy and to dispute errors. Denying an applicant for bad credit covers that notice.

Worked example. The unit rents for $1,800 a month. A policy of 3 times the monthly rent requires gross income of $5,400 a month ($1,800 x 3), or $64,800 a year. In Colorado, the most you may require is 200 percent of the annual rent: $1,800 x 12 x 2 = $43,200 a year, or $3,600 a month. If a housing voucher pays $1,000 and the tenant pays $800, California and Colorado both measure income against the tenant's $800 share, so Colorado's cap becomes $800 x 12 x 2 = $19,200 a year.

What are the warning signs of a future bad tenant?

These signs come up during the application. Each is something you can check, and each should lead to a follow-up question or to the outcome your written policy sets.

• Blanks or conflicts on the application. Missing prior addresses, an employer the applicant will not name, or names and addresses that differ from the credit report. Ask for the missing information in writing and treat the application as incomplete until it arrives.
• Income documents that do not match. Pay stubs that differ from what the employer confirms or what bank deposits show. Confirm employment through a phone number you look up yourself, not one printed on the pay stub.
• References you cannot confirm. A "landlord" who is not the owner in county property records, or a reference who cannot state the rent or the dates of the tenancy.
• Unpaid rent or an eviction judgment. Look up the court record to see how a case ended: a dismissal is not a judgment against the tenant, but a settlement can authorize the court to enter one. In New York you cannot refuse an applicant because of a past landlord-tenant case, such as a suit over repairs, and a landlord who cannot give a good reason for such a denial can be fined $500 to $1,000.
• Adults who will live there but will not apply. If your policy requires every adult occupant to apply and sign the lease, a refusal leaves you with no screening of, and no contract with, that person.
• Requests to skip steps. An offer to prepay several months in cash in place of a credit check, or a push to move in before you verify income. If you waive a step for one applicant, you need to be able to show you would waive it for anyone in the same position.

Some things are not warning signs, and treating them as one is discrimination: children in the household, a housing voucher where source of income is protected, a request for an assistance animal or another disability accommodation, or limited English. Unlawful discrimination in the application process gives more examples.

What can't you consider when you screen tenants?

Federal protected classes. The Fair Housing Act bars refusing to rent, setting different terms, or making statements based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status (a household with children under 18 or a pregnant person), or disability. You may not ask whether an applicant has a disability or how severe it is. You may ask every applicant whether they can meet the lease terms, whether they currently use illegal drugs, and whether they have been convicted of illegally making or distributing a controlled substance. If an applicant with a disability asks you to change a rule, such as a no-pets rule, you must make a reasonable accommodation when it is needed for equal use of the home.

State additions. Many states protect more groups. California adds source of income (including vouchers), immigration status, primary language, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and military or veteran status, among others, and bars landlords from asking about immigration or citizenship status. New York bars discrimination based on lawful source of income, citizenship, or immigration status statewide. Check your state's civil rights agency for its list.

Criminal history. HUD withdrew its 2016 guidance on criminal records effective September 25, 2025. The Supreme Court held in 2015 that a policy with an unjustified discriminatory effect can violate the Fair Housing Act. HUD proposed in 2026 to remove its own rule on those claims and leave the question to courts; the proposal was not final as of October 22, 2026. State and local laws set firmer limits:

• California: you may check criminal history but may not consider arrests that did not lead to a conviction, diversion programs, sealed convictions, or juvenile records. Blanket bans are prohibited; you may deny only for a conviction directly related to a legitimate interest, such as residents' safety, after looking at its circumstances.
• Colorado: you may not consider any arrest record or convictions more than 5 years old, except listed offenses such as methamphetamine manufacturing and offenses requiring sex offender registration.
• New Jersey: outside owner-occupied buildings of 4 or fewer units, you may not ask about criminal history until after a conditional offer. You may then consider only listed offenses within lookback periods of 1 to 6 years, depending on the offense, plus a short list of serious crimes with no time limit, and you must do an individual assessment before withdrawing the offer.

Check your city and county ordinances as well. If you screen for criminal history anywhere, limit it to specific recent convictions tied to safety or property and consider what the applicant tells you about the record.