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These investigations by landlords do not just stop at credit reports, however. All manner of additional information is available for a price. Many people who rent property professionally are members of trade groups, such as the California Apartment Association. Membership in these groups allows a landlord to obtain additional information about prospective tenants, for a fee. This information may include, for instance, criminal records, arrest records, bankruptcy records, prior evictions or even abuse of a Social Security number. While most people who rent property used to conduct searches on credit only, more and more of them are using the deeper searches today in order to minimize their risks when renting their property.
When anyone can obtain access to such detailed personal information about anyone, some risks to the person being investigated are present. The dissemination of such information is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a bill enacted by Congress to ensure that people are treated fairly when applying for an apartment or loans. The Act requires landlords to notify prospective tenants in writing when they are rejecting their application do to an investigation into their past that goes any deeper than a simple financial check. Landlords must also sign a user agreement, which stipulates how the information will be used and which prohibits certain uses.
Renting property is no longer a simple matter of looking someone over to see if they “will do.” It is now a large business, and anyone involved in renting property professionally has to look out for their own interests as well as the interests of any other tenants they might have living on the property. For this reason, in-depth financial and criminal background checks have become quite routine. If you want to make sure that you will have a place to live, be sure to pay your bills on time.
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