Rental applications reveal important information about an applicant’s background to help you select the best candidate for your rental property, but how long do they take to process? On average, rental applications take one to three days to approve. You’ll need time to confirm the details, but you don’t want to leave your applicant waiting longer than necessary. Here’s how to recognize key elements in the application and avoid processing delays so you can move on to signing the lease agreement and filling your vacant property.
What Is a Rental Application?
A rental application is a form a renter fills out and submits to you for consideration. The rental application cross-references an applicant’s rental and financial history to verify their ability to pay rent consistently and reliably.
If you use Apartments.com Rental Tools and have 50 units or less, you can add the “Apply Now” button to your properties to allow prospective tenants to submit an online rental application that will include:
- Contact information – The name, email, and phone number of the applicant
- Preferred move-in date and lease length
- Identification – A renter’s driver's license number, passport number, or other government-issued ID
- Social Security Number – This is used to run a credit, eviction, and criminal report with TransUnion
- Applicants – Contact information for any cosigners or guarantors who will be on the lease
- Occupants – Cosigners or minors who will live at the property
- Pets – Information for any pets that will live with the applicant
- Residence history – A renter’s previous addresses, landlords, and monthly rent
- Employment and income – Current and previous employment details, as well as proof of income
- References – Contact information for friends, employers, or previous landlords who can provide additional insight into the applicant’s character
- Vehicles – Information for any vehicles a renter plans to have at the property
Having insight into a tenant's employment, finances, and treatment of their previous rental properties is the first step in selecting the best tenant for your rental property.
How Long Do Rental Applications Take to Process?
A rental application typically takes a few days to process. As a landlord, you must review all information, verify its legitimacy, and then compare the application against others to select the best candidate.
When processing applications, there are key factors to consider that can be made easier by screening tenants through Apartments.com.
TransUnion ResidentScore
Apartments.com partners with TransUnion to run credit, eviction, and criminal reports, and TransUnion provides a ResidentScore to help you compare applicants. The TransUnion ResidentScore is a scoring system that helps managers avoid evictions and rental payment delinquencies by predicting how likely an applicant is to pay rent. A ResidentScore ranges from 350-850 and considers an applicant’s credit history, emphasizing credit factors statistically tied to an applicant’s ability to pay rent.
Employment verification
While this should not cause a delay in the process, verifying a tenant's employment may take time. Once you receive their employment information, you must decide if the information listed on the tenant's W2, paystub, or employment verification letter is accurate. Once you determine its legitimacy, you must verify that the tenant's income is sufficient to cover the monthly rent. Contact an accountant or local rental agent if you have any questions about your tenant’s employment verification.
References
It may take time to contact an applicant’s references and receive their recommendation before finalizing the application process.
Although verifying a tenant's employment and references takes time, these are vital steps to ensure you lease to the right renter.
What Can Delay a Rental Application?
When it comes to processing an application to find the best tenant, the quicker the process can end, the better. However, some elements of a rental application take time to prepare and verify. This may cause delays ranging from a couple of hours to a handful of days. Here are some factors that could cause a delay in a rental application.
Method of submission
How a renter applies for a property determines the speed at which a landlord may process a rental application. If a renter fills out an application by hand and submits it by mail, the process will take longer than if a renter applies online.
Apartments.com streamlines the application process with online rental applications that are easy for renters to fill out and easy for you to process. Once a prospective tenant applies through Apartments.com, their information is automatically sent to TransUnion to provide you with a thorough background check.
Background checks
A background check explores a person's employment history, credit report, criminal records, and eviction records and provides landlords with a comprehensive overview of an individual. Many landlords run multiple background checks as part of the renter application process to ensure they choose the best candidate. However, background checks can take two or three days to complete, so they can cause significant delays in the rental application approval process.
Credit reports
Landlords pull a potential tenant’s credit report to assess the risk associated with leasing to them. A credit report shows an applicant’s payment history, which can help landlords determine the likelihood that an applicant will pay rent on time.
Depending on the company used to process the report, credit checks can take anywhere from a few seconds to a full 24 hours to process.
How Can I Speed Up the Rental Application Process?
Background checks and credit reports can cause delays in the application screening process. However, you can ensure quicker approval by choosing an online application system and a single credit check platform.
Online application systems offer significantly faster processing times for rental applications. Tenants can easily enter their personal information and necessary documentation within a secure system. You can also speed up the application process by choosing the right credit check platform. Some systems require tenants to log in and enter their personal information separately, which could cause delays. Choosing an all-in-one online application and credit check system like Apartments.com Rental Tools can make the tenant screening process quick and easy.
We understand that you want to screen tenants as quickly as possible, and with Apartments.com, time is on your side. Our tools help you process rental applications to select the best tenant for your property. This not only saves you time but also ensures that you are getting reliable and trustworthy tenants.
This article was originally published on December 22, 2022, by Chanahra Fletcher.
