You’ve had a property sit empty for three weeks. A prospect walks in, seems great, says all the right things. You want to hand them the keys.
That instinct is exactly what gets landlords into trouble.
We’ve been managing properties in Fort Wayne for 38 years, and we’ll tell you flat out: gut feeling is not a screening process. Neither is a Google search. Neither is a quick chat at the showing. A real background check has a specific set of components, a legal framework around it, and consequences when you skip steps. This post walks you through all of it, including what to look for, what to avoid, and where most private landlords get tripped up.
In This Guide
What a Background Check Actually Includes
A lot of landlords think “background check” means credit score. It doesn’t. A real screening report has four distinct pieces, and skipping any one of them creates a blind spot.
- Credit report: Look for a minimum score around 580. Anything lower warrants a closer look at the rest of the file.
- Criminal history: Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, arrest records are subject to a 7-year lookback period, but criminal convictions can be reported indefinitely on background checks used in tenant screening. Flag violent offenses and drug-related convictions relevant to property safety.
- Eviction history: More on this below, but this is the number that actually matters most.
- Income verification: Documented gross income should hit at least 3x monthly rent. On a $900/month unit, that means $2,700/month gross before you move forward.
Each of those four pieces tells you something different. Together they give you a full picture of whether this applicant can pay and whether they’ve paid before.
Why Eviction History Matters More Than Credit
This might surprise you, but hear us out.
Credit scores reflect overall financial behavior: student loans, car payments, medical debt, credit cards. Someone can carry $40,000 in student loan debt, have a score in the low 600s, and still pay their rent on time every single month. Rental performance and credit score are not the same thing.
Eviction history is different. An eviction means a landlord went to court to remove this person from a property. That is the most direct signal you have about how someone behaves as a tenant.
We’ve approved applicants with scores in the low 600s who had spotless rental histories. We’ve also caught applicants with strong credit carrying two evictions from another state. Without a proper eviction check, you’d never know.
The owner we mentioned earlier who self-managed in Fort Wayne before bringing his property to us? He ran no eviction history check. His tenant had two prior evictions in Ohio. None of it showed up in a basic Google search. By the time it was over, he was out nearly $4,200 in lost rent and turnover costs. Allen County evictions run $3,500–$5,000 once you add up court filing fees (around $86 in Allen County), lost rent, and getting the unit ready again.
“By the time it was over, he was out nearly $4,200 in lost rent and turnover costs.”
The Income Verification Step Most Landlords Skip
Documenting income sounds simple. It’s not the step most landlords skip intentionally. They skip it because an applicant “seems responsible” or “has a good job.”
We had an owner with a multi-family property in the Wells Corridor ask us to waive the income verification for an applicant he felt confident about. We held firm. When the actual documentation came back, the applicant’s income was under 2x the monthly rent — well short of the 3x threshold we require. We leased that unit the following week to a qualified applicant, who has paid on time for 18 months.
The documentation you want to collect includes:
- Two to three recent pay stubs
- Last year’s tax return (for self-employed applicants)
- Employer contact for verification if the stubs look off
On a $900/month unit, you’re looking for $2,700/month gross. That’s not an arbitrary number. It accounts for the applicant’s other expenses while leaving enough cushion that a car repair or slow month doesn’t automatically mean late rent.
The Legal Framework You Have to Know
Two laws govern how you use background check information. Get either one wrong and you have exposure.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
If you deny an applicant based on a background check, you are legally required to send an Adverse Action Notice. This tells the applicant which report you used, what it contained, and how they can dispute it. Failure to send one can cost you $100–$1,000 per violation in statutory damages.
This is not a technicality. We’ve seen Fort Wayne landlords with no documentation, no written denial criteria, and no Adverse Action Notice get hit with complaints they had zero paper trail to defend against.
Skipping the Adverse Action Notice isn’t just sloppy, it’s a federal compliance failure. If an applicant challenges your denial and you can’t produce the notice, you’re exposed to statutory damages of $100–$1,000 per violation under the FCRA.
Fair Housing Act
Your screening criteria have to be applied the same way to every adult applicant, every time. Not close to the same. Identical. Using different income thresholds for different applicants, or skipping steps for people you click with, creates evidence of disparate treatment that a Fair Housing investigator can work with. First offense fines can reach up to $23,011.
Allen County landlords must comply with Indiana Code and federal fair housing law when screening tenants; as of this writing, no widely recognized local Allen County ordinances appear to impose additional tenant screening requirements beyond those state and federal standards, though landlords should verify with local counsel., which actually gives Fort Wayne landlords more flexibility than landlords in heavily regulated markets. But that flexibility only protects you if you have a written policy to stand behind.
Why a Written Screening Policy Is Your Actual Shield
Here’s the part most people miss.
Running background checks without a written policy is riskier than running no check at all. If you screen inconsistently — stricter with some applicants, looser with others — you’ve created a paper trail of disparate treatment without meaning to.
A written screening policy that you apply identically to every applicant is your actual legal protection. The screening report is just a tool. The policy is what you hand to an investigator if a complaint gets filed with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission or HUD.
Our intake process at Midtowne builds this documentation automatically. We use AppFolio, which pulls TransUnion credit, criminal, and eviction reports directly into the applicant’s digital file, timestamped and tied to their application. Every denial is documented. Every step is recorded. One owner came to us after receiving a Fair Housing complaint on a tenant he’d denied. He had no written criteria, no documented reason for the denial, and no Adverse Action Notice on file. Our process is built specifically to prevent that scenario.
A written screening policy applied consistently to every applicant is what protects you in a Fair Housing challenge. Without it, inconsistent screening becomes evidence against you.
What to Do About Section 8 and Voucher Applicants
Indiana does not currently prohibit source-of-income discrimination at the state level, so Fort Wayne landlords can legally decline Housing Choice Voucher tenants. But this is an evolving area, and the political pressure around legislation like Indiana’s HB 1578, which would expand fair housing protections to prohibit discrimination based on source of income means it’s worth watching.
Regardless of whether you accept vouchers, document every denial decision carefully. The screening criteria that led to a denial should be on file, and those criteria should be the same ones you apply to every applicant. “I don’t accept Section 8” is a legal position in Indiana right now. “I denied this specific applicant because…” still needs to be a documented, criteria-based answer.
What Never Counts as a Background Check
Let’s be direct about a few things that do not qualify.
- Google search: Court records, eviction filings, and criminal history don’t show up in a basic web search. It’s also a Fair Housing risk because you may see protected-class information you legally cannot factor into your decision.
- Social media review: Same problem. You are now exposed to information about religion, family status, national origin, and other protected categories. If you deny someone and they can show you viewed their profile, a complaint gets complicated fast.
- Talking to a “reference” the applicant provided: A friend or family member vouching for someone is not verification. It is conversation.
A real third-party screening report runs $30–$75 depending on the service. Application fees in Fort Wayne typically run $25–$50 per adult applicant. That’s a modest investment against a potential $4,000+ eviction.
How Midtowne Handles the Screening Process
Carrie Pauquette, our leasing agent, walks every prospective tenant through the application process and explains exactly what gets reviewed. When a report comes back with something that triggers our denial criteria, she sits down with the owner and walks through the report line by line so there’s no confusion about why the decision was made.
That level of communication matters. One owner was initially frustrated that our screening process added a few days to the leasing timeline. After Carrie flagged a serious criminal record on an applicant, one the owner never would have found on her own, that owner told us the wait was worth every day.
We manage 424 units across Fort Wayne, with average rents around $900/month. At that volume, a single bad placement can mean $1,800–$2,700 in unpaid rent before the eviction process even begins. Our screening process isn’t cautious for its own sake. It’s what 38 years of managing in this market taught us to do.
If the screening side of your rental operation feels harder than it should be, we’re open to a conversation.
FAQ
What does a background check for a rental applicant cost?
A full third-party screening report typically runs $30–$75 depending on the service. Application fees in Fort Wayne generally land between $25–$50 per adult applicant. Indiana has no cap on application fees, but keeping them in that range stays competitive with the local market.
What credit score should I require from a rental applicant?
A score around 580 is a common minimum, but credit score alone shouldn’t drive the decision. Eviction history and documented income are better predictors of how someone will perform as a tenant. We’ve approved applicants below 600 with clean rental histories and turned down applicants above 700 with buried evictions.
Do I have to send an Adverse Action Notice if I deny someone?
Yes. Under the FCRA, if a background check contributed to your denial decision, the applicant is entitled to an Adverse Action Notice. It must identify the reporting agency used and explain the applicant’s right to dispute the information. Skipping this step exposes you to statutory damages of $100–$1,000 per violation.
Can I legally decline a Housing Choice Voucher applicant in Fort Wayne?
Under current Indiana law, source-of-income discrimination is not prohibited at the state level, so Fort Wayne landlords can decline voucher applicants. That said, this area of law is being watched closely, and regardless of your policy, every denial should be documented against your written screening criteria.
What happens if I apply screening criteria inconsistently?
Inconsistent application of screening criteria is one of the fastest ways to generate a Fair Housing complaint. If you require 3x income from one applicant and waive it for another, or run criminal checks on some applicants but not others, you’ve created a record of disparate treatment. Written criteria applied identically to every adult applicant every time is what keeps you on solid ground.