Screening Criteria

Tenant Screening Guidelines

Better Homes And Gardens Real Estate Native American Group utilizes the following criteria and procedures to determine the qualifications of applicants seeking to rent. Every adult that will reside in the property MUST fill out a separate application.

FEES

All fees, rent, and deposits paid prior to lease begin date must be in certified funds e.g. money order, cashier checks, etc. An application fee of $40 per applicant must be paid separately from the Security Deposit and is non-refundable.

Each individual who is to reside in the property must be listed on the application. Each resident 18 years of age or older must submit an application and be on the lease.

All checks and money orders should be made payable to Better Homes and
Gardens Real Estate/NAG. CASH CAN NOT BE ACCEPTED.

OCCUPANCY GUIDELINES

To prevent overcrowding and undue wear and tear to rental properties, we restrict the number of people who may reside in a property. In determining these restrictions, we comply with all applicable fair housing laws. We allow no more than two persons per bedroom, provided that all residents are related. We allow no more than one non-related person (roommate) per bedroom.

PETS

ALL households must complete a profile at https://Gardenrealestate.petscreening.com/. A link to this website will be provided on the application. This verification is required for ALL households, even those without pets or animals. Acceptance of your pet is contingent upon the owners approval. Only one applicant per household needs to fill out a profile with petscreening.com

Each property owner decides individually whether pets are allowed at a particular property. To reduce the risk of damage to the property if an owner chooses to allow pets, we place special restrictions on the pets considered for a rental unit.

Each pet is screened by PetScreening.com and if approved, will result in additional monthly rent of between $25-$50 based on the pet's score. Some properties have restrictions on size, breed, age, or quantity of pets as well. For properties we manage that accept pets, if your application is approved with a pet, an addendum will be provided by the property manager to allow your pet to reside within the home. Preparation of this pet application is a requirement, but acceptance of your pet is contingent upon the owners approval. Below you will find a scoring table indicative of the amount of additional monthly rent you will be expected to pay.

0 Paws = $50
1 Paw = $45
2 Paws = $40
3 Paws = $35
4 Paws = $30
5 Paws = $25

Because many insurance companies have determined there to be a greater risk of liability from certain breeds of dogs you may be required to have liability coverage for the pet. This would be in addition to having the carpets steam cleaned annually and at the end of the lease, along with flea/tick treatment and pet deodorizer. These additives must be included in the carpet cleaning process and receipt indicating such treatment was provided at lease end.

In case of smaller properties or community associations which restrict pets, we may limit you to one pet; we may also limit the size of the pet that we will allow in a property.

If you have questions about whether your pet qualifies for a particular property, ask your leasing agent or the property manager prior to submitting your application.

LEASE PROVISIONS

A copy of the lease and any applicable addendum (as required) are available for review in our office prior to application. The lease may include an additional addendum relevant to the specific property with special instructions for equipment operation, maintenance, or care of that property. This information should be reviewed prior to submitting an application as it will be a mandatory portion of the lease.

APPLICATION AND LEASE TERM

Each application will be evaluated in the following manner: you must submit a written, or electronic, application on our standard form and answer all questions on the form completely and honestly. Incomplete applications will not be processed. If you are in the military, you must include a copy of your current orders and LES with your application. If you are self-employed, you must include a copy of your two most recent Federal tax returns.

To speed verification of your income, you may wish to submit copies of your two most recent pay stubs or documents that confirm any other income listed on your application, such as rental property income, retirement pay, child support, etc.

During certain times of the year, we may want a lease term slightly longer than one year. When you submit application for a rental property, you are free to specify any

move-in date, term, and monthly rent. If your application is approved, you will be told the start date, end date, and monthly rent rate that were approved for your application. If you have specific timing requirements, you should clarify this before submitting an application. Leases can begin on any day of the month, but always end on the last day of the month.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Each application will be evaluated in the following manner:

We will determine if the information provided on your application meets our rental criteria as outlined herein. If not, we will decline the application. If you do, we will check your credit report and/or verify employment and rental history. If any of these verifications do not confirm that you meet our criteria, we will decline your application. The entire approval process will normally take about 3-5 business days, but it may take longer depending on how quickly we are able to verify the information you have provided. IF your application is declined, you will be notified in writing and will be provided with a list of the reason(s) that your application was declined. A reasonable attempt will also be made to telephone you with this information as quickly as possible once we know. If your application is declined, you may request that your application be reconsidered with additional consideration, such as a higher security deposit or the addition of a co-signer. If you make such a request within 30 days of denial, no additional application fee will be due, but additional time may be required to process your application. The property will remain on the market until an approved applicant has signed the lease AND paid the security deposit. Once approved, an applicant has 48 hours to complete these steps – failure to do so may result in other applications being considered and the property may be leased to another applicant. You will be required to pay your first month’s rent in certified funds before you pick up your keys. If the lease begins on the 20th, or later, the prorated rent for that month PLUS the first full month’s rent must be paid at this time.

GUARANTORS (“CO-SIGNERS”)

If you do not meet one or more of the above criteria, you may be eligible for a rental unit if you can get a third party to guarantee your lease. The guarantor must submit an application along with an application fee and must pass the same screening process as any other applicant, except that the guarantor must have a minimum credit score of 650. In addition, a guarantor may not have any judgments or collection accounts within the past two years whether paid or unpaid, may not have had a late payment on rent or mortgage within the past 12 months and may not have more than two late payments on any other reported account within the past 24 months. Guarantors will NOT be considered in any of the following situations: (a) where bankruptcy has been filed within the past two years; (b) where unpaid judgments or collection accounts exist; (c) where a judgment for rent or rent-related charges has been filed within the past five years, whether paid or unpaid; or (d) when in Agent/Owner sole discretion an excessive number of late rent payments have occurred within the past 24 months, whether or not a judgment was obtained.

RENTAL CRITERIA

Income and Employment History

• Gross monthly income must be at least two and one half times the monthly rent price and total monthly debt payments PLUS rent amount must not exceed 45% of gross monthly income. 

• Each non-related applicant (roommate) must qualify for the property on their own (we will not combine the income of unrelated individuals when computing these multiples).Unless otherwise agreed upon.

• If you are self-employed or receive more than 25% of your income in the form of commission, you must have earned substantially the same income for the past two years, you may be required to submit a certified copy of your tax return and/or bank statements for the past two years, and only income which was included on your tax return may be used for qualifying.

• If you are currently a member of the military, you may not sign a lease for a term longer than your current enlistment term or the length of time remaining at your current duty station.

• If you fail to meet the minimum employment requirements because you were a full time student during the year preceding your application, we may require a guarantor.

• If you are unemployed, you must provide a proof of sufficient income to qualify for the rental property, and we may have reasonable certainty that such income is likely to continue for the entire lease term.

Rental History

• Your credit report must contain no derogatory rental information and you must not have a judgment or collection account from a former landlord within the preceding five years whether paid or unpaid.

• You must not have had more than one late rent payment in the past two years and no rent payment may have been more than fifteen days late.

• You must have met all of the terms of your prior lease, must have given proper notice to vacate in accordance with the terms of your lease, and must not have had any unauthorized pets or occupants in the property.

• You must not have had deductions from your security deposit for damages of more than 25% of the total amount of your deposit.

Credit History

A credit report must be available and will be obtained for each applicant from one of the credit reporting agencies. You must have at least two accounts which appear on your credit report which have been open for at least two years and which have been paid on time.

• You must not have had a bankruptcy within the past two years and new credit must have been established since any bankruptcy (at least one installment loan or credit card) and have been paid as agreed for at least 12 months prior to application.

• You must not have any unpaid judgments or collection accounts, and you must not have had more than two paid judgments or collection accounts within the preceding 24 months except that special consideration may be granted at Agent/Owners sole discretion for small medical judgments or slow payments on student loans, if in our opinion there are enough favorable credit references to outweigh these.

• You may not have had more than two late payments (greater than 30 days past due) on any installment loan or credit card within the past year.

• Each applicant must have a credit score of  620 or greater. Married applicants may use an average of each spouse’s score, provided that neither spouse has a score below 580. If an applicant has a credit score between 580-619 your application MAY be considered with a higher than normal security deposit.

Other Factors

• You must be willing to take possession and begin paying rent for the property no more than two weeks after the date on which the property will become available for occupancy. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the owner.

• You must be willing to sign a lease for at least 12 months, unless the property has been listed as being available for a shorter term.

• If the property is taken off the market to be held for you and you decide not to rent the property before moving the owner may charge you a fee to break the lease.

Better Homes And Gardens Real Estate Native American Group and all of our associates support the letter and spirit of the law by observing all fair housing guidelines.