Most landlords know they should run a background check before handing over keys. Far fewer know what that actually means — what to look for, what the law requires around how you use that information, and what a surface-level check misses entirely.
This blog is for rental property owners who want to screen tenants the right way — not just well enough to feel confident, but well enough to hold up under scrutiny if something goes sideways. You’ll walk away understanding what a thorough background check actually covers, where the tenant screening process tends to break down, and why the details matter more than most landlords realize until it’s too late.
“$26,262 | first Fair Housing violation ; $3,000–$6,000+ | avg re-leasing cost ; 7 years | eviction records stay public ; 7.0% | EVERGROW vacancy rate across 190 properties”
In This Guide
What a Background Check Actually Includes
A lot of people use “background check” as a catch-all phrase. But a real tenant background check is several things at once.
Here’s what a complete check covers:
- Credit history: Payment patterns, outstanding debts, collections accounts, and overall credit behavior
- Criminal history: Felony and misdemeanor records, usually pulled from national and county-level databases
- Eviction history: Prior eviction filings and judgments — more on why this is tricky to pull accurately in a minute
- Income and employment verification: Confirming the applicant actually earns what they say they earn
- Rental history: How they treated previous landlords and properties
Each of these categories tells you something different. Credit tells you how someone manages money. Eviction history tells you what happened when that fell apart. Criminal history tells you about legal risk. Income verification tells you whether they can actually afford the rent. None of them alone is the full picture.
The Problem with Basic Online Checks
We see this all the time: a landlord pulls a $20–$30 report from an online search site, sees no obvious red flags, and moves forward. A year later, they’re dealing with an eviction and wondering what they missed.
Here’s what those basic reports typically miss:
- Out-of-state eviction records from jurisdictions not covered by the database
- Multi-county criminal records in states that don’t share data across county lines
- Income gaps or inconsistencies that only surface when you actually verify the numbers
- Rental history from private landlords who never filed formal paperwork
One owner who came to us had approved an applicant based on a surface-level check. The applicant had a prior eviction in a neighboring county that the basic report never flagged. That placement eventually cost the owner thousands in lost rent and turnover expenses before the situation resolved.
We use Findigs as our screening platform, and the reason is straightforward: it aggregates multi-jurisdictional records into a single report, typically delivered within minutes to a few hours of application. That kind of depth is specifically what catches the gaps a cheap report leaves open.
Write Your Criteria Down Before You Screen Anyone
This one gets skipped constantly, and the consequences can be severe.
Before you run a single background check, you need a written screening criteria document — a policy that defines your minimum requirements. That means spelling out:
- Minimum income threshold (most managers use 2.5–3x monthly rent as a baseline)
- Credit score floor or credit behavior standards
- How criminal history is evaluated and weighted
- How prior evictions are handled
Without this, every denial you make is a potential Fair Housing liability. Indiana Code § 32-31-1-20 addresses landlord tenant screening in Indiana — and while Indiana law places few restrictions on your screening criteria, fair housing law requires you to apply whatever criteria you use uniformly across all applicants. A rejected applicant only needs to show that a different standard was applied to them. First-offense federal Fair Housing violations carry civil penalties up to $26,262. Repeat violations can result in civil penalties of up to $57,527 for a second violation within five years, and up to $115,054 for a third violation.
Running inconsistent screening criteria — even unintentionally — is one of the fastest ways to land a Fair Housing complaint. If you approved a 580 credit score last month and denied a 600 this month, you’d better have a documented reason that has nothing to do with a protected class.
Credit Score Isn’t the Whole Picture
Here’s a take that surprises a lot of landlords: fixating on credit score causes you to reject good applicants and accept bad ones.
A 720 credit score paired with inconsistent income, no rental history, and three jobs in 18 months is a riskier placement than a 610 score with verified on-time rent payments over three years from a prior landlord.
In Indianapolis, many managers use a minimum credit threshold somewhere between 580 and 650. That’s a starting point, not a finish line. What matters more is the pattern. Did this person pay rent on time even when other bills slipped? Does their income-to-rent ratio hold up? Do their prior landlords actually pick up the phone?
Our process looks at the full financial picture — rental behavior, income ratios, credit trends — rather than running a single number through a pass/fail gate.
Eviction History Is the Sharpest Red Flag
If a tenant has a prior eviction, pay attention.
Marion County processes eviction filings through the Marion Superior Courts, and those records are public and searchable through the Indiana Judicial Branch’s mycase.in.gov portal. Eviction-related court records in Indiana are subject to public access rules and retention schedules set by the Indiana Supreme Court, though the specific period of accessibility can vary depending on the case type and applicable judicial retention rules. That’s a meaningful data trail.
What to look for isn’t just whether an eviction happened — it’s the pattern around it. A single filing from eight years ago during a documented financial hardship reads differently than two filings in the past four years with no resolution. Context matters, but ignoring eviction history is not the answer.
We’ve seen eviction history used as one of the most reliable leading indicators of a problem placement. That’s not an opinion — it’s what the data shows over 16 years of managing properties across Indianapolis and Central Indiana.
Income Verification: Don’t Take the Pay Stub at Face Value
Running a background check without verifying income directly is like reading half a report.
Pay stubs can be altered. Self-employment income is notoriously hard to verify from documents alone. And even a legitimate pay stub from last month doesn’t tell you whether the applicant is still employed today.
Direct income verification means contacting the employer. It means looking at bank statements when the income picture isn’t clear from a W-2 or pay stub. It means doing the math on income-to-rent ratios rather than accepting a number because it looks right.
One owner transferred their property to us after two years of self-managing with no formal screening process — phone interview and a pay stub was their entire process. They cycled through two tenants who both left owing back rent, totaling around $4,200 in losses. Neither of those placements would have survived a proper income verification review.
A pay stub is a starting point, not a verification. Confirming income means actually following up — with employers, bank records, or both — before you approve anyone.
The Adverse Action Notice Most Landlords Skip
This one is federal law, and a lot of DIY landlords have no idea it exists.
If you deny an applicant based on information in a consumer report (which includes background check and credit data), the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires you to send an adverse action notice — in writing, orally, or electronically. That notice must identify the credit reporting agency you used.
Skip this step and you’re exposed to an FCRA violation — not because you screened incorrectly, but because you didn’t follow the required process after you did.
Anne, our leasing agent here at EVERGROW, walks every applicant denial through this process. It’s not complicated, but it has to happen every time, documented and traceable.
We’ve worked with first-time landlords who had no idea this requirement even existed. Had they processed their own denials without it, they’d have been legally exposed before anyone even moved in.
What Happens When You Screen Well
The downstream value of a rigorous screening process isn’t just a better tenant. It’s everything that doesn’t happen.
An eviction in Marion County typically runs $1,500 to $4,000 or more by the time you factor in legal fees, court costs, and lost rent. Re-leasing a vacant Indianapolis rental, including marketing, turnover repairs, and lost income during the gap, can run $3,000 to $6,000 depending on the property. A single bad placement can trigger both of those costs back to back.
One client we work with, who referenced an eviction during their five years with us, mentioned they didn’t have to do a single thing during the process — and that’s because the screening documentation at move-in was complete and consistent. When the legal process started, the paper trail was clean. It moved without complications.
That’s what good screening actually buys you: not just a qualified tenant, but a defensible paper trail if things go wrong anyway.
EVERGROW currently maintains a 7.0% vacancy rate across 190 managed properties, and a big piece of that is the discipline of not placing the wrong person just to fill a unit.
How to Handle Applicants with Vouchers or Subsidized Income
Indiana does not require landlords to accept Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) applicants. But if you do, your screening standards must be applied consistently, and they cannot be used as a pretext for discrimination.
Indianapolis sees a significant volume of workforce and Section 8 applicants, particularly in neighborhoods like Far Eastside and South Perry — areas where we have direct experience managing properties. Inconsistent screening in those markets creates real Fair Housing exposure.
The rule is simple: whatever criteria you apply to one applicant, you apply to all of them. Every time. Without exception. If HUD-assisted housing is involved, federal fair housing considerations regarding the use of criminal history in tenant screening may still be relevant, though HUD’s prior formal guidance on this topic has been rescinded and any replacement rule had not been finalized as of this writing., so it’s worth knowing the rules before you’re in a situation where you’re applying them.
FAQ
How much should I charge for a background check fee in Indianapolis?
Indiana law doesn’t cap the screening fee amount, but most Indianapolis landlords charge between $35 and $75 per applicant to cover third-party screening costs. The fee should reflect your actual cost — not become a revenue source.
Can I reject a rental applicant because of their criminal history?
Yes, but not automatically and not universally. Blanket bans on applicants with any criminal record can constitute Fair Housing discrimination, particularly if the policy has a disparate impact on a protected class. Written criteria that evaluate criminal history on a case-by-case basis, consistently applied, is the safer approach.
What is an adverse action notice and when do I have to send one?
Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, if you deny an applicant based on information in a background check or credit report, you’re required to notify them in writing, orally, or electronically, and identify the reporting agency you used. This applies every time, no exceptions, regardless of how obvious the denial reason seems.
How long does an eviction stay on someone’s record in Indiana?
In Indiana, eviction court records with a money judgment may remain publicly accessible until at least 7 years have elapsed, at which point the tenant may petition to have the record sealed under IC § 32-31-11. Marion County filings are searchable through the Indiana Judicial Branch’s mycase.in.gov portal, making local eviction history relatively straightforward to verify during the screening process.
Is a credit score cutoff enough to screen a tenant?
It’s a starting point, but it shouldn’t be the whole decision. Rental payment history, income-to-rent ratios, and employment stability often matter more than the number itself. A lower score with a strong rental track record can be a safer placement than a high score with no rental history and inconsistent income.
If I want help with tenant screening, do I have to hire a full property management company?
You don’t have to, but the compliance side of screening — written criteria, adverse action notices, consistent application, Fair Housing documentation — adds up fast. Many landlords who thought they were saving money on management fees discovered the legal exposure and administrative load made professional management the more cost-effective path.
If running a thorough, legally defensible background check on every applicant feels harder than it should, we’re open to a conversation. You can reach the EVERGROW team at any time.
