Renting out an El Mirage house? Researching applicants legally

El Mirage rental house and a landlord researching a rental applicant legally

A common El Mirage story: someone bought a house during the building boom of the 2000s, moved for work or family, and kept the house as a rental. They are not a property manager. They have one house, one mortgage, and one application in front of them from a family who seems lovely and has a story about why their last landlord will not call back.

This article is for that owner. It covers what you can check yourself, where federal law sets rules you have to follow, and what licensed private investigators can and cannot do for a landlord. It is general information. If you have a hard case, an applicant you think you might reject for something sensitive, talk to a lawyer first.

The checks you run yourself

Identity and income

Ask for a photo ID, and make sure the name on the application, the ID and the pay stubs match. Call the employer using a number you find yourself, not the one on the application. "Can you confirm she works there?" is a question most HR departments will answer.

Rental history

The current landlord has a reason to give a good reference to a tenant they want gone. The landlord before that is often more honest. Ask for both, and again, find the numbers yourself. If the previous place was in an El Mirage subdivision with an HOA, the property management company listed by the city for that association is not the landlord, but the owner's name is a matter of public property records.

Court records

The Arizona courts' Public Access Case Lookup covers most courts in the state. Search the applicant's full name and look for eviction cases (they are filed in justice courts as special detainer actions), civil judgments and small claims. Pay attention to dates and outcomes. A dismissed eviction from six years ago is not the same as three judgments in two years.

Name searches catch other people with the same name. Match on middle name, date of birth or address before you conclude anything.

Screening reports and the federal rules

Most small landlords use a tenant screening company for a credit and background report. That report is a "consumer report" under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Federal Trade Commission is clear about what that means for you:

You may get a report on someone applying to rent from you, and you must certify you will use it only for housing purposes.
If you take adverse action based even partly on the report, by denying the application, requiring a co-signer or asking for a bigger deposit, you must notify the applicant.
The notice has to name the reporting company and tell the applicant they can dispute the information and get a free copy.

The FTC also warns that a blanket refusal to rent to anyone with a criminal record may violate the Fair Housing Act. If your criteria are "no felonies ever," ask a lawyer before you use them.

Where a private investigator fits, and where not

Here is the part many owners get wrong. Hiring a private investigator is not a way around the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If someone compiles information about an applicant for you to use in deciding whether to rent to them, the federal rules may well apply to that report too, including stricter rules for reports built from interviews about someone's character or lifestyle. A reputable private investigator will raise this before taking the job, and some will decline tenant screening entirely and send you to a screening company.

Where private investigators are genuinely useful to a landlord is after the decision is made:

Finding a former tenant who left owing rent or damage, so they can be served with a lawsuit
Locating assets after you win a judgment
Documenting unauthorised occupants or subletting, when your lease prohibits it and you need evidence

These jobs still have limits. A private investigator cannot enter the house without lawful permission, record conversations they are not part of, or pretend to be someone else to get bank or phone records.

If it goes wrong anyway

Even careful screening misses things. If a tenant stops paying, the eviction goes through a Maricopa County justice court, and the timelines under A.R.S. 33-1377 are short: days, not weeks. Have your lease, ledger and notice copies in order before you file.

You can see private investigators who work El Mirage on the El Mirage private investigators page, and the wider West Valley private investigators list. Every private investigator we list in Arizona is a member of the Arizona Association of Licensed Private Investigators. Our guide on what a private investigator does, and what they can't covers the limits in more detail, and checking a contractor before you hire uses the same public records tools for a different problem. The El Mirage town page has the rest of our local guides.

Write your rental criteria down before the next application arrives, and apply the same list to every applicant. It is the simplest protection you have.

See the board: everyone in El Mirage · private investigators only.