Minimum Requirements
The published minimum criteria every Rental Applicant must meet. Published in advance and applied to every Applicant the same way; the only individualized exceptions are reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.
1. All Lease Signatories Must Personally Visit the Property & Approve Its Condition
Anyone who will be allowed to or required to sign the lease must personally visit the property and approve its condition before the Broker will prepare and present a Lease for signature. This policy applies to both spouses of a married couple and/or both members of an unmarried couple. Viewing by a third party, including a Real Estate Agent, friend, family member or viewing by video conference, will not be accepted by the Broker in lieu of personal visit by all Signatories.
2. Self-Employed Applicants
Every Applicant must meet the same minimum income standard: verified gross monthly income of at least 3.0 times the monthly rent (see Section 3).
Self-employment income is verified by the Broker from original documents the Applicant uploads through the Broker’s Income Documents form (see Section 14). A self-employed Applicant must provide: (1) the Applicant’s IRS Record of Account Transcript or Tax Return Transcript, including Schedule C, for each of the two most recent tax years whose original filing deadline has passed; (2) the most recent three months of statements for every account into which the Applicant’s business receipts are deposited — a business account, a personal account, or both — with the most recent statement period ending within 45 days of the submission; and (3) the monthly statements for the same months from any payment platform through which the Applicant is paid.
Both tax years must be filed and available on transcript when the documents are submitted. A return that is on extension is not a filed return, and an earlier year may not be substituted for it; an application submitted while the most recent due year is unfiled is incomplete under Section 23, and the Applicant may resubmit when the transcript is available. An Applicant whose transcripts do not show Schedule C income for both years — for example, a business that has filed only one year — does not have qualifying self-employment income under this Section and may qualify only on other income counted under Section 14.
Qualifying gross monthly income for a self-employed Applicant is calculated from the transcripts only. For each of the two years, the annual figure is the net profit reported on Schedule C (line 31), plus the depreciation and Section 179 expense deducted on line 13 and the business use of home deducted on line 30. Those two lines are added back because they are non-cash deductions and do not reduce the cash available to pay rent; this is the same treatment used in mortgage underwriting. No other adjustment is made. The qualifying gross monthly income is the lower of (a) the two annual figures added together and divided by twenty-four, and (b) the most recent year’s figure divided by twelve. A business whose income is declining is therefore qualified on its most recent year, not on the average.
The bank statements do not set the qualifying figure and cannot raise it. If the figure calculated from the transcripts is below 3.0 times the monthly rent, the application is declined regardless of what the statements show. The statements are used only to confirm that the business is still operating, under the following test: business receipts deposited during the three statement months must total at least one-half of one quarter of the most recent year’s gross receipts on Schedule C, line 1 (line 1 ÷ 4 × 50%). If this test is not met, the application is declined.
Business receipts are deposits of payments from customers, clients, and payment platforms, including payments from named individuals through Zelle or a similar service. Payments received through a payment platform or a business-profile payment account — for example PayPal, Square, Stripe, Venmo, or Cash App — are counted from the platform’s own monthly statement, which must be uploaded; a transfer from a platform balance to a bank account is not itself a receipt. The following are not business receipts: transfers between the Applicant’s own accounts, including transfers from a business account to a personal account; loan proceeds; refunds and reversals; tax refunds; and wages, benefits, or other deposits belonging to another person. Any single deposit from an individual that exceeds one-half of the qualifying gross monthly income is counted only if the Applicant uploads the invoice, receipt, or platform record showing that it was payment for goods or services; otherwise it is excluded from the total. A written explanation is not accepted in place of the document.
The Broker is not a CPA and does not provide accounting services. The Broker does not evaluate individual business expenses and does not prepare, request, or accept profit-and-loss statements; self-employment income is calculated from the IRS transcripts as described above.
Applicants with both employment and self-employment income. An Applicant may qualify on employed income alone (verified under Section 14), on self-employment income alone (determined under this Section), or on the sum of both, together with any other income counted under Section 14, where each portion is documented under its own rule. The combined qualifying gross monthly income must equal or exceed 3.0 times the monthly rent, and the same combined figure is the denominator for the Debt to Income Ratio under Section 5.
3. Minimum Criteria For Lease Application Approval
The minimum criteria for Lease Application Approval are the same for every home the Broker lists, and are applied consistently to every Applicant. The only individualized exceptions are reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities under Section 24.
Minimum Income-to-Rent Ratio: Verified gross monthly income of at least 3.0 times the monthly rent, for every Applicant. For a self-employed Applicant, qualifying gross monthly income is determined under Section 2. Only income verified and calculated under Section 14 is counted.
Maximum Debt to Income Ratio: 41%. The Debt to Income Ratio is calculated as described in Section 5, rounded to the nearest whole percent. A ratio of 41% is approvable; a ratio of 42% or higher is declined. There are no exceptions to this limit.
Minimum Credit Score: The minimum qualifying credit score is set by the monthly rent of the home applied for:
| Monthly Rent | Minimum Credit Score |
|---|---|
| $1,500 – $2,249 | 600 |
| $2,250 – $2,999 | 650 |
| $3,000 and above | 700 |
The credit score is the FICO 8 score on the report the Applicant selects under Section 13. An Applicant whose report returns no credit score is evaluated under Section 4; an Applicant with credit history in Canada may authorize a Canadian credit report under Section 13.
Maximum Active Account Delinquencies: Active account delinquencies shown on the Applicant’s credit report are totaled and compared to the monthly rent of the home applied for. Non-medical delinquencies and medical delinquencies are totaled separately. If the non-medical total equals or exceeds one month’s rent, or the medical total by itself equals or exceeds one month’s rent, the application is declined. If each total is less than one month’s rent, the delinquencies do not by themselves cause a decline. A qualifying credit score does not offset a total that equals or exceeds one month’s rent.
An active delinquency is defined as: a past-due account; an unpaid collection; an unpaid charge-off; an unpaid judgment; or an unpaid tax lien. Student loans that are actively past due, in default, or in active collections are active delinquencies. A delinquency is medical when the credit report identifies it as medical or the original creditor is a healthcare provider, hospital, or medical billing company; every other delinquency is non-medical.
The amount counted for each delinquency is the amount reported past due. For an unpaid collection, charge-off, judgment, or tax lien, which carry no separate past-due figure, the amount counted is the balance reported on the credit report. Examples of non-medical delinquencies: past-due or charged-off credit cards, auto loans, or personal loans; past-due student loans; non-medical collections; and unpaid judgments or tax liens. Examples of medical delinquencies: past-due or charged-off medical bills and medical collections. The Broker uses the figures as reported; a disputed item is counted as reported until the credit reporting agency removes or corrects it. No delinquency can be cured by a cosigner, lease guarantor, or guarantor service. Eviction judgments are assessed separately under Section 11.
The criteria in effect when an Applicant applies are the criteria published on this page at the time of application. The Broker retains every Lease Application.
4. Applicants With No Credit Score
This Section applies to an Applicant whose credit report — or Canadian credit report, where one is obtained under Section 13 — returns no credit score, or for whom no credit file is found. It replaces the minimum credit score in Section 3 with the standard below; every other criterion published on this page applies to the Applicant in full.
The Broker qualifies every Applicant on payment history it can verify, and the only payment history the Broker can verify is the consumer credit report obtained under Section 13. The Broker does not accept landlord references, payment letters, or other substitutes for a credit report. An Applicant with no credit score can therefore qualify only when the credit report itself shows a history of credit paid as agreed — in practice, an Applicant who has paid off every debt and has no open accounts.
Debt-Free Profile standard. An Applicant with no credit score qualifies when all of the following are shown on the credit report:
- No open accounts. The report shows no open revolving or installment account on which the Applicant is the borrower or joint borrower and no balance owed; the Applicant’s Debt to Income Ratio under Section 5 consists of the rent alone.
- Prior credit paid as agreed. The report shows at least two accounts on which the Applicant was the borrower or joint borrower, each closed with a zero balance and no derogatory status — no charge-off, collection, repossession, or settlement for less than the full balance — and at least one of them opened 24 or more months before the application date. No payment on those accounts was reported 30 or more days late during the last 24 months each account was open. Authorized User accounts do not count (see Section 12).
- Delinquency standard. Non-medical and medical active account delinquencies, each as defined and counted in Section 3, are each less than one month’s rent of the home applied for — the same standard applied to every Applicant.
- Income and all other criteria. The Applicant meets the income requirement in Section 14, the Debt to Income Ratio limit in Section 5, and every other criterion published on this page.
An Applicant who meets this standard is approved without a credit score. An Applicant with no credit score who does not meet it — including an Applicant whose report shows no account history at all — is declined, and the Adverse Action Notice states which condition was not met.
5. Debt to Income Ratio Calculation
The Debt to Income Ratio (DTI) measures an Applicant’s monthly cash-flow capacity: whether the Applicant can carry the proposed rent alongside their existing recurring obligations. It is calculated the same way for every Applicant:
(Total Monthly Debt Obligations + Proposed Monthly Rent) ÷ Verified Gross Monthly Income = DTI
The result is rounded to the nearest whole percent and may not exceed 41%.
Income (the denominator). Only gross monthly income verified and calculated under Section 14 is used. For a self-employed Applicant, the denominator is the qualifying gross monthly income determined under Section 2. For a joint application, the Applicants’ verified incomes are combined and their obligations are combined (see Section 15).
Monthly obligations (the numerator). DTI counts active, recurring monthly payments, not total balances owed. Credit-report items and obligations reported on the application are treated as follows:
| Account Status / Type | DTI Treatment | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Current credit accounts (auto loans, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages) | Include | The contractual minimum monthly payment shown on the credit report. |
| Authorized User accounts (Applicant is not the borrower) | Exclude | Counted as $0 — the Applicant has no payment obligation. Whether an account counts as the Applicant’s credit history is governed by Section 12. |
| Past-due accounts (30, 60, 90+ days) | Include | The standard minimum monthly payment. The past-due balance is not added. (The delinquency itself is assessed under Section 3.) |
| Mortgages on a home under contract for sale | Include | Counted until the closing is reflected on the credit report (see Section 6). |
| Wage garnishments, alimony, and child support | Include | The documented monthly amount. |
| IRS installment agreements and other court-ordered or government payment plans | Include | The documented monthly amount, as reported on the application or confirmed during review (see Section 6). |
| Student loans in active repayment | Include | The stated minimum monthly payment. |
| Deferred or forbearance student loans, deferment ending within 12 months | Include | 0.5% of the outstanding loan balance, used as the proxy monthly payment. |
| Deferred or forbearance student loans, deferment ending more than 12 months out | Exclude | Counted as $0. Payments will not resume during the initial lease term. Documentation required (see below). |
| Student loans on a $0 Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan | Exclude | Counted as $0. Must be documented on the credit report or by a loan-servicer statement (see below). |
| Charged-off accounts | Exclude | Counted as $0; the creditor has terminated the payment contract. Assessed under Section 3. |
| Collections | Exclude | Counted as $0 unless a formal monthly repayment plan is documented, in which case that payment is included. Assessed under Section 3. |
| Judgments and tax liens | Exclude | Counted as $0 unless subject to an active wage garnishment or documented payment plan, which is then included. Assessed under Section 3. |
| Daily living expenses | Exclude | Cell phone, utilities, groceries, auto insurance, and similar bills are not part of the calculation. |
Student loans with no stated deferment end date. When a credit report shows a student loan in deferment or forbearance but does not state when the deferment ends, the Broker treats the deferment as ending within 12 months and applies the 0.5% proxy payment. An Applicant who states that the deferment extends more than 12 months, or that the loan is on an approved $0 IDR plan, bears the burden of proof. To have the loan excluded, the Applicant must provide a recently dated statement issued directly by the loan servicer (for example Nelnet, MOHELA, or Aidvantage) or by StudentAid.gov that states the exact start and end dates of the deferment or confirms the $0 monthly payment. General correspondence, screenshots without dates, or the Applicant’s own statement are not sufficient.
The 0.5% proxy follows the FHA and Freddie Mac guidelines for student loans without a disclosed payment.
6. The Broker Acknowledges No Duty or Obligation to Accept Documents from the Applicant or Third Parties Commenting on Information Currently Showing in the Applicant’s Credit and Background Report
The Applicant’s credit report, background report, or credit history (“Credit Report”) may show debts and or other negative information upon which the Broker bases a decision to deny Applicant’s Application. Applicant is responsible for ensuring that Applicant’s Credit Report accurately reflects the information relative to Applicant at the time the Application is submitted. The Broker does not receive or consider documents or statements from the Applicant or from any third party that challenge, explain, or contradict debts or other negative entries on the Applicant’s Credit Report, at any stage — before or after the Broker makes a decision on the Application or issues an Adverse Action Notice. The only information that changes what the Broker relies on is a new consumer report the Broker obtains from its screening provider, as described under “Corrected reports” below. This limitation on challenges to the Credit Report does not restrict the other information the Broker requires to review the Application, including the Applicant’s income documents submitted under Section 14 and the obligations the Applicant reports on the application, each of which the Broker considers under its published standards.
Mortgages will be included in the Debt to Income Calculation prior to closing and the updating of the Applicant’s Credit Report. The Broker acknowledges no duty to the Applicant to assume the sale of a property, a closing will or has taken place and or that a Credit Report Updating will take place. The Applicant’s Debt to Income Ratio includes the monthly amount of the recurring obligations the Applicant reports on the application, such as personal loans, alimony, child support, other court-ordered payments, and any monthly payment under an IRS installment agreement or other IRS-approved payment arrangement, as set out in Section 5. The Applicant provides these monthly amounts on the application. The Broker also includes any such payment that becomes known to the Broker during the review of the Application. If the Applicant has an IRS installment agreement or other IRS-approved payment arrangement, the Applicant agrees to provide the Broker, upon demand, a copy of the IRS letter establishing that arrangement.
In the event Applicant disagrees with information reflected on Applicant’s Credit Report, Applicant may refer to applicable federal law regarding Applicant’s ability to challenge or correct Applicant’s Credit Report by challenging specific debts and or other negative information with the Credit Reporting Agencies or prior creditors. Broker is not an attorney, is not offering legal advice, and suggests that Applicant consult with an attorney regarding Applicant’s rights to challenge negative information on the Credit Report. More information may be found here.
Corrected reports. If, after the Broker declines an Application, the consumer reporting agency corrects or removes an entry the Broker relied on, the Applicant may ask the Broker in writing to review the Application again, provided the home is still available — meaning no Lease for the home has been signed and no other Application for it has been approved. The Broker does not accept the Applicant’s copy of the corrected report; the Broker orders a new credit report through its screening provider from the same consumer reporting agency or agencies as the report it relied on, and the Applicant pays the fee for that report again ($30 for a single-bureau report, $50 for a three-bureau report). The Application is then reviewed under the standards on this page in effect on the date the Broker receives the new report. Income documents already on file are used again if they still meet the recency requirements of Section 14 measured from that date; otherwise the Applicant submits current documents through the Broker’s Income Documents form under Section 14, and the $30 fee for that form applies. A request for a second review does not hold the home for the Applicant.
7. Rental Arbitrage, Sub-leasing, Assignment, etc. is Strictly Prohibited
Tenant shall not sublet, under-lease, sub-rent, sub-lease, offer rooms for rent, or otherwise take on occupants not identified in this Lease. Tenant shall not offer any portion of the premises for a sublease by placing on the same any “to rent”, “furnished room”, “room to rent”, or similar sign or notice or by advertising the same in any newspaper, on any short-term rental website such as VRBO or AirBnB, or any place or manner whatsoever. Any arrangement listed above or any other transfer or assignment of this lease, shall be null and void at the option of the Landlord. Tenant agrees that the breach of this provision shall be considered a material noncompliance with the terms of this lease, entitling Landlord to deliver written notice to terminate this lease pursuant to Alabama law.
8. Lease Start Dates
Lease start dates are always the 1st day of the next calendar month. The exception to this rule is that on or about the 23rd of each month (when there is not enough time remaining to process an application) then the Broker will begin to consider lease start dates to begin on the 1st day of the month after next.
9. Properties may be Temporarily Taken Off the Market in Certain Situations
The time between when an Application is deemed “approvable” by the Broker and the Lease is signed can be several days. In order to avoid receiving Applications while the Lease is pending signature, the Broker may discontinue advertising for a property.
10. About Pending, Active and or Recently Discharged Bankruptcies
Applicants presenting an Application while a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is pending will be automatically declined. Applicants presenting an Application with an active Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will be automatically declined. Applicants presenting an Application who have had a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 discharged will not automatically be declined. An Applicant with a discharged Bankruptcy is treated the same as every other Applicant and must meet the same published minimum Lease Application approval requirements, including the minimum credit score for the home applied for.
11. Evictions and Repossessions
An eviction judgment — a court order in an unlawful detainer, ejectment, or similar possessory action awarding a landlord possession of a rental home, or a money judgment for unpaid rent or damages in favor of a landlord — entered within the seven years before the application date is an automatic decline. An eviction filing that was dismissed, withdrawn, settled, or decided in the Tenant’s favor, or that shows no reported disposition, is not an eviction and is not counted. A repossession is not by itself a decline; any deficiency balance reported after a repossession is an unpaid charge-off or collection and is counted in the delinquency total under Section 3.
12. Authorized User Accounts (“Piggybacking”)
An Authorized User account is a credit card or other revolving account on which the Applicant is permitted to charge but is not the contractual borrower. The account’s age, credit limit, and payment history belong to the Primary Cardholder; they appear on the Applicant’s credit report and can raise the Applicant’s credit score, but they do not show how the Applicant has managed credit. Authorized User access is also sold commercially for that purpose — a practice known as “piggybacking” — and the same mechanism is used to build synthetic-identity credit files.
The Broker qualifies each Applicant on the Applicant’s own credit history. An Authorized User account is not treated as the Applicant’s credit history, whoever the Primary Cardholder is, with one exception: when the Primary Cardholder is a co-Applicant on the same joint Lease Application, the account is treated as the Applicant’s own account under this Section, because the co-Applicant’s credit is evaluated on that same application. A co-Applicant account is identified by matching it to the account on the co-Applicant’s own credit report; the Broker does not accept statements from the Applicants to establish it. An Authorized User account that cannot be matched to a co-Applicant’s report is counted as an Authorized User account. Authorized User accounts are identified from the credit report’s account designation. The Broker applies the following rules to every Applicant in the same way:
- Authorized User share. The Broker counts the credit accounts on the Applicant’s credit report — revolving and installment accounts, open or closed — and the number of them that are Authorized User accounts other than co-Applicant accounts. Collection accounts and public records are not counted in either number. If more than half of the credit accounts are Authorized User accounts, or if the report shows no account that is the Applicant’s own, the Applicant does not have a qualifying credit history and the application is declined, regardless of the credit score reported. Authorized User accounts do not establish credit history under Section 4 either.
- Debt to Income Ratio. Because the Applicant is not liable for payment on an Authorized User account, the monthly payment on any Authorized User account is excluded from the Applicant’s Debt to Income Ratio calculation under Section 5. On a joint application, a co-Applicant account is counted once, on the co-Applicant’s own report.
The Broker does not evaluate the reason an Applicant was added to another person’s account, does not consider the Applicant’s relationship to the Primary Cardholder beyond whether the Primary Cardholder is a co-Applicant, and does not receive or consider explanations or documents concerning an Authorized User account (see Section 6). Where the pattern of Authorized User accounts, together with other information in the credit or background report, prevents the Broker from verifying the Applicant’s identity, the application is also subject to Section 23. This standard is applied to every application in the same way.
13. Credit Report Required
Every Applicant must authorize a consumer credit report through the Broker’s screening provider as part of the application. The Broker obtains credit reports from consumer reporting agencies in the United States and, as described below, from Equifax Canada; the Broker cannot obtain or evaluate a credit report from any other country. An application for which the report is not authorized is not processed.
Bureau selection and additional reports. On the credit and background screening fee form the Applicant selects a single-bureau FICO 8 report from Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion ($30) or a three-bureau report ($50). The minimum credit score in Section 3 is measured against the score on the selected report — the highest of the three on a three-bureau report — and the Broker decides the Application on that report; it does not pause an Application for the Applicant to consider another report. After a decline, the Applicant may purchase a second single-bureau report from a different agency ($30) or a three-bureau report ($50) and ask in writing for a second review on the terms stated for corrected reports in Section 6: the home must still be available, current standards apply, income documents on file are reused only within the Section 14 recency periods, and the request does not hold the home. The Broker then uses the report with the highest FICO 8 score and evaluates the Applicant’s credit on that report alone. Screening fees are not refunded.
An Applicant whose United States report returns no credit file, or a credit file with no credit score, is evaluated under Section 4. An Applicant in that position who has credit history in Canada may instead authorize a Canadian credit report through the Broker’s screening provider, for a second report fee of $30 paid by the Applicant. Where a Canadian report is obtained, its FICO score is measured against the minimum credit score in Section 3, and the accounts, delinquencies, and public records shown on either report are counted under Sections 3, 5, 11, and 12 exactly as they would be from a United States report, with amounts reported in Canadian dollars counted at face value. A Canadian report that returns no credit score is evaluated under Section 4.
Married couples. When one spouse individually meets the credit and income requirements and the other spouse has no credit report or no credit score, the couple qualifies on the first spouse’s credit and income. When both spouses have a credit score, each must have a qualifying Credit Score. All other criteria in Section 3 apply to both spouses.
14. Income Requirement and Verification
Income is verified by the Broker from original documents the Applicant uploads through the Broker’s secure Income Documents form for the Applicant’s employment type. The Broker emails the link after the application advances to review; the $30 verification fee is paid on the same form, which cannot be submitted until the payment is approved. Every uploaded document is screened for alteration by the Broker’s third-party document verification service and then reviewed by the Broker under the rules below. Documents must be original PDF files downloaded from the payroll provider, financial institution, benefit payer, or the IRS; photographs, scans, screenshots, print-to-PDF files, and combined, edited, redacted, or password-protected files cannot be verified and are returned for resubmission. Income documents are not accepted by email, text message, or in person, and are not uploaded to the Rental Application. Documents you upload are stored in secured, access-restricted storage, opened only by logged-in staff, and handled as described in our Privacy Policy.
The Broker applies the minimum income requirement published in Section 3 uniformly to every Applicant, using the calculation rules below. Special conditions apply to self-employed Applicants (see Section 2). The Broker calculates the qualifying figure itself from the documents; it does not rely on any figure produced by the verification service.
Documents for employed Applicants. An employed Applicant uploads every pay stub with a pay date in the 90-day window described below — about thirteen if paid weekly, six or seven if paid every two weeks, six if paid twice a month, three if paid monthly — and the most recent pay date must be within 35 days of submission. Each pay stub must show the employer’s name, the Applicant’s name, the pay period or pay date, and regular earnings itemized separately from other earnings. Bank statements are not accepted in place of pay stubs for employed income. Self-employed Applicants are qualified under Section 2. Incomplete submissions will require additional documents.
Employers that do not issue electronic pay stubs. If the employer issues only paper pay stubs or paper checks, the Applicant uploads (1) the three most recent monthly statements for the account that receives the pay, as original PDF files downloaded from the bank, showing each payroll deposit, and (2) photographs or scans of the paper pay stubs the Applicant has for the same period. In that case qualifying base pay is the base pay the employer confirms on the Employment Verification Letter, the deposits must be consistent with it, and variable pay is documented under the W-2 rule like every other Applicant. The 3.0-to-1 gross standard and every other rule on this page apply unchanged.
How the Broker calculates employed income from pay stubs. Base pay is counted from the pay stubs: the regular hourly or salary earnings, before taxes and deductions, including paid leave at the regular rate and shift differential on scheduled hours. Overtime, bonuses, commissions, and tips are variable pay and also count when the Applicant documents them with W-2 forms or the IRS Wage and Income Transcript for the most recent tax year, as described under Performance Bonuses, Overtime, Commissions, and Tips below; variable pay that does not yet appear on a W-2 is not counted. Reimbursements, per diem, allowances, employer benefit contributions, severance, retroactive pay, and one-time payments are never counted.
The 90-day window is the 90 days ending on the most recent pay date shown, and that pay date must fall within 35 days of the date the documents are submitted. The pay stubs must cover every pay period ending inside the window. Qualifying gross monthly income is calculated the same way for every Applicant who submits pay stubs:
(Total base pay on all pay stubs in the window ÷ number of pay stubs) × pay periods per year ÷ 12
Pay periods per year follow the pay frequency shown on the stubs: weekly, 52; every two weeks, 26; twice a month, 24; monthly, 12. If the stubs show no regular pay frequency, total base pay in the window is divided by three. The result is rounded to the nearest dollar. An Applicant with more than one job is documented and calculated separately for each job under these rules, and the figures are added.
If a pay stub does not itemize regular earnings, the Applicant must provide an itemized earnings statement from the payroll provider; otherwise the base pay stated by the employer on the Employment Verification is used.
Performance bonuses, overtime, commissions, and tips. Variable pay counts when it is documented. An Applicant who wants performance bonuses, overtime, commissions, or tips included in qualifying income must also provide their Form W-2 from every employer, or their IRS Wage and Income Transcript, for the most recent tax year for which W-2 forms have been issued. When those forms are provided, qualifying gross monthly income is the greater of current base pay, calculated as above, or the total of Box 5 (Medicare wages and tips) on those W-2 forms (or the W-2 entries on the transcript) divided by twelve. The pay stubs confirm that the income is currently being received. Variable income is never projected from a partial year or a single pay period. Self-employment income is measured over two filed tax years under Section 2.
Employment Verification. For every employed Applicant, the employer must verify employment. On the Income Documents form, the Applicant provides the employer’s contact information and states the Applicant’s current gross base pay rate and pay frequency (for example, an annual salary, or an hourly rate and scheduled hours). The Broker prepares an Employment Verification Letter that repeats the stated pay, the Applicant signs it electronically, and the Broker emails it to the employer, who is asked to confirm or correct the Applicant’s start date, position, current employment status, base pay rate and pay frequency, and whether the Applicant receives overtime, bonus, or commission pay. If the base pay the employer confirms or corrects, annualized and divided by twelve, is lower than the Applicant’s qualifying gross monthly income calculated above, the employer’s figure is used; if it is higher, the Applicant’s documents govern. A material difference between the pay the Applicant stated and the pay shown by the documents or confirmed by the employer is an inconsistency under Section 23. An application is not complete until the employer verifies employment. For New Employment, the Employment Verification Letter is sent to the new employer and also confirms the start date and that the offer is not contingent (see Section 22).
How the employer verifies. Employment is verified in writing. The Broker emails the Employment Verification Letter to the employer, and the employer confirms or corrects it in writing — by signing it electronically, by email reply, by fax, or by mail on business letterhead. A company email address at the employer’s domain is preferred. When the employer does not use one, the Broker sends the Letter to a contact it confirms independently — an email address or fax number published on the employer’s website or business listing — or accepts a written response through The Work Number or a similar employer-authorized verification service; a response from a personal email address is relied on only when the Broker has independently confirmed that it belongs to the employer. If the employer has not responded within three business days, the Broker notifies the Applicant so the Applicant can prompt the employer; if verification is still not received within seven business days after the Letter was sent, the application is deemed incomplete under Section 23, and the Applicant may resubmit when verification can be obtained.
Other income. Income that is not wages or self-employment is counted only from the sources below. Dean & Associates Inc does not participate in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly known as Section 8, or in other rental subsidy programs that require a contract between the Owner or the Broker and a government agency, and does not hold Housing Assistance Payment contracts with any housing authority. Every Applicant qualifies on the Applicant’s own income, measured against the full monthly rent, under the requirements published on this page. For each source the Applicant provides (1) the document listed, naming the Applicant and stating the gross monthly amount, dated within the last twelve months or covering the current year, and (2) the most recent three months of statements for the account receiving the income, showing the deposit in each month. Income with a stated end date within twelve months of the application date is not counted. Other income may be documented on any Income Documents form together with wages or self-employment income; a single $30 verification fee applies per form.
| Income | Document required | Amount counted |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security (retirement, survivors, disability) and SSI | Social Security benefit verification or award letter for the current year | Gross monthly benefit before Medicare premiums and withholding |
| Pension or annuity | Payer’s award letter or most recent Form 1099-R | Gross monthly payment |
| Recurring distributions from a retirement account | Custodian statement showing the scheduled monthly distribution, and a current statement showing a balance of at least twelve times that distribution | Monthly distribution |
| VA compensation or pension; military retirement | VA or DFAS benefit letter | Gross monthly amount |
| Long-term disability or workers’ compensation | Insurer or agency letter stating the amount and that payments continue at least twelve months or have no end date | Gross monthly amount |
| Child support or alimony received | Court order or state disbursement statement | The lower of the ordered monthly amount and the average actually received over the three months |
| Interest, dividends, rental income, trust distributions, and other recurring income reported on a tax return | IRS Tax Return Transcripts for the two most recent tax years | Two-year total divided by twenty-four |
The following are not counted as income: unemployment compensation; one-time or lump-sum payments; gifts or support from anyone who will not sign the lease; balances in savings, investment, or retirement accounts; educational benefits and stipends; and any income that cannot be documented as described above.
Non-taxable income. Because the income standard is measured against gross, pre-tax income, income that is not subject to federal income tax is counted at 125% of the documented monthly amount. This applies only to Social Security benefits, SSI, VA disability compensation, child support, and workers’ compensation. All other income is counted at the documented amount.
Combining income. An Applicant’s qualifying gross monthly income is the sum of the figures calculated above for employed income (pay-stub figure), self-employment income under Section 2, and other income. The Applicant qualifies when that total, rounded to the nearest dollar, equals or exceeds 3.0 times the monthly rent. The same total is the denominator for the Debt to Income Ratio under Section 5. For joint applications, see Section 15.
Verification fee. A $30 identity and income verification fee, paid to Dean & Associates Inc on the Income Documents form, is due with the Applicant’s documents; the form cannot be submitted until the payment is approved. Identity verification through the Broker’s third-party identity verification service carries no additional charge (see the Rental Application for the full fee schedule).
Current and New Employment income. Future or anticipated income is not counted, except W-2 New Employment documented and calculated as described in Section 22, which is counted at the lower of the offered base pay and the base pay proven at the prior employer.
Disputes and accommodations. If your application is declined based on verified income, you will receive an Adverse Action Notice. An Adverse Action Notice based on income states the qualifying gross monthly income the Broker calculated, the section of this page under which it was calculated, and the minimum income required for the home. Questions about the income determination may be directed to the Broker at info@deanandassociatesinc.com. If you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete income verification, please request one through the Broker’s accommodation request form.
15. Joint Applications and Qualification Criteria
Maximum Debt to Income Ratio: For all joint applications, the Applicants’ verified gross monthly incomes and monthly obligations are combined, and the combined Debt to Income Ratio, calculated under Section 5, may not exceed 41%.
Married Couples: When both spouses will occupy the home, both must submit a joint Lease Application, and each must independently meet the minimum qualifying credit score and the delinquency standard in Section 3 (see Section 13 for a spouse who has no credit report or no credit score). A spouse who will not occupy the home is not an Applicant (see Section 16).
Unmarried Couples and Roommates: Unmarried couples and Roommates may choose to submit a joint application and combine their incomes to meet the minimum income and DTI requirements. To qualify as a joint application, both individuals must independently meet the minimum qualifying credit score and the delinquency standard in Section 3.
16. Applicants Who Are Separated or in a Pending Divorce
An Applicant who is married but separated, or whose divorce is pending, applies as an individual and is evaluated on the Applicant’s own credit report, verified income, and obligations under the same standards as every other Applicant. Debts that appear on the Applicant’s credit report, including joint accounts, are counted as reported (Sections 3 and 5). A spouse who will not occupy the home is not required to apply, to sign the Lease, or to cosign, and the Broker does not obtain a non-occupying spouse’s credit report. Court-ordered support the Applicant pays is included in the Debt to Income Ratio; court-ordered support the Applicant receives is counted under Section 14.
17. Application Processing Policy
The Broker does not render an approve or decline decision based on the order in which applications are submitted; decisions are based on the order in which applications are completed. Properties are not put on hold when an application is submitted.
18. Roommate Occupancy Policy
The Broker limits occupancy of every home it manages by adults who are not related to one another. Every adult occupant of the home must be related to every other adult occupant, or the home may have no more than two adult occupants in total. This is the Broker’s own standard, applied to every home it manages regardless of location, and it applies in addition to, never in place of, any stricter limit set by the municipality or by the property’s homeowners association, which the Broker applies as written.
For this Section, an adult is a person age 19 or older. Adults are related when they are connected by blood, marriage, adoption, foster placement, or legal guardianship; every other adult is unrelated. Children are never counted. A household of related adults, with or without children, is not limited by this Section. Two unrelated adults, such as two roommates or an unmarried couple, may occupy a home together with their children.
The Broker applies this limit because responsibility for rent and for damage to the home is shared under the Lease, and that responsibility becomes unreliable when it is divided among more than two adults who are not related to one another. The limit is applied on the number and relationship of the adults alone, without regard to who they are.
A live-in aide, meaning a person who lives in the home because a resident’s disability requires that person’s assistance, is not counted toward this limit. Any other request to modify this Section because of a disability is considered as a reasonable accommodation under Section 24.
An application that does not meet this Section is declined, and the Adverse Action Notice states the reason. This Section is applied to every application in the same way.
19. Occupancy Standard
The Broker applies an occupancy limit of no more than two persons per bedroom. The limit is applied without regard to age or familial status, and it is subject to any stricter limit imposed by the applicable municipal code or by the recorded covenants of the property’s homeowners association, which the Broker applies as written. Every person who will live in the home must be listed on the application, and each occupant age 19 or older who is not an Applicant is screened under Section 20. Whether occupants are related to one another is not a criterion, except for the limit on unrelated adults in Section 18. Occupancy by anyone not listed on the application and the Lease is governed by Section 7.
20. Background Reports
In addition to the Broker pulling Applicants’ credit reports, the Broker will also pull background reports, including but not limited to, nationwide criminal history reports, on all Applicants and on all occupants age 19 and older. Occupants 19+ years old who are not Applicants will be required to sign a consent form and pay a $30 fee.
Criminal history is evaluated on convictions only. The Broker does not consider, and does not base any decision on: an arrest, charge, or case that did not result in a conviction, including a charge that is pending, dismissed, or otherwise unresolved; an entry in the background report that does not show a conviction and its date; a sealed or expunged record; a juvenile adjudication; a traffic offense; a conviction for an offense not listed in this Section; or a conviction older than the review period stated for it below.
An Applicant or occupant who is currently required to register as a sex offender under the law of any state is declined. This is a present-status criterion; no review period applies.
An Applicant or occupant with a conviction listed below is declined if the conviction falls within its review period. The review period is measured from the date of conviction or the date of release from incarceration for that conviction, whichever is later, to the application date. Offense names include the equivalent offense under the law of any other jurisdiction, and whether an offense is a felony or a misdemeanor is determined by the classification of the convicting jurisdiction.
| Conviction | Review period |
|---|---|
| Felony conviction for murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, human trafficking, arson, or sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a child, or any other sexual offense | 10 years |
| Felony conviction for assault, robbery, burglary, stalking, domestic violence, an offense involving the use, threatened use, or unlawful possession of a firearm or other deadly weapon, the manufacture, distribution, or trafficking of a controlled substance, theft, fraud, forgery, identity theft, or criminal mischief | 7 years |
| Misdemeanor conviction for assault, domestic violence, stalking, harassment, theft, criminal mischief, or the distribution of a controlled substance | 3 years |
Simple possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence, and every offense not listed above are not considered. The Broker does not evaluate the circumstances of an offense, rehabilitation, or references; the criteria in this Section are applied to every Applicant and occupant in the same way.
An application declined under this Section receives an Adverse Action Notice that states the offense, the conviction or release date the Broker relied on, the review period it falls within, and the name and contact information of the consumer reporting agency that supplied the report. An Applicant who believes a reported record is inaccurate or belongs to someone else disputes it with that consumer reporting agency as the notice explains; see Section 6.
21. Corporate Leases and Business Entities
Dean & Associates Inc does not offer residential Lease agreements to Corporations, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), Partnerships, Trusts, Estates, or any other legal entity or organization. The named Tenant (or Tenants) on every Lease must be a natural person who will be a primary Occupant of the residence, and every application must be submitted in that natural person’s name. An application that lists any entity, rather than a natural-person Occupant, as the prospective Tenant will not be processed. This standard is applied to every application in the same way.
22. New or Recently Started Employment
Employment or self-employment an Applicant has accepted but not yet started, or that began within the most recent 90 days, is New Employment.
New Employment is counted only as described in this Section. Self-employment that is New Employment is not counted; Section 2 requires Schedule C income on transcript for two filed tax years. W-2 New Employment is counted when the Applicant provides all of the following through the Income Documents form: (1) the new employer’s written offer or employment agreement on the employer’s letterhead, stating the position, base pay rate, pay frequency, and start date, and stating that the offer is not contingent or that every contingency has been satisfied; (2) every pay stub from the Applicant’s prior employer covering the 90 days ending on the Applicant’s final pay date there, meeting the pay-stub requirements in Section 14; and (3) if the new employment has started, every pay stub received from it. The end of the last pay period shown on the prior employer’s final pay stub must be no more than 60 days before the new employment’s start date, and the start date must be no later than 30 days after the lease start date. The 35-day recency requirement in Section 14 does not apply to the prior employer’s pay stubs; the 60-day gap limit applies instead.
Qualifying gross monthly income from New Employment is the lower of (a) the base pay stated in the offer, annualized by its stated pay frequency and divided by twelve, and (b) the Applicant’s base pay at the prior employer, calculated under the pay-stub formula in Section 14 from the prior employer’s pay stubs. Overtime, bonuses, commissions, and tips are not counted for New Employment. The Broker sends the Employment Verification Letter to the new employer, which confirms or corrects the position, start date, base pay rate, pay frequency, and that the offer is not contingent; if the employer confirms a lower base pay, that figure is used in place of (a). The application is not complete until the new employer responds.
New Employment that does not meet every requirement above is not counted and cannot be replaced by any other statement of future income. Every Applicant must meet the published requirements on counted, verified income; an Applicant who meets them is approved on that income, and an Applicant who does not is declined.
23. Identity and Document Verification
Every Applicant’s identity is verified through a third-party identity verification service, and every income document the Applicant uploads through the Broker’s Income Documents form is screened for alteration by the Broker’s third-party document verification service and reviewed by the Broker under Section 14. The Broker does not accept or review documents outside those processes.
An application will be declined, or held as incomplete pending additional verification, when any of the following is present:
- an initial, extended, or active-duty fraud alert on the credit report (the Broker will confirm the Applicant’s identity, by the contact method on the alert where one is provided, before proceeding);
- a Social Security Number reported as assigned to a deceased person or as not matching the Applicant;
- a driver’s license or other government identification that cannot be validated, appears altered, or does not reasonably match the person presenting it;
- pay stubs, bank statements, or other documents that appear fabricated or altered, or that are inconsistent with the application, the credit report, or each other;
- an address history that is inconsistent, unverifiable, or flagged as a discrepancy by the credit reporting agency;
- material inconsistencies between the application, the income documents, and the credit or background report.
Where the Broker requests additional verification, the Applicant must respond within the time stated in the request; an application without a timely response is deemed incomplete. Where identity cannot be verified, the application is declined and an Adverse Action Notice is issued. The Broker may report suspected identity fraud to law enforcement. The Broker retains the application and the verification and consumer reports on which its decision was based, as it does for every application.
24. Reasonable Accommodations
Dean & Associates Inc complies with the federal Fair Housing Act and the Alabama Fair Housing Law. A person with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation — a change to a rule, policy, practice, or service, or help with access — at any point in the leasing process when the change is necessary because of the disability. Examples include completing the application with staff assistance; additional time or an alternative way to provide the documents required by Sections 2, 14, 22, and 23; a different way to view a home under Section 1; an assistance animal; a live-in aide who will not be a Tenant; or another exception to a requirement on this page that is needed because of a disability.
Requests may be made in any manner — through the Broker’s accommodation request form, by email, by phone, or in person — and there is no charge. The Broker considers each request individually, responds within five business days, and discusses alternatives with the requester if the request cannot be granted as made. When the disability or the need for the accommodation is not obvious or already known, the Broker may ask for reliable information that confirms the disability and explains how the requested accommodation relates to it; a diagnosis, medical records, and any particular form are not required. A request for an accommodation is never counted against an Applicant. Requests for exceptions that are not related to a disability are handled through the Policy Exception Request Form and are not accommodations. Requests for an assistance animal are reviewed through the free accommodation profile at PetScreening.com, as described in the Pet Policy.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
The information contained above is not set forth as Legal Advice. The Broker is not an Attorney. None of the Broker’s Agents are Attorneys. The Broker or his Agents do not provide legal services or legal advice. If you have questions about your rights and responsibilities as a Rental Customer, Applicant, or Tenant, please consult with an Attorney.