You’ve got an application sitting in front of you. The credit score looks decent. The income checks out. And the applicant seems totally normal on paper.
So you’re tempted to approve them and move on.
Don’t.
Rental history verification is where the real story lives, and it’s also where a lot of self-managing landlords either rush the process or skip it entirely. If you want a full picture of how to vet applicants, understanding your complete tenant screening process is the right place to start. But this post is going to focus specifically on what it takes to check rental history the right way — how to contact previous landlords, what questions to ask, and where the process breaks down for most owners.
We manage around 450 properties across Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. We’ve screened a lot of applicants. And the stories we hear from owners who came to us after a bad experience almost always trace back to one thing: they didn’t dig far enough into the rental history before handing over the keys.
In This Guide
Why Rental History Is the Part Landlords Underestimate
Credit tells you how someone handles debt. Income verification tells you if they can technically afford the rent. But neither of those tells you what it’s like to actually have this person as a tenant.
Rental history does.
A prior landlord can tell you whether rent showed up on time every month, whether there were unauthorized pets, whether the unit was trashed on move-out, or whether the tenant filed a nuisance complaint every other week. No credit algorithm captures any of that.
We’ve talked to owners who skipped the rental history call entirely, figured the numbers looked fine, and ended up in eviction court within six months. In Utah, the eviction process can move quickly—initial notices under Utah Code § 78B-6-802 are as short as three days for nonpayment or lease violations, and the entire process from first notice to lockout often takes far less than 30 days, though contested cases may extend the timeline. On an average $1,800/month unit, that’s $2,700 to $5,400 in lost rent during the process alone. Before the cleaning crew even shows up.
The $30 to $60 you spend on a screening report is nothing compared to that.
“The $30 to $60 you spend on a screening report is nothing compared to that.”
Start by Verifying the Reference Is Actually a Landlord
This is the step most owners skip, and it’s the most important one.
An applicant gives you a previous address and a phone number. You call it. Someone answers, says nice things, and you move on. But did you ever confirm that person actually owns or manages that property?
One owner we work with now had accepted a tenant based on a glowing verbal reference — only to find out later the reference was the applicant’s friend posing as a landlord. That tenant left owing $4,200 in back rent and caused roughly $6,800 in property damage. By the time eviction was finalized, the owner was looking at a real mess.
Cross-referencing a landlord’s name against county property records takes about five minutes. You look up the address on the Salt Lake County Assessor’s website, confirm who owns it, and check that name against the person who answered your call. Bernadine, our leasing agent, does this as a standard step before any reference conversation even begins. It’s caught fabricated references more than once.
If an applicant lists a real property management company as a previous landlord, call the company’s publicly listed number — not the number the applicant gave you. We’ve seen cases where applicants used a real company’s name and phone number to create a fake reference. AppFolio‘s screening integration caught a prior eviction filing in one of those cases that the fake reference was specifically designed to hide.
Which Landlord to Call (and Why the Current One Isn’t Always the Most Useful)
Here’s a take that surprises some owners: the most recent landlord reference is often the least reliable one.
Think about it. If a landlord has a problem tenant they’re desperate to get rid of, what’s the easiest way to make that happen? Give them a glowing reference so someone else takes them. A landlord who still has a difficult tenant in the unit has every incentive to say whatever it takes to get that tenant approved somewhere else.
The landlord *before* the current one is often more candid. They have nothing to gain by shading the truth in either direction.
We had an owner with a condo unit who skipped calling the second-to-last landlord and only verified the most recent one. The recent landlord said everything was fine. But the landlord before that would have revealed a pattern of unauthorized pets and a $2,300 carpet replacement charge. The new tenant repeated the same behavior. The owner ended up out $2,100 after applying the security deposit.
When you can, call two landlords back. It takes maybe 20 extra minutes. It’s worth it.
The Questions That Actually Tell You Something
Most owners who bother to call a reference ask some version of “Was this a good tenant?” And almost every landlord says yes, because few will openly badmouth a former tenant over the phone.
The questions that reveal something are behavioral and specific:
- “Would you rent to this person again, and why?” The hesitation before that “why” tells you more than the yes or no.
- “How did they handle maintenance requests?” Did they report issues promptly, or let small problems sit until they became expensive ones?
- “Did you have to initiate any formal notices during their tenancy?” A pay-or-quit notice is a fact, not an opinion.
- “How was the unit returned at move-out?” Ask for specifics — cleaning condition, damage beyond normal wear, timeline.
- “Did they give proper notice before leaving?” Early departures and no-notice move-outs are a pattern worth knowing about.
Silence, vague positivity, or a very short call are all signals. A landlord who genuinely liked a tenant usually has something specific to say about them.
One thing to know for Utah Fair Housing compliance: keep these calls focused on tenancy performance. Don’t drift into questions about family situation, religion, or national origin — even in casual conversation. The questions above stay safely in the lane of how someone performed as a renter.
Using Public Records to Fill the Gaps
Not every previous landlord is reachable. Some applicants have moved here from out of state — we see a lot of this locally, given how many tech, healthcare, and ski-industry workers have relocated to Salt Lake City from California, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest. When a previous landlord is in a different time zone or jurisdiction, getting them on the phone takes extra effort.
That’s where public records come in.
Utah Courts’ XChange system lets you search prior eviction filings by name at most district courthouses for free, though remote online access requires a paid subscription. It’s a step a lot of self-managing landlords don’t know about. We run it alongside third-party screening tools integrated into AppFolio.
For out-of-state applicants, check the equivalent court record system in their previous state. Most have some version of it. An eviction filing from three years ago in Arizona doesn’t disappear just because someone moved to Utah.
A screening report covers credit, background, and eviction history. But CORIS and county property record cross-checks catch things that paid reports sometimes miss. Use both.
What to Do When the Numbers Don’t Add Up
Sometimes the reference call goes fine but something still feels off. The landlord was a little too enthusiastic. The dates on the application don’t quite line up with what the landlord described. Or the applicant listed a property management company that, when you call, has no record of them.
Trust that instinct and keep verifying.
We’ve been doing this for 16 years. One of the things our team discusses in weekly huddles is exactly this — what felt off about a reference, how to follow up, how to document the decision either way. Kaeden and Will, our property managers, regularly flag applications where the rental history has any gap longer than 30 days without a clear explanation. A gap can mean anything from a stint staying with family to a period the applicant is trying to hide.
Ask for it in writing when possible. Many landlords will send a short email confirming tenancy dates and whether they’d rent again. That’s documentation you can keep in the file.
How Security Deposits Fit Into This Conversation
A lot of owners treat security deposits as their safety net if screening goes wrong. And sure, there’s some protection there. In Utah, a typical deposit runs one to two months’ rent, which on an average unit around here lands somewhere between $1,800 and $3,600.
But that number disappears fast when you’re looking at serious property damage. We managed an owner’s portfolio where a poorly screened tenant left behind damage that totaled well over $10,000 — the deposit covered maybe a third of it. The rest went to small claims court, which in Utah caps out at $11,000. Getting a judgment is one thing. Collecting it is another.
Good rental history verification is the thing that keeps you out of that situation in the first place.
When to Bring in Professional Screening
Self-managing landlords in Salt Lake City face a real tension: the vacancy rate locally has hovered in the 4 to 6% range, which means demand is high and the pressure to fill units fast is real. That pressure is where shortcuts happen.
One of our clients put it plainly after switching to Rhino: the onboarding process was clear and organized, and the communication gave them confidence that someone was actually paying attention to the details — not just rushing to get a lease signed.
Professional property management doesn’t just mean someone else handles calls. It means a structured screening process with verified steps, software integration, and experienced leasing staff who have called enough references to recognize when something sounds rehearsed.
Across our 450-property portfolio, rental history verification has flagged problematic applicants before a single lease was signed — preventing what could have been tens of thousands in damage costs across the portfolio.
If checking rental history feels like guesswork right now, we’re open to a conversation about how we handle it.
FAQ
How do I verify that a previous landlord reference is legitimate?
Look up the rental property address on your county assessor’s website and confirm the owner of record. Then compare that name to the person who answered your reference call. If an applicant listed a property management company, call the company’s publicly listed number, not the one the applicant provided.
What questions should I ask a previous landlord?
Ask whether they would rent to this person again and why, how the tenant handled maintenance requests, whether any formal notices were issued during the tenancy, and what condition the unit was in at move-out. Specific behavioral questions get you much further than “Were they a good tenant?”
Can I search for prior evictions in Utah without paying for a report?
Yes. Utah Courts’ CORIS system lets you search court records by name for free and will show prior eviction filings. It’s worth running alongside any paid screening report, not instead of one.
How far back should I check rental history?
Two landlords back is a reasonable minimum. The second-to-last landlord often has less motivation to shade the reference in either direction, which can make their feedback more candid than the most recent one.
Is it legal to ask previous landlords anything I want?
No. Fair Housing rules — federal and potentially state — apply broadly to housing transactions, including tenant screening practices. Keep questions in any landlord reference call focused on tenancy performance: rent payment history, property condition, lease compliance, and notice given at move-out. Avoid anything that could touch on protected classes such as familial status, religion, or national origin.
What if an applicant has no local rental history?
This is common in Salt Lake City given how many people relocate here from other states. Call out-of-state landlords directly, search the equivalent court record system in that state, and consider asking the applicant to provide written confirmation of prior tenancy from previous landlords via email.
