Tenant or Rental screening reports are used by many landlords. These reports usually fall within the definition of a report covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act which gives consumers tenants significant rights. Inaccurate reports can wrongly keep a consumer from getting a rental place to live. When these tenant or rental screening reports are inaccurate, consumer tenants may have claims against the screening company that sold the inaccurate reports to the prospective landlords. In a case filed in the United States District Court for Southern District of New York by Debra Massey against On-site Manager, Inc., the court approved a class action settlement against On-site Manager, Inc., for the payment of funds to class members across the country on this basis.
Debra Massey claimed that On-site Manager sold tenant screening reports to prospective landlords and included inaccurate or outdated information such as civil actions filed against consumers that never resulted in a judgment and that were more than 7 years old. This is a practice that is prohibited by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
For more information on the use of consumer reports such as a tenant screening report in the rental of consumer properties, you can visit our website pages on consumer credit reports at http://www.celcwi.com/help_inaccurate_credit_reports.html.
By Gordon Leech 10/29/2012