This new law to help renters save money isn't working
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A new law designed to save renters money on housing applications is not working — and in fact, may cost them more.
How it works: The law allows renters to buy their own background checks and submit them to landlords as part of their rental applications. This way, prospective tenants can avoid paying $50 or more for every application they submit.
- It was part of a package of bills Democratic lawmakers pushed to ease cost of living burdens.
Yes, but: As great as it sounds, it doesn't work in practice, CPR reports. It's difficult to find a commercially available background check that meets all requirements, and the ones that exist are so costly that landlords say only a few renters are doing so.
What they found: The whole process proved to be a headache for those few. Matthew Lundy in Lafayette told CPR he found tenant screening services for landlords, but couldn't be sure they would meet the requirements. If they don't, the landlord can reject them and charge for their own background.
- The new law requires verification of employment and income, rental and credit history in jurisdictions where you have lived and a criminal record check for all federal, state and local convictions.
- For one, an employment verification report can cost extra. And searching across jurisdictions can rack up repeated charges that far exceed the typical background check fee.
- The law also requires that landlords be able to get their own copy, which many services don't easily offer.
What they're saying: "It's so crazy. These laws get passed, and then you look at them. If you're the screening provider, this doesn't make any sense," Apartment Association of America's marketing director Alexandra Alvarado told CPR.
- "Nobody's prepared for this, there's no screening company that I've ever heard of that has all of this already built out."
Friction point: Another pitfall of the new law: Landlords don't like it. Lundy told CPR that when he applied to a handful of landlords and mentioned the portable background check, they stopped communicating with him. "I got ghosted," he said.
The bottom line: State Rep. Stephanie Vigil (D-Colorado Springs) acknowledged the new measure isn't working as hoped.
- "I have kind of assumed, since we passed it, that there's going to be kind of an adjustment period. We might have to go back and tweak something later if it needs it," she told CPR.