Cook County, IL landlords are under a lot of stress dealing with recent legislation that requires changes to the traditional background screening process. Rent Perfect has your back with a new "two phase" screening process to help keep you Cook County Compliant. The first phase starts with an online application and credit order by the applicant. The second phase includes the criminal and eviction background of the applicant. Rent Perfect's system makes it easy to share your rental criteria, give applicants access to their reports, and super easy to send adverse action denial letters.
Before sending an application invite make sure to visit the following three menus in your account to set up the Cook County Process. Watch the video below to learn more. Contact Heather Johnson, heather@rentperfect.com for assistance with the Cook County Compliance process.
- Scroll down to the section for "Special Screening Requirements."
- Answer "YES" when asked if the property is in a government jurisdiction that requires a credit approval prior to requesting a criminal background check.
- Check the box to enable TWO STEP SCREENING.
- Edit your criteria settings to only go back 3 years for records. (Rent Perfect will only report back 3 years per Cook County rules.)
- Check the option in your Rental Criteria settings to send your criteria with the application invite.
- Under Requirements uncheck the option "Ask for 7 years of Criminal history."
- Cook County prohibits asking about criminal history; unchecking this option will remove the standard criminal question from your online application.
Watch the Video to learn how to adjust these settings in your account. Contact heather@rentperfect.com for one on one assistance.