Leasing Desk Tenant Screening Errors? How to Dispute and Win

Applying for a new apartment or rental home is stressful enough without major background screening errors confusing things. Unfortunately, if your landlord uses LeasingDesk, you may encounter one or more tenant screening errors, which could result in you missing out on housing opportunities.

If this has happened to you, read on. We’ll break down how to dispute LeasingDesk tenant screening errors and why Fair Credit can assist.

What is LeasingDesk?

LeasingDesk is a subsidiary company of RealPage, Inc. RealPage is based in Texas and was founded in 1998, offering tenant background screening services to many property owners and managers. As the company expanded, it opened up a subsidiary branch called LeasingDesk, which now handles the majority of its tenant screening services.

At the time of this writing, LeasingDesk is one of the most popular providers, along with Experian's RentBureau, of software and data analytics information to the real estate industry. It offers an advanced, comprehensive resident screening software platform that gives property owners the tools they need to make sure they only accept the best tenants for their available properties. It serves approximately 12,500 clients worldwide across several continents.

LeasingDesk’s tenant screening checks provide lots of services and information, including checks for criminal records, rental payment consistency, rental credit, and identity verification.

What Are LeasingDesk Tenant Screening Errors?

LeasingDesk tenant screening errors are any mistakes that this organization can make when compiling background info for a prospective tenant.

For example, LeasingDesk might accidentally transpose a letter or number when looking at your records, such as one of the digits in your Social Security number. As a result, it confuses your background information with someone else's, resulting in it displaying personal records that don’t apply to you and your residential history report.

Alternatively, LeasingDesk might present inaccurate information to a landlord before you are approved for a new apartment. For instance, LeasingDesk might say that you have several evictions in your history. You know this is the case if, when you look at your rental history report, you discover that there are indeed several inaccurate line items noting previous evictions in the past.

Other LeasingDesk tenant screening errors involve bits of outdated information. As an example, LeasingDesk may list a bankruptcy that you filed for 20 years ago as more recent. Therefore, prospective landlords think that you aren’t as financially responsible now as you truly are.

All of these errors can have drastic, negative consequences for your apartment search, job hunt, and lending opportunities in the future. 

Effects of LeasingDesk Tenant Screening Errors

The effects of any LeasingDesk tenant screening error are always negative. Depending on how drastically the error is, it can even compromise your chances of acquiring housing.

Say that you apply to a new apartment that’s within your price range and that has excellent amenities. You meet the landlord and everything seems to go perfectly well. You submit to a background check, only to hear back from the landlord that they have decided not to offer you the apartment. According to laws outlined under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the landlord has to give you an adverse action letter explaining this.

When you look at the adverse action letter, you uncover major errors in your background history or eviction records. This undoubtedly caused you to miss out on the apartment. But when you check with your landlord again, you discover they've already offered the apartment to someone else. This is just one example of how even a single tenant screening error can completely derail your housing search.

How to Dispute LeasingDesk Tenant Screening Errors

Disputing LeasingDesk tenant screening errors can be a long and involved process. That’s why your first step should be to contact knowledgeable attorneys who know exactly what to do and how to help.

Contact Knowledgeable Attorneys

The right boutique law firm, like Fair Credit, can provide you with a wide range of assistance as you dispute LeasingDesk tenant screening errors. 

• For example, we can help you gather evidence to show that LeasingDesk made a mistake in some area of your tenant screening report
• Alternatively, we can negotiate with LeasingDesk or a prospective apartment landlord on your behalf. This is especially invaluable if the stress of the situation is a little too much to bear
• We can also help you understand your full legal options, such as filing a lawsuit against LeasingDesk if it refuses to take your dispute seriously

Look Over Your Tenant Screening Report

Once you contact the right attorneys, take a long look over your tenant screening report. You not only need to record the inaccurate information for your upcoming dispute letter, but you also need to check for other inaccurate info.

If LeasingDesk made one mistake already, the odds are good that it made a mistake somewhere else. Be sure to check every major element of your tenant screening report, including your employer history, your criminal records (if applicable), your credit history, etc.

File a Dispute

It’s time to take the matter to LeasingDesk itself. LeasingDesk must allow all consumers to file disputes with it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You can file a dispute against LeasingDesk online or by physical mail.

In either case, you need to provide:

• Your claim that LeasingDesk made a mistake in some areas of your tenant screening report
• Evidence or proof that the information is inaccurate
• A request that LeasingDesk fix the erroneous information quickly

Once LeasingDesk receives your dispute letter, it has 30 days to look into the matter and fix erroneous info. If it locates any out-of-date or inaccurate information, LeasingDesk is likely to fix the mistakes and inform your landlord quickly.

Your attorneys can advise you on this point and ensure that your dispute letter is ready to go. That's highly advantageous, as any issues with your dispute letter could result in a delay in your resolution. LeasingDesk does have the right to pause the 30-day timeline if it requests additional information or clarification from you.

Consider a Lawsuit (if Needed)

However, if LeasingDesk doesn’t listen to your dispute request, or if it locates the erroneous information but refuses to correct it, it is in violation of your FCRA rights. As a result, you could sue them and recover up to $1000 or more in damages.

A lawsuit can take a lot of time, however. Therefore, you should speak to your attorneys about the best legal path going forward. Depending on the circumstances of your case, arbitration or some other route to legal resolution might be ideal.

Fortunately, when you work with Fair Credit, you don't need to worry about expensive fees, even if your legal efforts extend over several months. At Fair Credit, we don't charge you just to exercise your rights; we instead operate on a contingency fee basis.

When you hire us, we only take a commission of any money we earn for you through a lawsuit or other legal action. If we don’t recover any money for you, you don’t owe us anything. Take this as a sign to contact us if you’ve encountered one or more LeasingDesk tenant screening errors – you deserve representation without having to worry about finances.

Contact Fair Credit Today

Fair Credit is well-equipped and ready to assist with your LeasingDesk tenant screening dispute. Whether you need help filing an initial dispute letter or suing this rental history background agency, we can assist by gathering evidence, negotiating on your behalf, and much more. Contact us today to get started.