Calling a Rental Applicant's Previous Landlords: What to Ask and What to Listen For

An application can look great on paper — steady income, a clean background check, a friendly conversation at the showing — and still leave you with one of the most useful questions unanswered: what was this person actually like to rent to? That's what a call to a previous landlord is for, and it's a step that's easy to skip when an application already looks strong, even though it's often the piece that tells you the most.

Decide Which Landlords to Call

Where possible, try to speak with both the applicant's current landlord and at least one before that. A current landlord can tell you how things are going right now, including whether notice has already been given or there's an active dispute. A previous landlord — someone who no longer has a relationship to protect or a reason to simply get rid of a difficult tenant by giving them a glowing reference — often gives you a more candid picture. If an applicant only lists one contact, or you can't reach anyone past the current landlord, that's worth noting rather than ignoring.

Ask Questions That Actually Reveal Something

Generic questions get generic answers. Instead of just asking "were they a good tenant," ask specific, open-ended things: how rent payments actually went month to month, whether there were any lease violations or complaints from neighbors, the condition the unit was left in, and whether they'd rent to this person again given the chance. That last question in particular tends to prompt a more honest answer than anything else, since people are often more comfortable implying hesitation than stating a direct complaint.

Listen for What's Not Being Said

Sometimes the most telling part of a reference call isn't the words, it's the pauses. A long hesitation before "yeah, they were... fine" tells you something different than an immediate, enthusiastic yes. Keep your questions consistent across every applicant you screen for a given unit, both so you're comparing like with like and so your process stays fair and defensible if you're ever asked how you made a screening decision.

Write It Down the Same Day

Reference calls are easy to remember vividly right after you hang up and easy to blur together a week later once you've talked to several applicants for the same unit. Jotting down what was said while it's fresh, and attaching those notes to that applicant's record, means you're working from an accurate account rather than a fuzzy impression when it comes time to decide. Easy Rent Tracker's tenant and lease notes give you a place to keep that kind of detail attached to the right person, which is especially useful if you're comparing multiple applicants for the same opening.

Stay Consistent and Keep Fair Housing in Mind

Whatever questions you ask one applicant's references, ask the same questions of every applicant's references for that unit. Consistency isn't just good practice — it protects you if a screening decision is ever questioned, and it keeps your process centered on rental history and reliability rather than anything unrelated to those factors, which matters for staying on the right side of fair housing rules. Since these calls often happen between showings or while you're out and about rather than sitting at a desk, having mobile access to an applicant's file — the kind Easy Rent Tracker's mobile apps give you — means you can pull up what you already know and add your notes right after the call instead of trying to remember it until you're back home.

When a Reference Doesn't Line Up With the Application

Occasionally what a previous landlord tells you doesn't match what the applicant said, or doesn't match what their credit and income documentation suggested. That's not automatically disqualifying, but it is worth asking the applicant about directly rather than quietly deciding based on one side of the story. A calm, specific question — "your previous landlord mentioned a few late payments, can you tell me about that?" — often clears things up and gives you a fuller picture either way.

Reference calls take a little extra time up front, but they're one of the better ways to avoid a tenant relationship that looked fine on paper and wasn't in practice. If you're looking for a straightforward way to keep applicant notes, leases, and tenant records organized in one place, Easy Rent Tracker's pricing page outlines what's available at each plan level.