Common Misconceptions About Rent Verifications
Feb 14, 2025
What are some common misconceptions about rent verifications (aka landlord reference checks) in the multifamily industry?
❌ “Landlord’s don’t respond to those requests anymore.”
While that’s a commonplace assumption in the industry, Trigo has tens of thousands of data points to prove this is a fallacy. The truth is, property managers just don’t have the time or resources to get them done manually. Without technology, they are set up to fail.
❌ “Landlords always lie on reference checks.”
Trigo has thousands of red flag verifications that were reported by institutional and “mom & pop” landlords, alike. That data couldn’t be collected if landlords aren’t truthful. Additionally, institutional landlords know there are legal ramifications for misrepresenting a resident’s performance. Policies strictly dictate that, if the resident has provided written consent, the company is required to furnish the information swiftly and accurately.
❌ “Applicants don’t disclose addresses where they didn’t pay rent.”
A few things to consider:
They don’t have to! Trigo has access to data sources that pull an applicant’s address history independent of the application itself.
Most applicants assume the landlord is already aware of their rent history from the credit report. However, the applicant is unaware that landlords rarely, if ever, report rental data to the bureaus. As a result, rent data is a massive blind spot for the credit bureaus. This comes as a surprise to most consumers.
While the applicant always provides consent for a rent verification, they often don’t connect the dot that the address they self-report, write on the application, or submit on their driver's license is the same address the landlord is utilizing for a reference.
❌ “We know AI is the future, but it can’t help us yet.”
AI can improve your job today, and in ways you may not even be aware of yet. Trigo is applying AI to reimagine what’s possible for data retrieval, specifically for rent data. Beyond that use case, there are thousands of other personal and business applications that are already made possible by AI but not generally accessible to the public “off-the-shelf” without technical support.
