Most rental applications look pretty good on paper. Steady income, decent credit, no obvious red flags. And that’s exactly the problem.
A lot of landlords get to that point and figure they’ve done enough due diligence. They approve the applicant, hand over the keys, and then spend the next six months wondering why rent is always late or why the property looks like that.
We’ve been managing rental properties in Oklahoma City for 16 years. We oversee 405 units across the metro and sit at a 2.0% vacancy rate, which means roughly eight units empty at any given time. One of the biggest reasons that number stays that low is what happens before a lease ever gets signed. Specifically, what we find out by actually calling previous landlords.
This post is for property owners who want to screen tenants properly, not just technically. You’ll walk away knowing what to ask, what to watch for, and why skipping one phone call can cost you $3,500 or more.
“You’ll walk away knowing what to ask, what to watch for, and why skipping one phone call can cost you $3,500 or more.”
In This Guide
Why Credit Reports Miss the Part That Matters Most
A credit score tells you how someone manages debt. It does not tell you if they left their last place trashed, owed a landlord two months of rent, or got quietly asked to leave before things escalated to a formal eviction.
We’ve seen this play out directly. One owner in the Edmond market had an applicant with a strong credit score and skipped the landlord reference call because, honestly, the numbers looked great. The tenant paid on time for three months, then started a pattern of late payments that, it turned out, was exactly what the previous landlord would have described. Credit bureaus don’t capture most eviction-adjacent behavior. Courts don’t either, unless the landlord filed.
The phone call is the only place you’ll ever hear “I would never rent to this person again.” That sentence alone is worth more than any score.
Get the Contact Information, Then Verify It
This one surprises a lot of first-time landlords, but it’s non-negotiable. Do not call the number the applicant gave you and assume you’re talking to an actual landlord.
We caught a fraud in the Norman area a few years back where an applicant had listed a friend’s phone number as the “previous landlord.” The friend played the part, gave a glowing reference, and the placement would have gone through. Our team cross-referenced the contact information against county property tax records to confirm the actual property owner before making the call. The real owner told a very different story.
This takes about five minutes. Oklahoma has public property ownership data by address, and you can pull it quickly. A name that doesn’t match is a reason to pause. Always verify before you dial.
What to Actually Ask When You Call
Most landlord reference calls take five to ten minutes. Here’s roughly how we approach them. Start with basics: did this person rent from you, and for how long? Did they pay on time, consistently? How did they leave the property? Would you rent to them again?
That last question is the one that matters most. A lot of landlords will hedge on the details but go quiet when you ask if they’d rent to the same person again. That pause tells you something.
Under Oklahoma landlord-tenant law (Title 41 of the Oklahoma Statutes), previous landlords have no legal obligation to respond to written reference requests. Phone calls work better, and candid responses are far more common off the record. Email threads create documentation people get nervous about. A phone conversation does not.
Call the Second-to-Last Landlord Too
Here’s the part most screening guides skip entirely. Calling only the most recent landlord is one of the most common shortcuts we see, and it’s a real problem.
The most recent landlord might be a motivated seller. They might have a difficult tenant they desperately want out of the property and will say anything to help that tenant get approved somewhere else. We’ve seen it. Reaching back one more landlord, the one before the most recent, gives you a pattern instead of a single data point.
In Norman and Edmond especially, tenant pools include a lot of frequent movers. Someone who’s lived in three or four places in under six years has that many landlords on file. Contacting all of them, not just the most recent, is where the real picture forms.
What to Do When There’s No Rental History at All
The OKC metro has seen a significant wave of new construction rental inventory over the past few years. Hallmark manages a large volume of new construction single-family homes, and some applicants showing up for those properties have never rented before. They own, or they lived with family, or they’re relocating from out of state.
In those cases, landlord references don’t exist. So you shift the verification elsewhere. Employment verification gets more weight. Bank statements. Credit history across a longer window. References from employers or professional contacts. We also pull TransUnion rental history data through AppFolio, which surfaces any prior landlord reporting that made it into the system. The catch is that a lot of OKC landlords, especially independent owners, never formally report tenant behavior, so those records only go so far. Direct contact fills the gaps that software can’t.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
We track this closely because the math matters. At Hallmark-managed properties, average rent runs about $1,750 a month. A bad tenant placement, factoring in vacancy, eviction costs, and make-ready work, typically runs $3,500 to $5,250. That’s two to three months of rent gone before a better tenant ever moves in.
Oklahoma’s eviction timeline runs 30 to 60-plus days after filing, once you account for the five day notice to quit Oklahoma requires, court scheduling, and the actual removal. And that’s in a landlord-friendly state. Legal fees alone often run $1,500 to $3,500. Most evictions start with a tenant whose rental history was never properly verified.
One of our owners, Patty, came to us as a first-time landlord. She had already started evaluating an applicant before we were fully onboarded, and was close to signing a lease. Our team ran the landlord check. The prior landlord revealed the tenant had left owing two months’ rent and caused $900 in carpet damage that was never formally documented. It never showed on the credit report. Patty didn’t rent to that person.
Pet Screening Is Part of the History Check Too
If an applicant has pets, rental history verification gets a second layer. We ask previous landlords specifically about pet behavior and any damage. Unscreened animals routinely cause $800 to $2,000 or more in repairs. Our standard is a $500 non-refundable pet fee that goes directly to the owner, and every pet goes through our screening process before approval.
Dru, our leasing agent, walks applicants through this early so there are no surprises at lease signing. Owners appreciate knowing the pet side is handled the same way as the tenant side.
Document Everything Before You Decide
Whatever you find on a reference call, write it down. Note the date, who you spoke with, what they said, and how they answered the final question about whether they’d rent again. If an application is denied based on rental history, that documentation protects you.
Oklahoma small claims court handles landlord-tenant disputes up to $10,000. Bad tenants know that threshold, and owners who lack paper trails lose cases they should have won. Our team uses Property Meld and AppFolio to track everything across the application and maintenance lifecycle, but even a simple dated note file works if you’re managing on your own.
When This Starts to Feel Like a Part-Time Job
We started Hallmark because we were growing our own rental portfolio and reached the point where we had to either hand it off to another company or start one ourselves and keep control over how things were done. The screening process was one of the first things we built around our own standards, because we’d seen what happened when it got cut short.
If you’re managing one or two properties and find this process genuinely difficult to stay on top of, that’s not a personal failure. It’s just a volume and systems problem. We’re happy to talk through what that looks like.
FAQ
How do I verify that a previous landlord contact is legitimate?
Cross-reference the phone number or email the applicant provides against public property tax records for the address they listed. In Oklahoma, county assessor databases are publicly searchable by address and will show the actual owner of record. If the name doesn’t match the contact the applicant gave you, dig deeper before making the call.
What if a previous landlord refuses to answer my reference questions?
It happens. Under the Oklahoma landlord-tenant act, prior landlords have no obligation to respond. If someone won’t engage at all, note it and weigh it alongside everything else you know. A brief call with no information is different from a landlord who seems eager to get off the phone the moment you ask if they’d rent to the person again.
Can a tenant take action against me for denying their application based on rental history?
Yes, if the denial involves a protected class under fair housing law. Rental history checks themselves are legally permissible when applied consistently to every applicant. The key is having a documented, uniform process, and applying it the same way regardless of who is applying.
Does a background check replace calling previous landlords?
No. Background checks catch criminal records and some court filings. They miss quiet evictions, informal move-out agreements, unpaid balances a prior landlord didn’t pursue, and property damage settled outside of court. The phone call surfaces information that no report will ever show.
How far back should I go when checking rental history?
We recommend contacting at least the two most recent landlords. If someone has moved frequently, reaching back further is worth the extra ten minutes. Patterns across multiple tenancies are far more predictive than any single reference.
What if an applicant has never rented before and has no landlord references?
Shift the verification to other sources. Employment history, bank statements, credit trends over time, and professional references all fill part of the gap. Be more thorough on the income side, and consider a larger security deposit where it’s legally permitted, to offset the uncertainty.