RESIDENT ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Relevate Property Guides complies with all federal, state and local laws including fair housing laws which prohibit discrimination based on any protected class under federal, state or local fair housing law or regulations. Relevate Property Guides does not discriminate against persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, familial status, elderliness, handicap, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status or any other protected status. All applicants must meet the following Resident Acceptance Criteria for approval for tenancy:

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

All persons age 18 and older that will occupy the property must complete an application. See AGE category described below for further information. You must also submit an online application through a third-party screening vendor as part of our rental application process, currently petscreening.com, at: https://relevatepropertyguides.petscreening.com/.
All applications must be complete and accurate. Incomplete applications may not be processed. Applications with misleading or unverifiable information may be rejected.
Any misstatements or omissions made on your application, discovered before or after move in, are grounds for denial of an application or termination of an existing lease.
Applicants must show and provide one form of photo ID per applicant. Acceptable forms of ID are driver’s license, government issued ID card, passport or permanent resident alien card.

SCREENING DECISIONS AND EVALUATION CATEGORIES

To be approved, applicants must have an acceptable combination of source of funds and credit. Each of these criteria is input into a scoring matrix to determine a leasing decision based on a score between 1 and 5. Specifically, scores of 4 to 5 are accepted without conditions. Scores between 1 and 3 may be accepted with conditions, which one or more of the following:

a one-time, non-refundable Risk Mitigation Fee of $100 for a score of 3, $150 for a score of 2, and $250 for a score of 1, and
a monthly-recurring, non-refundable Risk Mitigation Fee of $10 for a score of 3, $15 for a score of 2, and $25 for a score of 1,
a security deposit equal to 1.5x monthly rent for a score of 2, and
a co-signor with primary residence in Virginia and a double security deposit for a score of 1.

Screening categories are described in more detail below:

CREDIT - A credit check using TransUnion’s ResidentScore will be performed on all applicants. For a single applicant, a ResidentScore below 580 will be grounds for automatic denial. If two or more applicants apply jointly for a dwelling unit, and more than 50% of the total number of applicants individually have a ResidentScore below 580, it will be grounds for automatic denial. If 50% or less of the total number of applicants individually have a ResidentScore below 580, then the processing of the application will be completed to verify all other rental selection criteria. If any applicant has a ResidentScore below 580 on an approved application, a security deposit equal to two months' monthly rent will be required, notwithstanding any other provision contained herein. The number of judgments or collections accounts that appear on the report will be considered and may be grounds for disapproval. Utility or prior landlord judgments without existing payment plans will be grounds for denial.
SOURCE OF FUNDS – Gross monthly funds from all sources and combined for all applicants must be at least 3 times the amount of monthly rent; monthly funds below this amount may be grounds for automatic denial.
SOURCE OF FUNDS VERIFICATION – Monthly funds must be verifiable and provided in a written form acceptable to Relevate Property Guides, including without limitation pay stubs, military leave and earnings statements, verification of income letter (signed by employer on company letterhead), a letter of benefit assignments or tax statement of the applicant. A signed release from applicant may be necessary to obtain this information. If self-employed, two prior year’s tax returns (all pages) will be required. Additionally, electronic income verifications will be conducted by a third-party screening service using secure access to applicant’s electronic banking data.
LANDLORD REFERENCES - Landlord references from your past two landlords will be required. Any eviction in the last five years from date of application, bankruptcy or foreclosure in the last year from date of application, unsatisfied collection or judgment from prior landlord, consistent record of late payments, or history of previous non-compliances with a rental agreement or rules and regulations may result in denial.
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND - A criminal background check will be performed on all applicants. The following will result in the automatic denial of the applicant:
- Failure to disclose or materially misrepresenting convictions
- Conviction for the illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance
- Required registration on the any Sex Offender registry
If applicant is otherwise qualified, convictions for Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Property and crimes Against Society will be evaluated based upon a schedule of the number of years since conviction for certain categories of felony crimes. If applicant would otherwise be rejected solely for their prior criminal conviction, Relevate Property Guides will first notify applicant prior to rejection. Applicant will have no more than 3 calendar days from this notice to provide any mitigating information applicant would like considered regarding such prior criminal history. Relevate Property Guides shall review any such information prior to making a final determination on acceptance/rejection. If applicant fails to timely provide such mitigating information, the application will be denied.
DISRUPTIVE OR UNRULY BEHAVIOR - Relevate Property Guides reserves the right to refuse rental to anyone who is currently or has a history of being verbally abusive, disrespectful or confrontational. Any history of violence or disruptive behavior towards other residents, staff or visitors will also result in denial of the application. Finally, any current illegal drug use or evidence of alcohol abuse that manifests conduct that poses a threat to the health or safety of other residents will be grounds for rejection.

CO-SIGNERS

All Co-signers must have their primary residence in Virginia. All Co-signors must have gross monthly funds, in excess of 5 times the monthly rent to be verified as described in the “source of funds verification” section of these Criteria or have verifiable liquid assets in excess of 2 times the annual rent, and must otherwise meet the Credit requirements of these Criteria.

AGE

All persons age 18 and older must complete an application, and qualify individually as a Resident. However, any person who is a child of one or more applicant(s) who is between age 18 and 25 shall not be required to satisfy the Source of Funds or Credit sections of these Criteria, but must meet the other requirements of these Criteria, and shall be listed as an Occupant rather than a Resident on the Lease. Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, no person over age 18 may reside in the rental home without being approved as a Resident, and listed as a Resident on the Lease. Further, Resident must notify Relevate Property Guides at the time any child residing in the Dwelling Unit as an Occupant pursuant to this section reaches age 26, and such child must thereafter be added as a Resident on the Lease at the next Lease renewal, subject to satisfaction of these Criteria.

OCCUPANCY REQUIREMENTS

A maximum of two Residents, and/or one or more authorized Occupant(s) listed on the Lease, are permitted to reside in a bedroom, provided that the total number of persons residing in the bedroom complies with applicable building and zoning code requirements. The current Virginia Building Code requires that each bedroom occupied by more than one person shall contain at least 50 square feet of floor area for each person. For purposes of this paragraph, the term Resident shall mean any person age 18 or over who is required to be listed as a Resident on the Lease and an “Occupant” shall mean any person under age 18 required to be listed on the Lease.

ADDING OR REMOVING RESIDENTS

Any requests to add or remove a Resident from the Lease during the term of the Lease must be approved in advance by Relevate Property Guides, and an amendment to the Lease reflecting any such changes must be executed by all parties to the Lease. Any changes to the tenancy would require the remaining Residents to re-submit a new application, complete the application process, and be approved under these Criteria.

MANDATORY APPLICATION PROCESS

Application Fee - A non-refundable $55 application fee is required for each applicant 18 years or older (approximately $19 of this fee is charged by third party screening services, and $36 to Relevate Property Guides for processing). It is the applicant’s responsibility to determine the current status of the property with the leasing agent prior to application. Fee is paid online directly to Findigs, a third-party screening service. Please direct all inquiries regarding any questions on your credit report to:

Transunion
Phone: 1 (800) 916-8800
Mail: P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016-2000
Site: transunion.com/customer-support

Animals and Animal Screening - All applicants with or without household pets or assistance animals are required to submit an application online at: https://relevatepropertyguides.petscreening.com/.

Any request for an assistance animal shall be deemed a request for a reasonable accommodation under the fair housing laws, and this request will be processed and verified through the above on-line vendor. *There are no fees for verification of assistance animals or for applicants with no pets. For household pets, there is a $25 application fee (plus any applicable sales tax) per animal. This fee is collected by the third-party screening vendor at time of animal application. Applications will not be approved until animal screening application are completed.

Pet Policy

If pets are allowed for your desired rental property:

We charge a one-time, non-refundable pet fee with a range of $150 to $250 per pet. These funds are due prior to move in.
Additionally, we charge a monthly pet administrative fee of $25 to $45 per pet.
Please be aware that certain dog breeds may not be permitted under the Owner’s insurance policy.

Animal Policy

No fees are due for any assistance animals under an approved reasonable accommodation request.

All information must be complete and received by Relevate Property Guides before a leasing decision will be made.

PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS

All Rental Applications received for an available dwelling unit for rent will be processed in the order a completed Application is received by Relevate Property Guides. An Application is considered complete when a fully filled out Application is submitted, and all other supporting documentation and information requested and required has been delivered to Relevate Property Guides. Please visit our resident criteria for more details on all information required to have a complete Application. You may receive a “conditional approval” based upon a partial Application submitted subject to providing the remaining items necessary to complete the Application, which will not remove the dwelling unit from being available to rent to others. During such time, Relevate Property Guides will continue to process any and all other Applications received in the same manner, and the dwelling unit will be made available for rental to the first applicant to have submitted a complete Application, that then has been fully and finally approved, and paid their deposit, at which time the dwelling unit will be taken off the rental market.

OPTIONAL SECURITY DEPOSIT ALTERNATIVE

Save on Move-In Costs with Obligo!

Relevate Property Guides now offers a security deposit-free move-in option through Obligo. Qualified applicants can skip the upfront security deposit and hold the property with just a holding deposit equal to one month’s rent, which is later applied to move-in funds. It’s fast, easy, and keeps more money in your pocket! Qualified applicants will receive an email with details and a link to apply. Learn more and see if you qualify: myobligo.com