How to Screen an Applicant

Learn how to review applications and run screening reports for applicants in Aptly.

Once an application has been completed, its status will update to Pending Screening. At this stage, your team can review the application details and initiate screening reports such as Credit, Criminal, and Eviction checks.

Before running screening, it’s important to review the applicant’s submitted information in the Approval Center to ensure all required documentation and verification steps are complete.

The Approval Center provides a centralized view of the applicant’s submitted information and verification items. This allows your team to review details such as identity verification, employment, income, and supporting documents before requesting screening reports.

To access the Approval Center:

A window will open with additional details or a link to the associated document or report.

💡 Tip: You may see red hand icons next to certain sections. These indicate items that should be reviewed by your team before proceeding with screening.

Before running screening, verify the information submitted by the applicant.

If ID Verification is enabled, the system may flag discrepancies during the verification process. One common example occurs when the address on the applicant’s identification does not match the address connected to their bank account.

If your team performs manual ID reviews, you should:

Applicants may upload supporting documents such as:

To verify employment:

If the applicant indicates they will not contribute to rent, a red indicator will appear in this section.

The Income section provides an overview of the applicant’s reported income sources.

Depending on your configuration, this section may also display:

Aptly will also automatically evaluate whether the applicant’s reported income meets your income-to-rent requirements.

If an applicant indicates they will not contribute to rent, the application will display the reason provided (for example: student, unemployed, caregiver, etc.).

All documents uploaded by the applicant can be found at the bottom of the application.

If Document Fraud Scanning is enabled, documents may include an icon indicating the scan result.

To review the results:

You can request verification directly from a landlord or employer from within the application (See: How to Send Verifications to Employers or Landlords).

When sending a verification request:

Verification requests can be sent for:

Once you’ve completed your review and the application status is Pending Screening, you can initiate screening reports.

Follow these steps:

💡 Note: Screening must be run individually for each adult applicant or guarantor within the household.

Screening results typically return within a few hours.

The status icons next to each report will update as results become available:

Hover over the icon to view additional details about the screening result.

Help Articles: Understanding Credit Screening Reports and Understanding Criminal Screening Reports

💡 Tip: Eviction and criminal reports may take longer if records must be manually retrieved from counties without digitized records.