Vacancies, applications & screening

Fill a vacant unit from one place: advertise it, take applications online, check applicants and turn the best one into a lease.

1. Create and publish a listing

Go to Vacancies → New listing and pick the unit. Beds, baths and market rent are copied from the unit. Add a headline, description, photos (the first photo you upload is the cover), deposit, availability date, pet policy, your rental criteria and an optional application fee. Then Publish.

Share the link from Market this listing on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Nextdoor or by text. Link previews show the photo, price and location. The public page is mobile-friendly and readable by search engines.

Market this listing

Once a listing is published, its page shows a Market this listing kit:

• Share link. Copy the link, or open Facebook, X, WhatsApp or email to share it from your own account. Proppros never posts for you.
• Ready-to-post ad text. Proppros writes ad text from your listing: a title and body for listing sites such as Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, a short social post with hashtags, and a message for friends or your waitlist. Each has a Copy button. The text describes the home only. If your own description uses words that describe people (for example "perfect for a couple"), the kit points them out so you can reword them.
• Flyer. Download flyer gives you a one-page PDF with the rent, key facts, the first photo, a QR code to the listing and the "Equal Housing Opportunity" line. Print it for a window, a community board or a showing.
• Share image. Download share image makes a 1080×1350 picture with the first photo, rent, beds and baths, ready for Instagram or Facebook.

The kit uses what is saved on the listing. Edit the listing and the text updates. A draft or closed listing has no kit, because its link doesn't open.

Fair housing: describe the home, not who should live there. Write down your rental criteria (for example income of 3× the rent) and apply them to every applicant the same way.

2. Applications

Applicants fill in a short form: contact details, current home and landlord, employer and income, household, pets and vehicles. They sign it and agree to screening. Proppros never asks for Social Security numbers. Each applicant gets a private status link where they can upload pay stubs or ID.

If you charge an application fee and online payments (Stripe) are connected, the fee is paid by card when they apply. Otherwise collect it yourself and mark it paid, or waive it. Check your state's limit on application fees.

The listing page shows every applicant side by side: income ÷ rent, credit score, criminal and eviction records, household and your own rating.

3. Credit, criminal and eviction history

Screening reports come from a licensed screening company (a "consumer reporting agency"), such as TransUnion SmartMove. The applicant authorizes the check with the provider, and you receive the report.

1. Put your provider's link in the listing's Screening provider link.
2. On an application, click Request screening. The applicant is emailed the link.
3. When the report arrives, click Enter report and record the credit score, debt, collections and bankruptcies, each criminal record (offense, severity, date, county, disposition) and each eviction case (date, court, outcome, amount). Attach the provider's PDF.

The application then shows a Screening report with credit, criminal and eviction sections. Only owners and managers can see it. Accountants and maintenance staff can't, and report details are never copied into the audit log.

Be careful with criminal history: HUD guidance warns against blanket bans. Consider the nature, severity and age of an offense, and don't use arrests that didn't lead to a conviction. Some states and cities restrict criminal or eviction history further.

4. Decide

• Approve emails the applicant.
• Decline emails a neutral message. If your decision was based even partly on the screening report, you must send an adverse action notice (Fair Credit Reporting Act). Proppros asks for the main reasons and the screening company's contact details, creates the letter, emails it and keeps a copy on the application.

5. Create the lease

On an approved application, Create lease adds the applicant (and co-applicant) as tenants, creates the lease with the dates and rent you confirm, closes the listing and can invite them to the tenant portal. From the lease you can then send the lease for signature.

You can delete an application, with its report and files, once you no longer need to keep it.