Misdemeanors are a different category
Property screening criteria frequently treat misdemeanors separately from felonies, with different lookback windows and different rules.
That distinction matters because renters with a misdemeanor often assume the seven-year felony conversation applies to them. It frequently does not, and saying “it is a misdemeanor” in the first message to background-friendly locating widens the property list immediately.
DUI and DWI
Workable at a range of Dallas properties.
Property criteria that address DUI/DWI usually key on three things: whether it was a misdemeanor or was enhanced to a felony, the disposition, and how long ago it happened. A single misdemeanor DWI several years back sits differently in most criteria sets than a recent enhanced offense.
Some criteria do not mention DUI/DWI at all, which means it is evaluated under the general criminal-history rule rather than a specific one.
Misdemeanor drug possession
Also workable at many properties.
Criteria that distinguish drug offenses typically separate possession from manufacture or distribution. Possession as a misdemeanor is the version most commonly addressed as workable. Disposition matters here as much as anywhere: a dismissal, a deferred adjudication, and a conviction are three different records.
What changes the outcome
| Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
| Misdemeanor vs felony | Different criteria track at most properties |
| Disposition | Dismissed, deferred, or convicted read differently |
| Age of the offense | Older helps, uniformly |
| Pending vs closed | Pending charges are frequently treated separately |
| Income multiple | Still the first gate — 3x at most, 2.5x at some, 2x at a few |
We state policies, not verdicts
We do not tell you a record is acceptable and we do not tell you it is disqualifying. We describe what each property’s criteria say and the date we verified it. Framing a record either way is exactly what HUD’s 2016 guidance on criminal-history screening cautions against.
How to describe it to us
Four facts, in one message:
- Misdemeanor or felony
- The offense category — possession, DWI, or other
- The year
- The disposition, if you know it
That is enough to match. You do not need to send documents and you should not send us a screening report. We never obtain, request, receive, or store one, because there is no permissible purpose under the FCRA for a locator to pull one.
What happens next
Your account goes against our own dated database of which management companies work with which situations. Back comes a list of properties whose stated criteria fit, with the income multiple, credit minimum, total monthly cost, and a verification date on each.
If you want to understand what happens inside the screening itself, read how screening decisions get made.
Applications run $50 to $75 per adult and are not refundable. Matching first is what turns three of them into one. That is the whole point of background-friendly locating.