What Is a Rental Lookback Window?

It’s the community’s rule, and it doesn’t delete anything

The window only controls what that one community counts when it screens you. It can be different for each type of record.

Your report doesn’t change with it. A record can still show up after one community stops counting it, and the next community may use a different window.

How they count the dates, and what else they check

• What starts the clock: the lease end date, a date on the account or something else.
• Whether they count up to the day you apply, or some other date.
• Whether it covers the broken lease, rental collections or court records.
• Whether unpaid balances fall under a separate rule.
• Whether your rental history since then counts in the review.
• What documents they want to prove the dates or status.

We call communities, ask these questions and keep track of the answers, so you don’t have to ask each one yourself.

An example, and its limits

Say a community uses a 24 month rule counted from the lease end date. Do the math from that date to the day you plan to apply, the way the community does it. Clearing that one rule doesn’t clear everything else on your report, and it doesn’t promise approval.

Reporting limits are a separate thing

How long something can stay on a report depends on the kind of record and the law that covers it. A collection, for example, can usually be reported for seven years, counted from 180 days after you first fell behind on it. The Texas four year deadline to sue over a debt is separate again. A screening company’s record keeping isn’t the same as a community’s approval policy, either.

Check that the record is right

Pull your actual report and check the dates and status on each account and court record. An entry may need fixing if it’s wrong, listed twice, incomplete or too old to report. A dispute should point to the exact problem and include your proof. Don’t pay anyone who promises to remove accurate information. And don’t send a dispute with anything in it you know is false.

Send us the dates and balance you can back up with paperwork, and we’ll look for apartments around those details. We don’t assume one cutoff fits every community. You don’t have to wait for a dispute to finish, either: we can look as you sort out the records with the reporting company. Just know a dispute doesn’t hold an apartment for you or pause a court deadline.

Sources and further help

• CFPB: reporting periods and court information
• Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681c: how long items can be reported

The community makes the final call, based on its current screening rules and what your application shows.