Tenant Check Report - FAQs

What does it mean if there is a bankruptcy record?

A bankruptcy record means the applicant was previously unable to pay their debts and they are now legally bankrupt. When this occurs, an order is generally put in place to have a certain amount of money deducted from the individual’s wages until a portion of the debt has been repaid. If a tenant has a current bankruptcy order and goes into rent arrears, you may not be able to claim back the debt.
The two main types of bankruptcies you may encounter are sequestration orders (the creditor has had the individual declared bank by the courts) or debtor’s petitions (the individual had voluntarily lodged for bankruptcy). A Sequestration order is the most common form of bankruptcy and is generally more severe than a debtor’s petition. You might also encounter a ‘Debt Agreement (Part 9)’ - a form of bankruptcy where a creditor will agree to accept a lower sum of money which the debtor can afford to repay. These are usually less severe forms of bankruptcy for debtors owing between $5,000 and $20,000. These individuals will still have money deducted from their wages to repay their debt.
The discharge status is the most important section for you to look at to help make an informed decision, the main status types you will see are:
  • Discharged: The bankruptcy has been cleared and the applicant is no longer paying off their debt
  • Not discharged: The bankruptcy is still current and the applicant is paying back the debt from their wages
  • Settled: The applicant has agreed to settle for a lower amount which has been paid off

What does it mean if there is a court record?

The court records section provides a summary of any Court Writs or Court Judgments against your applicant over the past five years. This will not show any criminal judgements made against your client.
A Judgement is the decision of a court or tribunal – and generally means that the Court has made an order, without going to trial, that the defendant owes money to a specific business or individual.

Court Writs are a summons that has been issued by the court ordering that the individual or company appear in court. This generally occurs in situations where the individual or company are summoned by a lender (e.g. bank or financial institution) who is taking legal action to reclaim the debt that they’re owed.

What does it mean if there is a directorship record?

A director of a company is a person who is responsible for managing the company’s business activities. This is quite common and shouldn’t cause any concern. In fact, a company directorship is often a sign of financial stability.

What is a disqualified directorship?

An individual may be disqualified from being a company director in the following circumstances. These are generally quite severe and we suggest you speak with your applicant for further information regarding the disqualification.
  1. The individual has been the director of two or more companies that have gone into liquidation within the past 7 years and owe their creditors more than 50% of the debts accrued
  2. The individual is personally bankrupt
  3. The individual has been banned by ASIC due to severe misconduct such as fraud

What is the Document Verification Service (DVS)?

The Australian Government’s Document Verification System is used to validate the legitimacy of government issued documents (Australian Passports, Drivers Licences and Medicare cards). For more information visit www.dvs.gov.au

The tenant's details were unable to be verified, what does that mean?

There may be a number of reasons the tenants details have not been verified and there's no need to panic just yet!

Some reasons this may occur:

  • The applicant has only just received their documents and the database has not yet been updated
  • The applicant has only just turned 18 and is not yet listed in any databases
  • The applicant's details was incorrectly entered/provided to run the report

If you have checked all the information above, the tenant may be using fraudulent documents to try and obtain the rental property. We suggest you conduct further checks on your tenant and ask for additional information to be provided where possible.

What is a previous enquiry?

A previous enquiry is a record of a NTD search that has previously been run on a tenancy applicant. It is useful for establishing how long your tenant has been in the rental market, how often they move from one rental to another, and also gives contact details for agents who have previously come into contact with the applicant.