How Connected Payroll Software Simplifies Employment Verification for Property Managers

Whether you’ve dealt with an applicant providing fake documents, know a property manager who has, or have just seen recent stats about applicant fraud, you’re well aware that fraud is on the rise.

Not surprisingly, 85% of surveyed property managers said that nearly 39% of applications are fraudulent. With over a third of applications fraudulent, now is the time to double down on a thorough tenant screening process.

While a manual verification process can indeed confirm someone’s employment and income, it can also cause delays and introduce human errors that can cost you big in the long run.

And worse, it can take a few days or weeks to manually verify an applicant’s identity. An interested and qualified applicant could walk. But there is a solution.

Connected payroll software is a powerful line of defense during the employment verification process.

Linking your workflow directly to connected payroll software cuts a weeks-long process down to seconds, giving you the answers you need to make an educated decision about your applicant.

We’re covering why employment verification is a non-negotiable part of your tenant screening process and how you can streamline it with connected payroll software.

Quick Insights

• 85% of property managers said that nearly 39% of applications are fraudulent.
• Employment verification confirms a renter’s ability to pay rent and helps predict their financial responsibility.
• Manual verification is error-prone and typically slower than automated employment verification.
• Employers aren’t required to share any employee information with you, which can make employment verification a challenge.
• Online document generators and AI have made creating fake documents easier than ever.
• 70% of property managers discover that documents were forged after a renter moves in.
• Connected payroll software automates employment verification and yields results in seconds.

Why Employment Verification Matters in Tenant Screening

Employment verification helps you understand an applicant’s financial situation and predict whether they’ll be able to pay rent—and on time. It’s an invaluable part of tenant screening for a few reasons. Take a look.

1. Ensures tenants have a stable income to pay rent consistently

One of the main reasons for verifying employment is to confirm that your applicant has steady, reliable deposits hitting their bank account. While it’s not a bullet-proof guarantee, stable income is a strong indicator they’ll make rent on time and in full.

Without conducting employment verification, you risk signing lease agreements with applicants who won’t have enough money for you when the rent comes due.

2. Reduces the risk of renting to tenants who may default on rent

Rent should be manageable for your tenants, but with recent spikes in rent across the US, the rent burden has reached a peak.

Experts suggest that rent should be 30% or less of a tenant’s monthly take-home pay. But in many cases, that’s not the reality. A 2024 Joint Center for Housing of Harvard University study found that 22.4 million renter households spend more, leading to a rise in resident evictions.

While the market is now cooling in favor of renters, employment verification gives you the chance to check that your rent is within the ideal rent-to-income ratio for your applicant.

3. Protects you from fraudulent pay stubs and fake employment claims

You might be able to spot some inconsistencies, but when applicants can get fake forms on the internet, it’s easy to get duped.

Common scams include using fake:

• Pay stubs
• Tax returns
• Letters of employment

And they can be as subtle as an extra zero at the edge of a paycheck. It’s hard to know if your stack of pay stubs and tax returns is credible with just a manual inspection—that’s why employment verification is vital.

Employment verification software automates the process and reduces errors, so you can rest easy that you’re not accepting an application that uses fake documents.

4. Complies with fair housing regulations

Every property needs to comply with fair housing regulations. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability.

But HUD isn’t the only authority maintaining equitable housing practices. The National Fair Housing Alliance advocates for a standardized tenant application process to reduce unconscious bias so good apartments can be accessible to everyone.

That might mean collecting a consistent set of employment and income documents, covering the same time period—ideally 1 to 2 years—and requiring the same deposit amount. With a first penalty costing over $23,000, steeply rising to over six figures for repeat offenses, being fair pays off.

Common Employment Verification Methods and Their Challenges

Verifying employment records the old-school way is still common practice for many property managers. But this approach comes with its fair share of challenges.  

Contacting Employers Directly

Checking employment means you’ll be on the phone or sending emails to HR. It’s one of the best ways to verify that your applicant actually works (or worked) at the company and confirm their income.

That said, playing phone tag or going back and forth in an endless email thread that stretches to weeks is somewhat normal and should be expected.

And there’s another snag that could potentially halt your employment verification altogether: HR departments aren’t legally required to share any information with you.

Of course, not every employer withholds information, but it’s a possibility. And since you don’t have any legal leverage to compel them to respond, employment verification could be stuck in limbo.

Plus, the further back you go on the employee timeline, the higher the chances of running into incomplete information or miscommunications.

Requesting Pay Stubs and Bank Statements

Pay stubs and bank statements are standard requirements to verify deposits from an applicant’s employer. Unfortunately, these are some of the easiest documents to fake thanks to AI and online document generators. 

Manual verification can help mitigate the risks associated with approving a bad tenant, but it’s a tedious process—for both you and the applicant. With new scams emerging with the help of AI, it’s hard to authenticate all the documents with perfect accuracy.

In fact, 70% of property managers only discover that documents were forged after the renter moves in.

Third-Party Verification Services

Third-party verification services solve several of these issues—from HR refusing to provide information to incomplete data and spotting fraudulent documents. They’re often more reliable, but they can be expensive and just as slow as manual processes.

But you need to be on guard when selecting a third-party platform. Out of all the fraudulent tricks, fake third-party verification sites might be the most sophisticated and hardest to spot.

To avoid getting misled, you have to perfectly understand all the hallmarks of a real employment verification site. And maybe add a bit of luck, because many of these sites look like the real thing. 

Beyond the serious risks of using a fake verification site, legitimate services require tenant consent, which will add steps and more time to the process. 

What is Connected Payroll Software?

Connected payroll software is a tool that links directly to payroll systems, so you can verify an applicant’s employment and income in real time from the source. 

Major payroll providers like ADP, Paychex, and Gusto automate employment and income verifications in a secure setting. They can process an employment verification request via internal mechanisms or partner with a credit reporting agency like The Work Number®, an Equifax product, to surface your requested information.

Once set up, verifying employee details is instantaneous. Here’s how it works: 

1. Verify your property manager credentials on the connected payroll software.
2. Your applicant grants permission to access their payroll data (invite them first).
3. The system pulls verified employment and income records from payroll providers.
4. You receive an instant, accurate report.

And connected payroll software wins across the board, beating traditional and manual methods in speed, accuracy, fraud risk potential, cost, and manual effort.

For example, connected payroll software provides instant or near-instant verification vs. at least 1–3 days to manually contact HR departments or the bank.

Benefits of Using Connected Payroll Software for Employment Verification

With all the challenges of manual employment verification, it’s good to know there’s a reliable alternative for property managers. Sure, connected payroll software can help you avoid the pitfalls, but it comes with many benefits, too. 

Here are the top advantages of incorporating connected payroll software into your tenant screening process. 

Faster Verification Process

The first—and potentially most attractive—benefit to using connected payroll software is the instant employment verification and income data. Bypass the wait and endless email tag. Forget about gathering special paperwork from your applicant. These platforms are a one-stop shop for your multi-point verification checklist. 

More Accurate and Fraud-Proof

It doesn’t matter how sophisticated fraudulent documents get—these integrated platforms eliminate the possibility of applicant fraud, at least in the employment verification phase.

And since the original documents never come from the tenant, there’s no chance you’ll get a doctored pay stub or falsified bank statement. 

Any information you verify, like employment status, income, deposit schedule, and job title, among other data points, are all pulled straight from the applicant’s payroll provider. 

Reduces Manual Work for Property Managers

Connected payroll software shaves time spent down to seconds, not days or weeks—all while freeing up your time to do, well, anything else.

Instead of getting buried in a forensic-level investigation, you can access the vital information you need to make a solid decision—and turn a complicated, lengthy process into a simple automation.

Improves Tenant Experience

While you get fast, verified answers, your applicant enjoys a smooth, hassle-free experience—an early sign of a solid rental relationship.

Plus, with no paperwork to chase down or wait times to endure, they can get an answer, secure the lease, and move in faster. 

Enhances Compliance and Record-Keeping

Connected payroll platforms don’t just make your workflow easier—they help you stay on the right side of regulations. 

Standardized reporting creates a consistent process across all applications, while built-in data protection measures support compliance with fair housing and privacy laws. A perfect solution if you’d like to avoid those five and six-figure penalties.

How Connected Payroll Software Compares to Other Verification Methods

Want to see how connected payroll software measures up against other employment verification methods? Check out the table below.

 

Method	Speed	Accuracy	Fraud Risk.	Cost.	Manual Effort.
Employer Contact	Slow	Moderate	Low	Low	High
Pay stubs & bank statements	Medium	Low	High	Low	High
Third-party services	Medium	High	Low	High	Medium
Connected payroll software	Fast	High	Very low	Medium	Very Low

How to Implement Connected Payroll Software in Your Tenant Screening Process

Unlike other third-party employment verification services, connected payroll software uses direct payroll connections. 

While alternatives rely on verification databases or banking and asset data—which don’t always offer complete or current data sets—connected payroll pulls information directly from the source. Meaning? You get the most reliable and high-quality information.

Step 1: Choose a Payroll Verification Provider

There are several connected payroll software options available you can use for employment verification. Here are a few of our top picks: 

• Plaid
• Argyle
• Pinwheel
• ADP SmartCompliance
• Paychex
• Gusto
• Finch

Tools like Argyle, Plaid, Pinwheel, and Finch are commonly used by property managers. Others—like ADP and Gusto—available as of April 23, 2025, may be useful if your applicants already use them.

Step 2: Integrate with Your Property Management System

You can integrate many connected payroll systems into your property management system with an application programming interface (API). If the provider doesn’t leverage API, then they may go through The Work Number® instead.

That said, each provider offers a broad range of checkpoints and verification tools, available online around the clock. For example, Plaid allows property managers to link bank accounts or directly pull from payroll platforms via their portal, 24/7.

Step 3: Educate Tenants on the Verification Process

Depending on the platform, your tenant will need to participate in the verification process in one way or another. 

Some systems let applicants upload documents or link bank accounts directly. Others—like ADP—may already be connected to the applicant’s payroll provider so they don’t require additional uploads. 

Even so, you’ll still need their consent to access this data. Most platforms require you send an invitation to the applicant to start the process. Make sure you let the tenant know what to expect—whether it’s uploading specific documents or simply granting access for verification.

Step 4: Review Employment Verification Reports

Once you request employment verification, you’ll receive a report in just a few seconds. From there, you can apply your up-to-date applicant details to your property management tenant criteria to see if they fit your requirements and determine if they’ll consistently make rent.

Step 5: Maintain Records for Compliance and Audit Purposes

Property managers are responsible for preparing, maintaining, and keeping records safe. But how long varies by state and jurisdiction, so be sure to keep up with your local requirements. 

A good rule of thumb is to keep your applicant employment verification records for up to 7 years. 

Potential Drawbacks and How to Address Them

While connected payroll software is an efficient and reliable method of employment verification, there are a few things to consider, like how it works for freelancers, consent, and integrations.

Not a Fit for All Applicants

Connected payroll software is a powerful tool, but it’s not a fit for every applicant (think freelancers, gig workers, or cash workers who don’t receive traditional paychecks from an employer). 

How to Fix it

Keep your screening process inclusive without compromising on verification by offering flexible alternatives. Trusted third-party verification services or manual employment checks can still provide reliable insights when payroll-linked data isn’t available. Just make sure you’re using it in conjunction with fraud detection tools to confirm legitimacy. 

Requires Applicant Participation

Another potential snag in an otherwise seamless process is tenant consent. Because connected payroll processes require this, it isn’t a completely hands-free experience for your applicants.

And, as the property manager, you have to wait for them to actually do this step. 

How to Fix it

Ensure a smooth process by guiding applicants through consent and emphasizing the benefits and added security of this process during your meeting.

Additional Costs for Property Managers

Using any kind of enterprise software is an investment. Depending on the platform, you may be paying an annual rate or a monthly payment. 

And if you want to integrate with your property management software or other tools, there may be additional costs.

How to Fix it

As you evaluate your options, consider the long-term savings—especially the potential cost of letting a bad tenant slip through the cracks with less reliable screening methods. 

Fraud is expensive and can be hard to combat—property managers reported detecting 90% of fraud pre-pandemic, but now, they only catch 75%. Weigh the financial benefits of fighting fraud from the get-go and the long-term impacts it has on property rentals.

Save Time, Reduce Risk, and Get Answers Fast

Connected payroll software is one of the most powerful tools for mitigating fraudulent applications while streamlining time-consuming due diligence.

Equipped with this new technology, screenings take seconds instead of weeks. Plus, you can confidently leave manual checks and the risk of approving bad tenants in the past.

Move forward with more secure, comprehensive, and up-to-date data, directly from payroll providers. 

Explore your options and integrate a trusted connected payroll system into your workflow—and start seeing improvements in on-time rent payments and fewer days with vacant units. 

Want to know how to turn “we’re just looking” into a serious applicant? Check out this blog next to discover the right questions to ask.