Briana Ings
Chief Product OfficerIn this article
You have a rental property. You’re ready to bring in tenants. You’re building out your tenant screening process to almost guarantee you get the reliable, high-quality renters you’re looking for.
But as you start screening potential renters, there are a few things to consider, like their rental history and how you’ll verify their identity—especially with rental fraud on the rise.
A National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Apartment Association (NAA) survey found that 93.3% of apartment owners, developers, and managers surveyed reported experiencing fraud in the past year.
Identity verification protects you from fraud and the associated risks, like financial loss and bad debt. While there are countless ways to verify a future tenant’s identity—background checks, social security numbers, W2s—perhaps the most common method is through driver’s license verification.
Most people have a driver’s license, so people often use it to verify their identity. It’s easily accessible and a simple way to confirm someone is who they say they are.
It’s also easy to fake.
“Identity fraud is a multi-billion-dollar issue that’s increasing at alarming levels. Unfortunately, recent advancements in technology have made it far too easy for people to obtain fake IDs and sneak through the tenant screening process.” – Daniel Berlind, Snappt CEO
We’re breaking down how driver’s license verification works, plus benefits, considerations, and how this process can help you detect fraud before you both sign on the dotted line.
What is Driver’s License Verification?
Driver’s license verification is a process that validates the authenticity of a driver’s license and confirms the person presenting the ID is indeed the rightful owner.
Aside from being a best practice, driver’s license verification helps prevent applicant fraud and ensures you’re getting accurate information from potential tenants.
While passports and national IDs can verify someone’s identity, most people use their state-issued driver’s licenses or learner’s permits to prove they are who they say they are.
Key Elements of a Driver’s License
Driver’s licenses are a common way to confirm someone’s identity because they have a wealth of information on them, like:
- First and last name
- Date of birth
- Address—though this isn’t always accurate, especially if someone moves frequently
- License number
- License expiration date
- Photo
- Physical description of ID holder, like height and weight
But technology has made it quite simple to forge IDs—some people have resorted to AI-generated IDs to try to get a fake ID through the tenant screening process. Driver’s licenses have built-in security features though that can help property managers spot a fake.
Holograms
Holograms are perhaps the most popular security feature on state-issued IDs and differ from state to state. They have a 3D effect you can easily spot on any valid driver’s license.
Microprinting
As the name implies, microprinting imprints a microscopic pattern on the ID. But unlike a hologram, you can’t typically see it without magnification.
Barcodes and UV-Sensitive Elements
Found on the back of a driver’s license, barcodes embed security information within them, and states often add specific details—like starting with a certain number or letter—to their barcodes to limit attempts to make fake IDs.
Barcodes are clearly visible on the back of an ID card—UV-sensitive elements are not. Using UV ink and a special printing process, states can hide text or images on the ID card, only revealed by UV light.
How Driver’s License Verification Works
The driver’s license verification process generally involves a possible tenant sharing their ID with you and you verifying their identity. The three most common ways to confirm someone’s identity are through:
- Manual verification
- Automated verification
- Biometric matching
Manual Verification
Manual verification involves an individual or team of specialists manually inspecting the physical ID. They’re looking for security features—like holograms and barcodes—and consistency across fonts, alignment, and formatting.
This type of verification also relies on cross-checking the information on the ID with other submitted documents.
Driver’s license verification that relies on manual verification is more prone to human error and time-consuming. Property managers typically use it in combination with automated or AI-powered verification.
Automated Verification
Another driver’s license verification method uses technology to confirm someone’s identity. Automated verification scans IDs to analyze barcodes and machine-readable zones (MRZs) that store encoded personal information.
It quickly detects anomalies on a driver’s license—typically not visible to the naked eye—that could indicate a potential forgery.
Automated verification analyzes common markers on a driver’s license, like holograms and microprinting, to validate the ID (at Snappt, we conduct 30+ checks on the front and back of the ID).
But automated verification takes identity confirmation a step further than manual processes by cross-referencing the information on the ID with data in state DMV databases.
Biometric Matching
Biometric matching is another form of driver’s license verification that asks applicants to upload a selfie that you (or technology) can compare with their ID to confirm the physical description on the ID matches the person presenting it.
Property managers will sometimes do liveness checks as an added layer of security. Liveness checks confirm someone is living by using real-time interactions to verify dynamic biometric data. These checks could involve asking the applicant to respond to facial prompts, like smiling.
Verifying that the ID holder and the prospective tenant are the same person through biometric matching and liveness checks can help combat synthetic identity fraud.
Benefits of Driver’s License Verification for Property Managers
You want good tenants—the ones who pay their rent on time, keep the property in good condition, and don’t cause any problems.
Verifying a prospective renter’s identity helps you get those quality tenants. But driver’s license verification does more than simply confirm someone is who they say they are.
It can help detect fraud, mitigate risk, create a more efficient screening process, and ensure compliance with identity verification regulations.
Fraud Detection
One of the main benefits of driver’s license verification is fraud detection. Thanks to advanced verification tools like Snappt, you can quickly identify fake or altered IDs by checking security features, image quality, and more. You can then compare an applicant’s driver’s license to DMV records to confirm their identity.
Identity fraud can lead to unpaid rent, costly evictions, legal consequences, and ongoing financial losses—do everything you can to verify prospective tenants’ identities before they sign a lease.
Efficient Screening
Using automated driver’s license verification methods significantly reduces the time spent manually verifying IDs, creating a more efficient tenant screening process.
In our 2022 State of Apartment Tenant Screening Survey, we found that 92% of respondents cited verifying an applicant’s ID as the most critical to the screening process. But nearly 70% also said the biggest challenge was the time it takes to vet potential renters, ranging between four and 10 hours per applicant.
Automated verification tools cut down on the time it takes to verify someone’s identity and make screening more efficient.
Enhanced Security
Confirming a possible renter’s identity through driver’s license verification makes sure future tenants are who they claim to be. It helps prevent identity fraud and the risks that come with it, like:
- Financial losses
- Bad debt
- Legal issues
- Property damage
- Evictions
Legal Compliance
While you have the right to screen possible renters, there are specific tenant screening laws you have to follow to prevent discrimination and ensure compliance with fair housing regulations.
Driver’s license verification helps you maintain compliance with these regulations, mitigating the legal risks of violating fair housing laws.
How to Incorporate Driver’s License Verification into Your Screening Process
Driver’s license verification is a crucial part of the tenant screening process. It confirms an applicant is who they say they are, can prevent fraud, and helps you get the tenants you want in the door.
We’ll show you how you can integrate it into your screening process, starting with which tools to use, policies, training, and other identity-confirming checks.
Invest in Verification Tools
You already understand the value of identity verification and know that software can speed up and improve the overall process.
Verification tools like Snappt confirm someone’s identity in a matter of seconds instead of the days it could take you to do manually—and they’re typically more accurate.
But make sure whatever tool you use includes these key features to ensure you’re getting accurate and reliable results:
- Ability to scan and analyze a large range of document types, including driver’s licenses
- Biometric matching and liveness checks
- Barcode scanning
- Fraud detection algorithms
- Automation and integration with your database
- Fraud detection algorithms
- Compliance with fair housing laws
Look for these features when you invest in a verification tool—it’ll make tenant screening quicker and simpler, and ensure compliance.
Set Clear Policies
Do your property managers know which forms of documentation they can accept to verify someone’s identity? Do your applicants? Establish clear policies about acceptable documents with your team and your applicants and communicate the process to future tenants.
Because you’re handling sensitive personal information, you should also have policies around data privacy and adhering to privacy laws.
Pro tip: Set up a policy for handling discrepancies that might come up or dealing with disputes.
Train Your Team
Most property managers will use a combination of manual checks and technology-powered driver’s license verification software to confirm an applicant’s identity.
Train your team on all methods you use and talk with your customer success manager (if you have one) about formal training on using the software. This gives your team a chance to ask questions and get a deep dive into how it works.
Combine Verification with Other Checks
Driver’s license verification is a trusted way to confirm someone’s identity, but it’s not the only way.
To get the best tenants and minimize the risk of identity fraud, combine driver’s license verification with background checks and other identity-proofing methods, like biometric matching and comparing state documents.
Driver’s License Verification Challenges and Considerations
Before you start using driver’s license verification in your screening process, get familiar with the potential challenges and consider how you’ll navigate these obstacles should you encounter them.
A few considerations:
- How you’ll handle cases where applicants provide outdated, suspended, or non-standard driver’s licenses
- How you’ll deal with sensitive information and ensure applicant data privacy
Best Practices
Following a few best practices and having an established process set up can virtually eliminate the above challenges. First and foremost, create a process so everyone knows how to handle certain situations—like when a potential renter presents an expired ID—every time they occur.
Here are a few more best practices to follow:
Avoid legal trouble by staying up-to-date on fair housing and tenant screening laws
Protect sensitive applicant data by only requesting necessary information
Uphold data privacy by using encrypted systems to process and store license data—and only share and only share data with authorized parties
Offer alternative methods to driver’s license verification for those without driver’s licenses
Stay ahead of fraud tactics by regularly updating your verification tools (and methods)
Driver’s License Verification: A Vital Step in Tenant Screening
Driver’s license verification is just one part of the tenant screening process—but it’s crucial. It confirms applicants are who they say they are, which helps you reduce identity fraud and the consequences of fraud (financial loss, bad debt, property damage, and more).
With driver’s license verification, you can verify identity manually or with technology that automates the process. While both are valid methods, they work better together, with automated verification saving you time and reducing the risk of human error.
Done right, driver’s license verification speeds up your screening process, makes it more secure, and prevents fraud.
Thinking about integrating driver’s license verification into the process? You’ve got options. Explore available verification tools that include the features we shared earlier—barcode scanning, fraud detection algorithms, integrations.
Tenant Screening and ID Verification Resources
Check out these resources for additional help with tenant screening and identification verification: