Rent Safe

What Rent Safe does

Rent Safe (operating as RentSafe) is a Washington, D.C.-based SaaS company providing online tenant screening services to the U.S. residential rental market. Founded in 2018 by brothers Joe and Ben Rieling as an internal tool for their property management firm Nomadic Real Estate, the company publicly launched a national tenant screening platform in 2021 after three years of internal validation. RentSafe delivers instant TransUnion-powered credit reports, nationwide criminal background checks, and eviction reports across all 50 states, alongside a property-manager dashboard and renter application portal designed for high-volume screening workflows. The product originated from the founders' firsthand experience managing 3,000+ properties and over 30,000 tenant screenings through Nomadic, addressing limitations they identified in existing screening products at scale.

The platform's core technology is a dual-interface web application: a Property Manager Interface for configuring rental listings, customizing screening criteria, and managing applications through a dashboard built to scale from 10 to 10,000+ properties, and a Renter Application Portal where prospective tenants complete applications, add co-applicants and references, upload documentation, and track application status in real time. Notable components include one-click workflow automations for compliance (approvals, adverse action letters, information requests), a customizable application builder with per-property screening requirements, mobile-responsive interfaces for both managers and applicants, and soft-pull credit inquiries that do not impact applicant credit scores. The platform integrates TransUnion for credit reporting and address history verification, and runs criminal/eviction searches against nationwide databases.

RentSafe operates a product-led growth model with no sales motion. Property managers register online with no credentialing and begin screening within minutes at zero cost; renters pay $45 per adult applicant per screening report. This applicant-paid pricing positions RentSafe as a free tool for the property manager segment while generating transaction revenue from applicants. The company is a privately held LLC with no institutional funding disclosed, operated by the Rieling family (Joe, Ben, and sister Jenna) out of its Washington, D.C. headquarters.

Name

Rent Safe

Legal name

Rent Safe LLC

Website

https://rentsafe.lease

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

RentSafe is a Washington, D.C.-based SaaS platform that provides online tenant screening—TransUnion credit reports, criminal background checks, and eviction searches—for U.S. property managers and landlords. Founded in 2018 by property management operators Joe and Ben Rieling, the platform is free for property managers and charges renters $45 per application.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tenant Screening Software

NAICS

Rental and Leasing Services (532)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320), Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Tenant & Rental Background Screening (BPAKAEAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Residential Lease Administration & Tenant Services (BPAJAFAL)

Keywords

• Tenant screening services
• Rental background checks
• Property management software
• Online rental applications
• Credit reporting platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Applicant-paid Screening Reports: Renters and prospective tenants pay $45 per application/report. This is the primary revenue stream. Property managers access the platform and screening tools at no cost.
2. Free Platform for Property Managers: Property managers and landlords access all screening features, dashboard tools, and workflow automations free of charge. No subscription, per-user, or per-property fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

RentSafe is a web-based SaaS tenant screening platform that enables property managers and landlords to create customized online rental application links and receive instant credit (via TransUnion), criminal, and eviction background checks through a centralized dashboard. The platform is offered free to property managers, with renters/applicants paying $45 per adult applicant for the screening report. It is designed to scale from small portfolios to high-volume operations processing hundreds of applications per month without performance degradation.

Product overview

RentSafe is a dual-interface tenant screening platform (web-based SaaS) designed by property managers for property managers and renters. The platform consists of two primary user-facing products: (1) the Property Manager Interface — a comprehensive tenant screening toolkit enabling property managers to create customized rental application links, receive instant TransUnion credit reports, national criminal and eviction checks, income verification, and manage all applications through a centralized property manager dashboard; and (2) the Renter Application Portal — a streamlined online application experience for prospective tenants to submit rental applications in minutes from any device, add co-applicants, references, income documentation, and pet information, and track their application status in real time. Supporting integrated services include TransUnion-powered credit reporting, national criminal background checks, and nation-wide eviction reporting. The platform is offered free to property managers (renters pay $45 per application) and is designed to scale from small portfolios to high-volume operations processing hundreds of applications per month. The company is co-founded and operated by Joe and Ben Rieling, owners of Nomadic Real Estate, a property management firm managing over 3,000 homes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RentSafe Tenant Screening Platform (Property Manager Interface) Comprehensive web-based SaaS tenant screening platform for property managers and landlords, enabling them to create customized online rental application links, receive instant credit reports (via TransUnion), national criminal and eviction checks, income verification, and real-time application status updates through a centralized dashboard. Free for property managers with no credentialing required, designed to scale from 10 to 10,000+ properties.
• RentSafe Renter Application Portal User-friendly online rental application portal for prospective renters that lets them complete screening applications in minutes on any device, add co-applicants, references, income verifications, pet information, desired lease terms, and supporting documents, and track application status in real time. Cost is $45 per adult applicant.
• TransUnion Credit Reporting Integrated credit reporting service powered by TransUnion that delivers full detailed credit reports for each applicant, including account balances, debt service, utilization rates, payment history, tradelines, and a credit score summary with score factor analysis. Soft inquiry credit pulls that do not impact credit scores. Requests are handled directly through the RentSafe portal.
• Criminal and Eviction Background Checks National criminal database searches and nation-wide eviction reporting across databases in all 50 states, plus a residency report of all property addresses on record verified by TransUnion. Criminal checks include felonies, misdemeanors, history of incarceration, and pending criminal cases; eviction searches flag matches in the summary report.

Quantifiable outcome

• Screening platform designed for hundreds of applications per month without performance degradation
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• TransUnioncoreTechnology or IntegrationRentSafe uses TransUnion for credit reporting, providing comprehensive credit reports including detailed tradeline breakdowns, payment history, utilization rates, and credit score analysis. TransUnion also provides address history verification for tenant background checks. This partnership enables nationwide eviction searches across 50-state databases.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Snappt: AI-powered document fraud detection and income verification for tenant screening. Adjacent competitor focusing on a higher-end fraud-detection capability that RentSafe does not currently emphasize, illustrating where the screening market is evolving.
• Checkr: Background check platform that has expanded from gig economy use cases into rental screening. Adjacent competitor with deeper investment and AI capabilities that could compete in the same screening workflow over time.

Broad incumbents

• Buildium: Property management platform for residential portfolios with integrated screening, leasing, and accounting. Competes with RentSafe as part of a broader workflow suite typically sold to small and mid-sized property managers.
• RealPage: Enterprise property management software platform with integrated screening, leasing, and resident services. Represents the upper-end incumbent bundle that competes for the high-volume PM segment RentSafe targets.
• AppFolio: Full-stack property management software for mid-market and enterprise portfolios that includes built-in tenant screening. Represents the bundled-suite threat to standalone screening tools like RentSafe.
• Zillow Rental Manager: Zillow's integrated rental listing and tenant screening tool bundled into its massive consumer traffic and landlord platform. Competes with RentSafe on the application/screening workflow while leveraging Zillow's dominant rental search audience.

Direct peers

• Cozy (Apartments.com): Originally a free landlord platform with tenant screening, applications, and rent payments; now part of Apartments.com/CoStar. Direct comparable in the freemium, applicant-paid screening space and now backed by a deep-pocketed incumbent.
• Rentler: Online rental listing and tenant screening platform focused on landlords and property managers. Overlaps directly with RentSafe in the SMB landlord segment offering similar screening and application tools.
• TurboTenant: Freemium landlord software platform offering tenant screening, online applications, and rent collection. Targets the same SMB and individual landlord segments as RentSafe with a similar free-for-landlord, applicant-paid monetization approach.
• TransUnion SmartMove: TransUnion's direct-to-landlord tenant screening product offering credit reports, criminal background checks, and eviction reports. The closest direct competitor to RentSafe and notably owned by RentSafe's own data partner, illustrating both the competitive overlap and the vertical dependency risk.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rent Safe