We are working with neighbors and other landlords in the greater Portland area to maintain the quality of Portland’s neighborhoods. We want to make sure that people are good neighbors and do not use our rental properties for illegal activity.

To this end, we have a thorough screening process.

Please review our list of screening criteria. If you feel you might meet them, please apply.

Please note that we provide equal housing opportunity - we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, national origin, familial status, marital status, age, sexual orientation, or source of income.

For properties in the City of Portland, we will process complete applications in the order set forth in the Portland City Code. For all other properties, we will process the first complete application that we receive.

We will accept the first applicant(s) for any given vacancy who satisfies our screening criteria.

You may dispute the accuracy of any information provided to Grid Property Management by a credit reporting agency.

If you’ve applied and have been sent to screening, Grid will consider your completed screening report as current for up to 30 days from the date that your application was sent to screening. If more than 30 days has passed, you will need to re-apply, pay the application fee, and be re-screened prior to being approved for one of our units.

Once we approve you for one of our properties, we of course want your lease to start as quickly as possible. We will agree to a lease start date that is as late as approximately two weeks after the availability date of the property, or, two weeks after your approval date, whichever of these dates comes latest.

Our Screening Process and Criteria Are As Follows:

1. 1.) A Complete Application:

   We must receive a complete application for each adult - 18 years or older - who will live in the unit and intends to contribute to payment of the rent and to sign the lease or rental agreement. If a line is not filled in on any application, any material missing information must be provided before we will begin screening the application.

   If you are applying as non-financially responsible adult applicant (city of Portland only), all non-financial screening criteria must be met and you, and the remaining applicants in your group, must include all information and documents required by the application form prior to it being considered complete. You do not need to provide income documents and we will not run a credit check if you are submitted to background screening.

2. 2.) Form of ID:

   We require a photo I.D. or combination of identifications which allow us to verify the name and birth date of an applicant. Listed below are examples of the forms of ID that we accept:

   • Evidence of a Social Security Number (SSN Card)
   • Valid Permanent Resident Alien Registration Receipt Card
   • Immigrant Visa
   • Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
   • Non-immigrant Visa
   • Any government-issued identification regardless of expiration date
   • Any non-governmental identification or combination of identifications that would permit a reasonable verification of identity.

3. 3.) A $30 Application Charge Per Applicant:

   This charge covers the costs of the screening process. This charge will be refunded to you if your application is not screened.

4. 4.) Rental History Verified by Independent Sources:

   All financially-responsible applicants must provide rental history as part of their application.

   You must provide rental history information for, at minimum, your current and previous residence.

   If you were not on a signed lease at a given residence, you may not consider that residence as part of your rental history.

   Please note the following:

   1. If you were on a lease in which the duration of the lease was five consecutive years or longer, no additional rental history is required.
   2. If you currently own the home in which you live, no additional rental history is required.
   3. Or, if you recently (within the previous 6 months) sold the home in which you were living, only one additional rental history is required.

   A qualified guarantor will be required if:

   • If your rental history does not include at least two leased residences in which you were a party on the lease;
   • or, if neither Item A, B, nor C above apply;
   • or, if you are related by blood or marriage to one or both of the landlords;
   • or, if your current or previous landlord(s) is a friend prior to your occupancy

   Note: A qualified guarantor must meet all applicant screening criteria except prior rental history.

5. 5.) Sufficient Income/Resources:

   The applicant(s) must demonstrate sufficient gross income for the selected property, as defined by the gross income requirements described below. All income is measured in gross (pre-tax/pre-expense) dollars.

   All income sources must be independently verifiable and properly documented.

   Co-signers/guarantors can be used for applicants who do not meet the income requirements. Co-signers must demonstrate sufficient gross income equal to 3 times the monthly rent and must meet all other screening criteria, excluding prior rental history. Please note, Co-signers cannot be used to overcome negative criminal history, poor credit, or negative landlord references.

   Sources of income include salaried wages, hourly wages, tips verified by your employer, alimony, child support, trust distributions, Social Security benefit payments, unemployment distributions, welfare distributions, grant payments, stipends, loan distributions, income property distributions, and similar independently verifiable sources of income as determined by Grid Property Management.

   Income sources that will not be considered include income from illegal activities, assets that are not income, and other unverifiable income as determined by Grid Property Management.

   We must be able to independently verify the amount and stability of each applicant’s income. Some of the ways that we verify income include review of pay stubs, direct contact with your employer, verification of governmental assistance (ie Section 8 vouchers), verification of child or other support payments, or through tax records.

   If your are employed by others, we’ll need copies of her or his last three pay stubs and three months' proof of any other regular income.

   If you are is self-employed, we’ll need a copy of her or his last year’s tax return or three months of bank statements and three months' proof of any other regular income.

   If you are is not employed but has some other form of income, we’ll need three months' proof of this income. The income amount considered to be provided by this other income source will be the three-month running average of this income as determined by Grid Property Management.

   Checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, etc. will not be considered in lieu of sufficient income.

   Job offers are considered as income as long as the offer is mutually signed by employee and employer, specifies a start date no later than 30 days after property move in date, describes assignment duration, and describes compensation.

   For all properties located outside of the City of Portland, we require that the applicant(s) have a gross income of 3 times the monthly rent (gross income is income before taxes or other expenses).

   For properties located within the City of Portland, we follow the City of Portland Rental Housing Application and Screening Minimum Income Requirement Table provided by the Portland City Code (see below.) If the monthly rent is below the amount listed in the following table for the number of bedrooms in the unit, we will require the applicant(s) to demonstrate a monthly gross income of 2.5 times the amount of the rent.

   Co-signers must demonstrate sufficient gross income equal to 3 times the monthly rent.

   If the monthly rent amount is equal to or above the amount listed in the following table for the number of bedrooms in the unit, we will require the applicant(s) to demonstrate a monthly gross income of 2 times the amount of the rent.

   City of Portland Rental Housing Application and Screening Minimum Income Requirement Table

   # 0f Bedrooms	Rent Amount
   0	$1,580
   1	$1,693
   2	$2,032
   3	$2,347
   4	$2,618
   5	$2,888

6. 6.) Other Screening Criteria

   In addition to other reasons set forth above, your application may be denied for one or more of the following reasons:

   1. a.) Material Misrepresentations in Application. If material misrepresentations are found in an application during the screening process, your application will be denied. Also, please understand that if material misrepresentations are found in your application after the rental agreement is signed, the rental agreement may be terminated.
   2. b.) Drug Convictions. If anyone who will be living at the property has been convicted, or has a pending charge, for the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance.
   3. c.) Other Convictions. If anyone who will be living at the property has been convicted, or has a pending charge, of any felony or misdemeanor if that felony or misdemeanor is for conduct that is:
      1. A drug related crime, but not including convictions based solely on the use or possession of marijuana;
      2. A person crime;
      3. A sex offense;
      4. A crime involving financial fraud, including identity theft and forgery; or
      5. Any other crime if the conduct for which the applicant was convicted or charged is of a nature that may adversely affect:
         • Property of the landlord or a tenant; or
         • The health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises of residents, the landlord, or the landlord’s agent.
   4. d.) Complaint Levels. One or more your prior landlord(s) report significant levels of noncompliant activity including but not limited to:
      1. Disturbance of any other resident’s peaceful enjoyment of the premises;
      2. Gambling, prostitution, drug dealing, drug possession, or drug manufacturing;
      3. Damage to the property beyond normal wear and tear;
      4. Violence or threats of violence against any neighbor or landlord;
      5. Allowing persons not on the lease to reside on the premises; or
      6. Failure to give proper notice when vacating the property.
   5. e.) Previous Landlord's Summary. If your previous landlord provides a negative report.
   6. f.) Credit History. If you have an insufficient or adverse credit history or Grid Property Management is unable to verify information regarding your credit history.

      Your application will be denied if your credit check shows accounts that are not current; please note that any delinquency in payment on any account, no matter how small, will result in denial of your application. Your application will be denied if in the last five years you have had any unpaid collections, an FED judgment against you, a bankruptcy, or any judgment against you for financial delinquency. You will not be rejected for medical or education/vocational training debt of any amount. When evaluating your application, a landlord may not consider your unpaid rent, including rent reflected in judgments or referrals of debt to a collection agency, that accrued on or after April 1, 2020, and before March 1, 2022.

      
      
   7. g.) Rental History. If you(s) have insufficient or adverse rental history.
   8. h.) Other reasons. Any other reason allowed by applicable law.

Please note: If you've submitted an application that was grouped with others and you have been denied, the remaining applications in the group would then be incomplete. If the remaining applicants wish to proceed with the application, they will need to re-qualify without the denied applicant, and we would need written verification that the denied applicant will not be residing in the unit.