General Rental Criteria & Policies

At PMI James River, we strive to make the application process transparent and straightforward while ensuring that all applicants are aware of our qualification standards before paying their non-refundable application fees. To assist you in your search for a new residence, we are providing an overview of the guidelines we use to qualify applicants.

General Policy: PMI James River requires every legal individual aged 18 years or older who will reside on the property to be a leaseholder; therefore, every legal adult individual must submit a complete application to be screened to verify financial responsibility and reliability. Screenings are limited to events during the past 7 years.

Qualification Standards: PMI James River evaluates applicants based on the following six key factors:

  1. Identification Verification
  2. Credit History Screening
  3. Income Verification
  4. Address History Verification
  5. Employment History & Verification
  6. Criminal Background Screening

Security Deposits: To qualify for the advertised security deposit amount, applicants must meet the criteria listed below. Applicants that qualify conditionally will be offered an opportunity to rent with a guarantor and at a higher security deposit amount, as indicated below.

Guarantors: May be accepted for applicants who qualify conditionally due to insufficient rental history, credit, or income. Guarantors must reside in Virginia, submit their own applications, pay their own non-refundable application fees, consent and pass background screening, have a credit score of 700 or higher, have verifiable income of at least 3 times the rental rate of the property plus their own monthly mortgage/rental payments, and sign a Guarantor Addendum as part of the lease. Two times the base security deposit is required for all leases with guarantors, as well as a risk mitigation fee of $500.

Below we provide more details about the seven key factors we use to screen applicants. We encourage you to review these standards carefully before applying. For additional questions or assistance, please reach out to the PMI James River leasing team via .

Identification Verification

Each applicant will undergo a secure identity verification process. This process is conducted through a trusted third-party partner, Plaid, to maintain accuracy and confidentiality. To pass this screening, applicants will need to submit a clear biometric selfie and a valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID (e.g., driver’s license, passport, or state ID). Non-U.S. citizens must also upload documentation of legal status (e.g., visa, green card, I-20) to the application’s “Documents” section. The only information Plaid will share with PMI James River is your government-issued ID along with an identification verification summary report. You can learn more about the security and privacy of this process by visiting https://plaid.com/products/identity-verification.

Credit History Screening

PMI James River performs a comprehensive credit history screening for all applicants. This consistent and unbiased evaluation is conducted through a trusted third-party partner which is also one of the major consumer credit agencies in the USA. Clean credit histories are required, meaning credit histories must be free from past-due or charged-off utilities, car payments, furniture loan, credit cards, liens, or other consumer loans reported on credit reports or civil court records. Credit histories must also be free from accounts in excessive collections or charged off statuses. Unfavorable credit may result in denial or up to 2x the base security deposit.

Income Verification

Verifying income is an essential part of our application process to ensure applicants can meet their financial obligations as leaseholders. Please read the following carefully but WAIT FOR OUR PROMPT before initiating the income verification process.

Income Requirements: To qualify, all applicants must have a combined verifiable gross monthly income of at least 3 times their monthly rent, and net income of at least 2.5 times their monthly rent.

Applicants should be prepared to provide verifiable documentation of income and/or assets. Acceptable Documentation:

Process: All applicants must undergo income/asset verification through one of our trusted and secure third-party partners. The partner we’ll use depends on what proof of income/assets applicants provide; we use Plaid, Atomic, Ocrolus, Pinwheel, or Payscore. There is a $10 fee per submission for each verification. To minimize costs, applicants may combine incomes from multiple rent-responsible parties into a single income verification submission. Make sure to include ALL applicable accounts to avoid delays or additional fees. Your financial information will remain confidential: the only information the secure third-party vendor will share with PMI James River will be your income history. If you are uncomfortable with bank-account-generated income verification, we suggest researching the process. Here is Payscore’s website link: https://www.payscore.com.

Housing Assistance Applicants: Please remember to contact us first before applying. You will then need to upload a copy of your voucher with your application. If your voucher doesn’t cover 100% of the rent, we require you to have monthly verifiable income of at least three times the rent you are responsible for. Upon acceptance, a reservation fee equal to one month’s rent is due for the property to be held for you. Applications will only be processed if the applicant confirms they have the funds available to pay the reservation fee within 48 hours of acceptance. If you are accepted, the property will remain on the market until the reservation fee equal to one month’s rent is received. First month's rent due at lease execution.

Address History Verification

A strong rental history is an important part of the qualification process. To help PMI James River verify rental histories, applicants will need to provide details for all residential addresses over the past 3 years. Applicants will also be required to complete and sign an Authorization to Release Information Form, which grants PMI James River permission to contact current and previous landlords for a rental history verification. Applicants with any civil court landlord judgments will not be qualified. Applicants with a history of property damage or outstanding balances owed to prior landlords will also not be qualified. Unfavorable landlord references may result in denial or up to 2x the base security deposit.

Military Applicants: Please note we recognize base housing as valid rental history.

International Addresses: Our application form may sometimes have trouble processing international addresses in the "current address" section. If this happens, please use the address of the property you’re applying to as your current address instead.

Employment History & Verification

To qualify, applicants must provide their employment history for the past 3 years on the application form. PMI James River may contact your current and previous employers to verify your employment status and history.

Important Note: If your employer’s policy is to verify employment through a third-party service (e.g., The Work Number) rather than directly through their HR department or supervisor, it is your responsibility to notify us and provide an employment verification report as soon as possible during the application process.

Criminal Background History

As part of PMI James River’s screening process, we conduct a criminal background check on all adult applicants. Any of the following convictions within the past 7 years may result in application denial:

Additional Information: