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Rental Qualifications

Ole Bay Management, Inc. (hereinafter “Ole Bay”) has established minimum criteria for accepting a rental application. Each applicant must meet the minimum qualification criteria individually, and if any applicant does not, a co-signer will be necessary for approval who does meet the minimum criteria. Some criteria are immediate disqualifiers if they aren’t met, even with a co-signer, so please read the details below. Any adult age 19 or older that will occupy the premises must complete an application and meet the minimum qualifications. All applicants must either be United States citizens or otherwise be able to demonstrate legal residence in the United States.Ole Bay uses a third-party application screening provider to run credit checks, criminal background checks, etc. By submitting this application, you agree that Ole Bay is not responsible for any incorrect data provided by any third party, and you agree to hold Ole Bay harmless from any decisions made on your application related to any data received from a third party, whether accurate or inaccurate. It is of the utmost importance that you complete the application in its entirety to ensure that the application will be processed in a timely manner. The application fee is not refundable under circumstances. Failure to provide full and complete information will lead to your application be denied without a refund. If you provide any false information or documents as part of your application, your application will be denied, and it would be grounds for lease termination and eviction if it is discovered after you have moved in.Ole Bay Management, Inc. is proud to abide by all state and Federal Fair Housing Laws and we will not discriminate against any tenant or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status.Ole Bay reserves the right to reject an application based on the data collected from you, credit reporting agencies, law enforcement agencies, employers, state registries, or prior landlords based on the following minimum criteria. If you have any questions regarding data found on your credit report, we will not be able to provide that to you. Instead, you must contact the credit reporting agency used by Ole Bay and they will provide you with the information and how to dispute anything that you believe is incorrect. Please note that disputes will not change your application denial, and the dispute would have to be resolved in your favor and removed from your credit report before you could successfully apply. If you desire to contact the credit reporting agency for a copy of your report, please request that information from us after your application has been processed.

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Qualification Criteria

Rental History: We will review your past and present residences provided on your application, as well as any data available on your credit report or in other databases available to us for your rental history. Any eviction within the past seven (7) years will result in an automatic denial. Evictions older than seven (7) years will require a double security deposit. We may also contact your prior landlords for a reference and to get information on length of your lease(s), rent amount(s), other tenants, pets, property condition on move-out, lease or community violations, noise complaints, etc. Based on this information collected, you may need to provide further information for approval, or it may lead to an application denial at our sole discretion. Ole Bay is seeking tenants who serve out their lease terms, abide by all lease and neighborhood rules, and do not disturb their neighbors. If you previously owned a home, you will need to provide your mortgage information.

Employment: Income must be three (3) times the rent amount for standard approval. Income of down to two-and-one-half (2.5) times the rent amount may be approved with a double security deposit. You must provide information on your employers so that we can verify employment and income, and if you are self-employed, copies of the previous year’s tax return must be provided. Income not reported on your taxes is not eligible to be considered as income for approval purposes. Income received from social security or child support will not be considered as income for the purposes of approval.

Credit Report: By submitting your application, you and all other applicants are authorizing Ole Bay to do a “hard pull” on a full credit report. Any amount showing owed on your credit report for prior rental property debt will result in an immediate denial of your application. Any open collections accounts (other than medical or student loan debt) may result in an immediate denial. A prior foreclosure on a mortgage will not necessarily result in a denial if all other criteria are met. The minimum credit score for a standard approval is 625, and a score between 500-624 will result in an increased security deposit and a risk mitigation fee on top of the rent. Credit scores below 500 will result in an immediate denial.

Bankruptcy: Any bankruptcy filed within the past twenty-four (24) calendar months will result in an immediate denial regardless of whether it has been discharged. Any open bankruptcy case will result in an immediate denial. A bankruptcy discharged more than twenty-four (24) months prior will not impact approval.

Criminal Background: Applicants are advised that there is no national criminal database, so the data collected comes from individual local and state databases and may or may not be accurate. By submitting your application, you agree to hold Ole Bay harmless for any decisions made on your application as a result of the criminal data collected. Any felony convictions for crimes against persons or property in the prior seven (7) years, and any drug trafficking offenses or presence on a sex offender registry at any time will result in an immediate denial.

Move-In Funds: If you are moving in after the fifteenth (15th) of the month, be advised that you will need to pay both that month’s pro-rated rent and the following month’s rent prior to move-in, along with security deposit and any administrative fees. You are advised not to submit an application if you would not be able to pay these amounts, and inability to pay will not result in a refund.

Co-Signers: A co-signer will only be considered for students, and may be used if the primary student applicant(s) does not meet the minimum criteria for credit score or income. If used, the co-signer must meet the standard approval criteria, not the reduced criteria that comes with a higher deposit and risk mitigation fees, and the co-signer must reside in the state of Alabama. A co-signer can NOT be used if you are disqualified on the basis of prior landlord debt, criminal convictions, an open bankruptcy, or presence on a sex offender registry. These items are immediate disqualifiers.

Deposits: If your application is approved, you will have to pay a security deposit, first month’s rent, and other fees prior to moving in. If you pay any of these amounts and then choose not to move in, you will not receive a refund. By putting money down to the reserve the property, you are taking the property off the market for other prospective applicants, so failure to move in would cause financial harm to the landlord and Ole Bay, and any amounts paid would be forfeited.