The Great Renter API
A tenant screening API for the product you already run.
Order Equifax credit reports, identity verification, global watchlist and adverse media checks from your own software, one REST call per check, with results by webhook. Built for rental marketplaces, property management software, and operators with their own leasing systems.
Details on this page match the public API reference, checked September 2026.
curl -X POST https://api.thegreatrenter.com/api/v1/credit_check/ \
-H "X-Api-Key: $TGR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d @applicant.json
# 201 Created
{
"reference": "TGR_CA_1A2B3C4D5",
"product": "credit_check",
"status": "in_progress",
"currency": "CAD"
}Who it's for
Screening inside your product, not beside it.
Rental marketplaces and listing sites
Let a landlord screen the applicant who messaged them without leaving your site. You collect the applicant's details and consent in your own flow, order the check, and show the result where the conversation already happens.
A screening button on every application in your inbox.
Property management software
Add screening to the leasing workflow your customers already live in. Order a package when an application comes in, and store the result against the unit and the applicant record through the order reference.
Screening as a step in your application pipeline.
Operators with their own systems
Large landlords and property managers with an in-house leasing portal can order checks straight from it, rather than having staff copy details into a second dashboard.
One integration instead of a second login for every leasing agent.
Screening a handful of applicants a month? You don't need an integration. Quickscreen runs the same checks one report at a time, and the platform for property managers adds a dashboard and team seats without writing code.
What you can order
Four checks, two packages, one endpoint each.
Order a single check when that's all you need, or a package that runs a bundle in one call. Every order returns a reference you use to fetch the result.
Credit Report
POST /credit_check/An Equifax credit report, with the bureau picked from the applicant's most recent address. Returns a normalized credit object: score, score range, band, and the itemised file.
What a tenant credit check showsIdentity Verification
POST /identity_verification/The applicant uploads a government ID and completes a selfie and liveness check on a hosted page. You get back a link to send them and, once they finish, a verified, in review, or failed outcome.
How ID verification worksGlobal Watchlist
POST /global_watchlist/Screens the applicant against global watchlists and sanctions lists.
What the watchlist check searchesAdverse Media
POST /adverse_media/Screens the applicant for negative news and adverse media coverage.
What adverse media meansBasic Screening package
POST /basic_screening/Runs the Standard screening bundle in one order. Add the applicant's ID images to include a document check.
Enhanced Screening package
POST /enhanced_screening/Runs the Complete screening bundle in one order. Add the applicant's ID images to include a document check.
Not a criminal record check or an eviction search: the API orders the same checks as a Great Renter report, and nothing else.
How it works
From key to result in four calls.
- 1
Get a key
Keys are issued to your company account and sent in one header. Ordering needs a key with write scope; read-only keys can fetch results but can't spend money.
X-Api-Key: sk_live_... - 2
Check what you can order
Returns every product your company can order, with the price that applies to you and the currency. The
productvalue is the endpoint you order it from.GET /api/v1/products/ - 3
Order a check
Send the applicant's name, email, date of birth and address history. You get back a reference and a status. For identity verification you also get a hosted link to send the applicant.
POST /api/v1/credit_check/ - 4
Get the result
Subscribe a webhook endpoint and we POST the full result the moment the order finishes, signed so you can verify it came from us. Or poll the order by its reference.
credit_check.completed
Every request and response, with curl, Node and Python samples, is in the API documentation.
Built for production
The details your engineers will ask about.
Scoped keys and IP allowlisting
Give a reporting job a read-only key and keep write keys on the server that orders. If your company sets an IP allowlist, calls from anywhere else are refused.
Signed webhooks
Every delivery carries an HMAC-SHA256 signature of the raw body, keyed by a secret shown to you once. Each event is sent once with no automatic retry, so reconcile against the order endpoint if your receiver was down.
Published rate limits
2,000 reads and 120 orders an hour per key, counted across every product. Go over and you get a 429 with a Retry-After header telling you how long to wait.
Billed only when an order succeeds
On pay-per-check billing the card is charged when you order and refunded automatically if the provider rejects the order. Accounts on monthly invoicing get one invoice instead.
One credit shape, any region
The bureau is picked from the applicant's most recent address, and the credit object comes back in the same shape wherever they live. Read its score range instead of assuming 300 to 900.
ID reviews in the API
When an identity check lands in review, approve it, decline it, or send the applicant a fresh link with one call. Every decision is logged with who made it, the key used, and the result before and after.
Consent happens in your product
You send us the applicant's details, so the applicant has to agree to the check in your flow before you do. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada says a landlord needs the applicant's consent to share their information with a credit reporting agency (OPC guidance), and some provinces add notice rules of their own. Our tenant credit check consent form sets out what that consent should cover, province by province.
Pricing
Pay for the checks you order. Nothing else.
- Priced per company, in Canadian dollars. GET /products/ returns the price that applies to your account, including any negotiated rate.
- Pay per check by card, charged when you order and refunded automatically if the order is rejected.
- Or move to monthly invoicing once your volume makes card-by-card billing a nuisance.
Screening landlords' own applicants instead? Per-report prices are on the pricing page.
Getting access
Three steps to your first order.
- 1
Tell us what you're building
Email us with your product, the checks you need, and a rough monthly volume.
- 2
Set up your company account
API keys and webhook endpoints are managed from your company dashboard on the platform.
- 3
Build against the reference
Every endpoint, field and status is documented, with a public OpenAPI schema you can generate a client from.
support@thegreatrenter.com · Already have an account? Open the dashboard
Got questions?
The screening API, answered
What does the tenant screening API cost?
Prices are set per company and quoted in Canadian dollars. Once you have a key, GET /api/v1/products/ returns every product you can order with the price that applies to your account, including any negotiated rate. You can pay per check by card, where a rejected order is refunded automatically, or move to monthly invoicing.
Does The Great Renter contact the applicant?
Not for identity verification: the order response includes a hosted link, valid for 14 days, and you deliver it to the applicant yourself. The other checks run on the details you send, so the applicant only hears from you. Either way, the applicant needs to have agreed to the check in your flow first.
Should I poll or use webhooks?
Use webhooks where you can. Each product fires a completed event, such as credit_check.completed, with the full result in the body and an X-Signature header you verify with your endpoint secret. Deliveries are sent once with no automatic retry, so keep polling the order by its reference as a fallback for anything your receiver missed.
What are the rate limits?
Limits apply per API key and are counted across every product endpoint: 2,000 reads an hour and 120 orders an hour. Going over either returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header giving the number of seconds to wait.
What happens if an applicant's ID image can't be read?
On a screening package with ID images attached, the order does not complete: its status becomes action_required and the message field says what to fix. Order again with a clearer image to get a report. On a standalone identity verification that lands in review, you can approve, decline, or send the applicant a new link through the review endpoint.
Is there an OpenAPI specification?
Yes. The full reference is published as an OpenAPI 3 schema behind the public Swagger page on api.thegreatrenter.com, so you can read every field and generate a typed client from it. The API documentation page on this site walks through the same endpoints with examples.
