Please be aware that our minimum underwriting guidelines for all applicants include good to excellent credit history, satisfactory rental history and proof of income in the Knoxville market, or official documentation of remote work.
Read below for more details on our application criteria, including what is considered verifiable income, debt-to-income ratio calculation, and more.
ALL occupants of the apartment age 18 years and older must submit a complete application along with proof of income before your application can be processed and submitted for final review.
Fox Lake Rental Application Criteria
FAILURE TO MEET ANY OF THE FOLLOWING UNDERWRITING GUIDELINES MAY RESULT IN ADDITIONAL SECURITY DEPOSIT AND/OR AN ADDITIONAL MONTHLY FEE, AS A CONDITION OF APPLICATION APPROVAL and LEASE OFFERING.
UNDERWRITING GUIDELINES — RATIOS OF RENT AND MONTHLY OBLIGATIONS TO INCOME:
Income should be verifiable by 6 months of pay stubs, most recent year’s W-2 (for continued employment with the same job), 3 years of Form 1040 from tax returns if self-employed, or official job offer letter on company letterhead. Approval may be conditional and additional security deposit and/or non-refundable Additional Financial Risk Fee paid monthly may be required if income is unverifiable, inconsistent or if employment has changed within the previous 12 months.
Credit history should be free of both past and/or present delinquencies, collections, charge offs, civil judgments, past due trade line balances, and/or FICO or other credit risk score of less than 620. Approval may be conditional and additional security deposit and/or non-refundable Additional Financial Risk Fee may be required if credit history includes any of these risk factors OR if credit history is unavailable or not established.
Rental history should be verifiable by previous or current landlord or property management agency, free of lease violations, and late or slow rent payments. Approval may be conditional and additional security deposit and/or nonrefundable Additional Financial Risk Fee may be required in the case of less than perfect on-time rent payment and/or lease fulfillment history or in the case of no verifiable rental history within the last 3 years.
“Adjusted Gross Income” (defined as shown on your Form 1040, line 8b in on 2019 form or your W-2 if you have no other income) before taxes and other deductions are taken out of income should be 4 times rent, 25% ratio. Rent to gross income may be as high as 38% if no other debt or obligations exist.
Total Debt/obligations ratio to Adjusted Gross Income (Debt-to-Income ratio, or DTI), including any installment or revolving monthly payments as shown on a credit report and on your application + future monthly rent at Fox Lake + child support and alimony when totaled should not exceed 38%. Approval may be conditional and additional security deposit and/or nonrefundable Additional Financial Risk Fee may be required if debt/obligations ratio is higher than 38%. Allowable debt/obligations ratio to Adjusted Gross Income may be extended up to 42% if FICO or similar credit risk score is 750 or higher with no late payments.
Debt SHALL include:
Alimony and child support payments
School, student loans unless written evidence of deferral or modification of monthly payment. Please note that if you are not a full-time student your student loans start payments within six months of your last class period.
Payments on home mortgages even if home is rented. We cannot assume renter will pay.
Any other obligation or debt that is ongoing.
Gross income SHALL NOT include:
Student loans received. To consider student loans, grants, fellowships, or other school related income we can only consider the amount left over after tuition, books, lab fees, parking passes and other school expenses are subtracted out of total cash received.
Child support or alimony must have what the court ordered in writing and payments must have been received for six consecutive months with no late payments. In the case of alimony, to be included with less than six months proof of payment, the ex-spouse must submit an application and pass our credit underwriting guidelines and co-sign the lease.
Bonuses may be counted as an average over the last three years history. No projected bonuses are to be counted on a new or existing job.
Commission/Bonus/Self Employed Income, 1099 income shall be verified over the last 36 months by W2 or SIGNED 1040 tax return using line 8b total income. No individual income statements, book keepers ledgers or bank statements shall be used for income verification.
CURRENT AND PAST LANDLORD REFERENCES:
We must be able to verify your last 24 months of occupancy with a written reference on a form we send to your landlord. Please provide all of your landlords for the last 24 months with phone, fax and email address in the section provided on the rental application form.
ADDITIONAL SECURITY DEPOSIT AND CO-SIGNER REQUIREMENTS:
Additional Security Deposit that may be required may only be applied to balance due after your occupancy ends. FOR EXAMPLE: ONE MONTH UPFRONT SECURITY DEPOSIT would only be refunded after: move out, end of occupancy, after all amounts have been paid in full and after staff have walked the unit and found NO damages or excess cleaning.
COSIGNER — Cosigner must fill out and submit an application and pay a separate application fee.
The maximum total debt ratio requirement of 38% is applied to the cosigner for all debt including his/her existing debt plus adding the apartment rent and then calculating the ratio.
Cosigner with any late or slow payments, evictions, collections or charge offs WILL NOT be considered.
Out of state co-signers will NOT be considered except for full time related students who otherwise live at home with their parents when not in school and are a part of their household. UNDERWRITING GUIDELINES-CURRENT AND PAST LANDLORD REFERENCES: We must be able to verify your last 24 months occupancy with a written reference on a form we send to your landlord. Please provide all of your landlords for the last 24 months with phone, fax and email address in the section provided herein.
UNDERWRITING GUIDELINES — CURRENT AND PAST LANDLORD REFERENCES:
We must be able to verify your last 24 months of occupancy with a written reference on a form we send to your landlord. Please provide all of your landlords for the last 24 months with phone, fax and email address in the section provided on the rental application form.
