Sex offender screening API for real estate & short-term rentals
Screen hosts, guests, and agents against every US sex-offender registry — and search around any property address — with one scored, source-verified API call.
25 free searches, no card. $0.15 a call, no platform fee, no seats, no minimum. No code needed: search from your dashboard, or integrate the full API when you’re ready.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Paul", "lastName": "Walsh", "dob": "1975-09-30", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a match carries its reason { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Deciding whether to rent to someone? Use an FCRA workflow.
If a result will help decide whether to rent to someone, the check has to run as an FCRA-regulated consumer report, with a permissible purpose, consent, accuracy controls and a dispute path for the person. Our standard search and API are not a consumer report, and standard results are never used for that decision. FCRA workflows run through FCRA Partner Access, for background check companies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement.
FCRA pricing is quoted per partner, so contact us for pricing.
Screening challenges for short-term rental platforms and real-estate operators
- Hosts and guests share space, so both sides need screening
- Guests and agents cross state lines; single-state checks miss them
- Listings and stays can’t wait on slow, manual registry lookups
What sex offender screening gives short-term rental platforms and real-estate operators
Screen hosts, guests, and agents in the booking or listing flow
Search registrants around any property address
Keep a source-verified record of each check
Screen only where the law allows it, by property location
Real Estate & Short-Term Rentals sex offender check API: request and response. One POST per person, or the same search from the dashboard with no code.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Paul", "lastName": "Walsh", "dob": "1975-09-30", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a match carries its reason { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Send what you have. Name and date of birth; age or birth year when that is all you hold. Date of birth drives matchState: dob_match, year_match, age_match or no_dob_age_year.
Read the counts. sourcesComplete against sourcesQueried says whether all 58 registries answered, so a partial search is never read as a clear one.
Branch on the score. matchConfidence and matchBasis on every record, with the registry cited.
| Person | Checked for | Result | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Walsh | host verification | No match | 58 / 58 |
| Jordan Sample | host verification | Match · dob_match | 58 / 58 |
| J. Sample | host verification | Review · year_match | 58 / 58 |
Read the API docs › · Search from the dashboard › · Screen a CSV without code ›
Sex offender screening built for real estate & short-term rentals. One key, one schema, one stored record of every check.
Address & radius search
Search by city, ZIP, or lat/lng with a radius to screen around a listing or a portfolio of properties.
Every US registry in one call
A single request covers every state, DC, and US territory, catching prior registrations wherever a host, guest, or agent has lived.
Scored, source-verified results
matchConfidence and source provenance on every hit give teams a defensible basis to act.
Guest checks in the booking flow
Send the guest’s name and date of birth when a booking arrives and get a scored answer before check-in instructions go out — called from your booking engine or your host software.
Watch the area around a listing
A location monitor watches the neighborhood around a property and alerts you when a registrant moves in nearby — useful for portfolios that host families.
Match basis on every hit
Each candidate says why it matched — date of birth, birth year, age or name only — so a trust-and-safety reviewer never acts on a namesake.
Real Estate & Short-Term Rentals screening: what the law requires
Short-term rental screening is set city by city, and the picture is thinner than industry marketing suggests. The stronger legal fact runs the other way: some states restrict using registry information for housing and accommodations at all.
| Jurisdiction | Citation | Applies to | What it requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Cal. Penal Code § 290.46(j) | Data users | Megan’s Law information may be used only to protect a person at risk; use for housing or accommodations, or for services provided by a business establishment, is prohibited except as that clause or another law authorizes. |
And what it doesn’t
Most cities that regulate short-term rentals require no guest check at all — New Orleans, New York City, Jersey City, Nashville, Honolulu, San Francisco and Austin among them, per their own permit rules. In Arizona, Scottsdale is the one city confirmed to require a guest check; claims about Sedona, Peoria and Paradise Valley do not hold up against the ordinance text. Miami-Dade’s rule reaches only rentals within 2,500 feet of a school. And Nevada (NRS 179B.270) and New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 2C:7-16) restrict housing use of registry information much as California does.
Citations link to the primary text. This is background, not legal advice: obligations change, and your counsel is the right reader of your own facts.
Screening practices for short-term rental platforms and real-estate operators. Record what you checked, not just what you found.
| NJ | New Jersey · answered | 0 |
| NY | New York · answered | 0 |
| PA | Pennsylvania · answered | 0 |
| FL | Florida · answered | 0 |
| TX | Texas · answered | 0 |
Gate by property location. Build the check so it can be switched off by where the property is. Stays in California, Nevada and New Jersey need counsel’s sign-off before any guest is screened.
Match on date of birth. The exposure in this market is the false positive. A date of birth turns a common name into one scored candidate; a name-only hit should never cancel a booking on its own.
Show the evidence, keep a person deciding. Give the reviewer the match basis, the registry and the photo, and let a person make the call. An unexplained yes or no is the result that ends up in a dispute.
Screen both sides where allowed. Guests share space with hosts, and hosts hold keys to guests’ stays. A platform that screens only one side has solved half the trust problem.
Registry and criminal records for real estate & short-term rentals, on one key. Most short-term rental platforms and real-estate operators need more than one check, and running two vendors means two integrations, two contracts and two invoices.
Sex offender registry
58 US registries, continuously updated, with photographs, aliases, addresses and the official record citation on every match. 1.5M records in one schema.
Sex offender API ›Criminal records
1,408 county jail rosters, 53 state corrections systems, courts, warrants and federal custody, almost 50 million records in the same scored, source-cited schema. Same key, same price.
Criminal search API ›FCRA background checks
When a result decides a hire or a tenancy, the check runs as an FCRA order through FCRA Partner Access: consent, the check, disputes and adverse-action steps. Pricing is quoted per partner.
FCRA Partner Access ›Coverage today: 1,914 criminal jurisdictions catalogued, 1,564 live, 51 states + DC + federal. See what each state publishes, or the live list at /v1/criminal/sources.
What real estate & short-term rentals screening costs per check. $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month. No platform fee, no seats, no minimum.
| Checks / month | Cost | Per check |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $75.00 | $0.1500 |
| 5,000 | $630.00 | $0.1260 |
| 50,000 | $5,580.00 | $0.1116 |
A batch is billed per row, so bulk screening costs the same per person as a single lookup. No setup fee, no per-seat licence, no monthly minimum on search and no annual contract, so the price scales down with you as well as up. A fraction of what legacy screening platforms charge.
The background check API · screen a CSV without code. More for developers: the free background check API tier, background check API pricing, the employment screening API and tenant screening API, and the background check API in Python and background check API in Node.js tutorials.
Real Estate & Short-Term Rentals screening FAQ
For anything else, talk to sales or read the API docs.
Can I search around a specific property?
Yes. Provide a ZIP or coordinates with a radius to return registrants near a listing or address. Radius matching sees only records we have geocoded — the large majority, but not all — so pair it with a name or ZIP search when completeness matters.
Are there limits on registry-based decisions?
Decisions based on this data are regulated; consult counsel for your jurisdictions and keep a human making the final call, with the search supplying the evidence.
Is guest screening legally required?
Rarely. Most cities that regulate short-term rentals require no guest check. Scottsdale is the one Arizona city confirmed to require one, and Miami-Dade’s rule applies only to rentals within 2,500 feet of a school. For most hosts and platforms, screening is a trust-and-safety choice, not a legal duty.
Can we screen guests for stays in California?
Not without counsel’s sign-off. California prohibits using Megan’s Law information for housing or accommodations, or for services provided by a business establishment, unless the use protects a person at risk or another law authorizes it (Penal Code § 290.46(j)). Nevada and New Jersey have similar restrictions.
Should hosts and cleaners be screened too?
Where your platform and local law allow it, yes — hosts, co-hosts and cleaners have keys to the same space. The same search works for each, and the match basis keeps a common name from becoming an accusation.
What is the real legal risk in guest screening?
Accuracy. The costly cases in this market have been about false positives — the wrong label on the wrong person — not about failing to screen. That is why every result carries its match basis and per-registry status rather than a bare yes or no.
Related
Screen short-term rental platforms and real-estate operators with one API
Screen hosts, guests, and agents against every US sex-offender registry — and search around any property address — with one scored, source-verified API call.