The short answer: Military tenants don’t have a typical pay stub, they have a Leave and Earnings Statement (LES), the military’s equivalent, accessed through the DFAS myPay system. To verify a military applicant’s income, request a copy of their LES and look at two things: their base pay and their Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), a tax-free housing stipend that varies by rank, duty-station ZIP code, and dependent status. Add BAH to base pay when you calculate whether they meet your income criteria. You can then request Income Verification through RentRisk to verify deposits directly from their bank account. *One legal caution: the Fair Housing Act doesn’t bar source-of-income discrimination, but many states and cities do, so check your local law before screening on income type.
Renting to servicemembers can be one of the most reliable tenancies a landlord can have, but only if you know how to read the paperwork. Here’s how to screen a military applicant properly.
Why military tenants are worth the effort
The appeal is straightforward: steady, predictable income. As one property-management resource puts it, military members aren’t just personally reliable, they have a reliable income stream, because the housing allowance many of them receive is automatically included in their paychecks every month. For a landlord near a base, that’s a dependable rent source and a steady applicant pool.
But the income shows up differently than it does for a civilian, which is where screening goes wrong if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
The LES: the military’s pay stub
The key document is the Leave and Earnings Statement (LES). A VA lending resource describes it as the closest thing the military has to a pay stub and the primary document used to verify a servicemember’s income (entitlement, deduction, allotment, and leave balance appear on it).
A few practical facts about the LES:
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Members access it through myPay, the official DFAS system, and it’s published twice a month.
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It’s divided into blocks covering identification, entitlements, deductions, allotments, leave, and remarks.
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Request a current copy with the rental application, the same way you’d ask a civilian for pay stubs.
Reading BAH correctly (the part landlords miss)
The single most common screening mistake is looking only at base pay and missing the housing allowance (the 2nd biggest is not verifying!)
Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is a tax-free monthly stipend intended to cover housing costs. As a landlord guide from Avail explains, the amount depends on the member’s duty-station location, their rank, and whether they have dependents. Crucially, it’s in addition to base pay. A property manager who screens military applicants stresses that you must add the BAH to base pay when calculating total monthly income against your rental criteria.
Two details on the LES help you sanity-check the number. A Virginia property manager notes that the LES indicates the ZIP code the BAH amount is based on and whether the rate is for a single member or one with dependents and that BAH adjusts for cost of living when a member transfers to a new duty station. If an applicant hasn’t yet given you an LES, you can estimate using an online BAH calculator if you know their pay grade, though the actual LES is always the better verification.
One nuance worth knowing: because BAH (and the food allowance, BAS) are tax-free, they don’t appear in taxable wages, which is why a servicemember’s W-2 looks lower than their true total compensation. Don’t undercount a military applicant by reaching for a W-2 alone, the LES is the complete picture.
The fair-housing line you can’t cross
Here’s the legal caution. MilitaryByOwner notes that landlords can ask for income documentation including an LES, a W-2, a 1099, or proof of other income but the Fair Housing Act does not itself prohibit discrimination based on source of income. The catch is that many states and local municipalities have passed their own laws that do bar source-of-income discrimination.
Practically, that means you can require an applicant to prove sufficient income, but in many jurisdictions, you cannot refuse them because the income comes from military pay or an allowance. Source-of-income protection varies widely by state and city, so verify your local landlord-tenant law before you build screening criteria around income type. When in doubt, screen on the amount and stability of income, not its source.
Where allotments fit in
Military pay also offers a screening-adjacent advantage on the collection side: the allotment, an automatic deduction from military pay that routes rent straight to the landlord before it ever reaches the tenant’s bank account. Many landlords offer a small incentive, a reduced deposit or slightly reduced rent, to encourage allotment payment, because it sharply reduces late-payment risk. It’s not part of screening, but it’s worth raising with a qualified applicant during lease signing.
A screening checklist for military applicants
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Request the LES with the application (current statement from myPay).
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Add base pay + BAH (to get true total monthly income).
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Check the LES BAH details (ZIP code, dependent status and confirm the rate matches their situation).
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Don’t rely on a W-2 alone (tax-free allowances won’t show up there).
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Verify your state/local source-of-income law (before screening on income type).
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Offer allotment payment (to a qualified applicant to lock in reliable rent).
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Verify Income (with RentRisk’s income verification, powered by Plaid)
The takeaway
Screening a military tenant isn’t harder than screening a civilian, it’s just different paperwork. Learn to read an LES, count BAH correctly, and stay on the right side of source-of-income law, and you open the door to one of the steadiest tenant pools a landlord near a base can find.
For landlords who want a repeatable, compliant screening process for military applicants, RentRisk.com is designed around exactly these requirements.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Fair-housing and source-of-income rules vary significantly by state and locality. For your specific situation, consult an attorney or your local housing authority. A useful starting point for income verification is understanding the military LES through DFAS myPay.
