Streamlining Tenant Onboarding: Using merge PDF and split PDF for Rental Applications and ID Docs

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For many landlords, tenant onboarding is the first big stress test of their rental process. You get flooded with rental applications, government IDs, pay stubs, bank statements, and reference letters—often all in different formats and file types. Without a good system, it’s easy to lose track of who sent what or waste time digging through messy email threads.

By building your onboarding workflow around two simple actions—merge PDF and split PDF—you can turn that mess into a clear, repeatable process. Tools like PDFmigo.com make it possible to do this entirely online, without installing any software.

Try PDFmigo.com to merge PDF and split PDF documents

What Tenant Onboarding Actually Involves

Before a tenant ever signs a lease, most landlords will collect and review:

  • A completed rental application form
  • Government-issued ID (driver’s license, passport, etc.)
  • Proof of income (recent pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, or benefit letters)
  • Employment verification or job offer letter
  • Previous landlord references or recommendation letters
  • Credit report or screening results
  • Additional documents like pet records or co-signer forms, if needed

Now imagine this multiplied by five or ten applicants for one unit, each sending files in a different way. Some send photos from their phone, others send large multi-page PDFs, and a few still use fax or scans from a copier. Without a process for using merge PDF and split PDF tools, things get messy fast.

The Biggest Problems Without a PDF Workflow

When you don’t have a clear system for handling documents, onboarding can create problems such as:

  • Scattered files: One applicant’s documents are split across multiple emails and folders.
  • Inconsistent file types: Some documents are images, others are Word files, and some are already PDFs.
  • Duplicated or missing documents: You might review the application but forget to check the ID or income proof.
  • Hard-to-share files: When you want to involve a co-owner, manager, or attorney, you end up forwarding long threads.

With a simple PDF-centric approach, you can fix all of that and make onboarding faster, clearer, and more professional.

Using merge PDF to Create “Applicant Packs”

The core idea is simple: instead of juggling 5–10 separate files per applicant, you use a merge PDF tool to combine everything into one organized document.

Step 1: Standardize What You Ask For

First, decide what you need from every applicant. For example:

  • Rental application (PDF)
  • Photo or scan of government ID
  • Last 3 pay stubs or equivalent proof of income
  • Optional: previous landlord reference, pet information, co-signer info

Include that checklist in your listing or in your “thank you for applying” email so tenants know exactly which documents to send.

Step 2: Convert Everything to PDF

To get the full benefit of merge PDF and split PDF tools, you should convert all incoming documents to PDF format:

  • Save images (JPG/PNG) as PDFs using a print-to-PDF function or an online converter.
  • Export Word or Google Docs applications as PDFs.
  • Download bank and pay stub PDFs directly where possible.

Once everything is in PDF form, you can use one workflow for all files, instead of treating each format differently.

Step 3: Build a Single Applicant Pack

For each applicant:

  1. Create a folder named something like 2025-04_Unit-2B_Alex-Jones.
  2. Place all of that applicant’s PDFs inside.
  3. Open an online tool that can merge PDF files.
  4. Upload the documents in a logical order:
    • Rental application
    • ID
    • Income proof
    • References
    • Any letters or explanations
  5. Merge them into one PDF called:
    2025-04_Unit-2B_Alex-Jones_Applicant-Pack.pdf

Now, when you review this tenant, you only open one file. If you’re deciding between several applicants, you can quickly compare applicant packs instead of digging through scattered emails.

Once you’re comfortable with it, you can build this whole workflow around a browser-based service such as PDFmigo, which lets you merge PDF files and streamline onboarding from any device.

Using split PDF to Clean Up Scans and Mixed Files

The other side of the process is using a split PDF tool. Many tenants send you a single scan that actually contains several documents—for example, a six-page PDF where the first page is an ID, the next three are pay stubs, and the last two pages are a reference letter.

Scenario 1: One Scan, Many Documents

Let’s say you receive a file called scan001.pdf from an applicant. It has:

  • Page 1: Driver’s license
  • Pages 2–4: Pay stubs
  • Pages 5–6: Letter from employer

Instead of keeping it as one big generic scan, you can:

  1. Use a split PDF tool to separate the pages into smaller files.
  2. Save them as:
    • Alex-Jones_ID.pdf
    • Alex-Jones_Income.pdf
    • Alex-Jones_Employment-Letter.pdf

Now it’s much easier to find and reuse exactly what you need later, whether you’re sending documents to a co-owner or just double-checking proof of income.

Scenario 2: Sharing Only What’s Necessary

Sometimes you don’t want to share an entire applicant pack with someone else. For example:

  • You want to show a co-owner only income proof and application details, not full ID documents.
  • You want a lawyer to review the application but not see certain internal notes.
  • You want to send the tenant a copy of their signed application without exposing all your private evaluation notes.

Using split PDF, you can remove sensitive pages or create “sanitized” versions of documents. This is more secure and more professional than forwarding every single thing you’ve collected.

Scenario 3: Household Applications with Multiple Adults

In shared rentals, each adult often completes a separate application. You may decide to:

  • Create an individual applicant pack for each adult using merge PDF.
  • Use split PDF to extract the important pages (applications, IDs, income) from each pack.
  • Merge PDF again to create one “Household Applicant Pack” for the entire set of tenants.

This is ideal when sending documents to a property manager or keeping a long-term record for that unit. Everything you need is in one file, but it’s carefully assembled from separate applications.

Organizing Files for Long-Term Use

Good document management during onboarding makes things easier months or years later. Consider a simple structure like:

Applicants
  └─ 2025-04_Unit-2B_Alex-Jones
     ├─ Applicant-Pack.pdf
     ├─ ID.pdf
     ├─ Income.pdf
     └─ Notes.pdf

Once a tenant is approved and signs a lease, you can move or copy their applicant pack into a “Tenant Files” directory and then add the lease and any addendums. That tenant’s story with your property is captured in clearly named PDF files rather than random attachments.

Privacy, Security, and Compliance Considerations

Rental applications contain sensitive information: ID numbers, addresses, income details, sometimes even full bank account or tax information. When using merge PDF and split PDF tools, always keep privacy and security in mind:

  • Store only what you need: Use split PDF to remove unnecessary pages (like unneeded bank statement pages) after the screening decision.
  • Use secure storage: Keep applicant packs in password-protected cloud storage or encrypted drives.
  • Limit access: Only share full packs with people who truly need to see them.
  • Keep originals intact: Don’t overwrite the original files; instead, create new copies when splitting or merging.

If local landlord–tenant laws require you to keep certain records for a set time, this approach also makes compliance easier: you know exactly where each applicant’s information is stored and in what format.

Bringing It All Together

Tenant onboarding doesn’t have to be chaotic. By building your process around merge PDF and split PDF actions, you can:

  • Collect documents in a consistent way from every applicant
  • Review each applicant with a single, organized PDF
  • Quickly share only the pages that matter with partners or advisors
  • Maintain clear, secure records for future reference

Once you’ve tested this approach a few times, you’ll find that the entire application process—from the first inquiry to final approval—feels smoother and more professional, for both you and your tenants.

If you want to experiment with this kind of onboarding workflow right away, you can start merging and splitting PDFs in your browser using a service like https://pdfmigo.com.

Categories: General