Free New York Landlord Adverse-Action Notice

15 U.S.C. § 1681m(a). Where a person takes adverse action against a consumer based in whole or in part on information in a consumer report, that person must give notice of the adverse action; disclose in writing or electronically any numerical credit score used and the accompanying information; give the name, address and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report, along with a statement that the agency did not make the decision and cannot explain it; and tell the consumer of the right to a free copy of the report within sixty days and the right to dispute its accuracy or completeness.

Yes. The definition in 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(k)(1)(B)(iv) reaches an action taken or determination that is made in connection with an application made by, or a transaction initiated by, any consumer and is adverse to the interests of the consumer. A rental application is a transaction initiated by the applicant, so a denial falls squarely within it. The definition is not limited to outright refusals either: conditioning approval on a co-signer, on a different unit, or on terms less favourable than those applied for is also adverse to the applicant’s interests and should be treated as triggering § 1681m(a).

Read it before you rely on it, because it is narrower than it looks. Section 1681m(b)(1) is limited to the situation where credit for personal, family, or household purposes is denied, or the charge for that credit is increased, because of information obtained from a person other than a consumer reporting agency. It is a credit provision, not a housing one, and a rental denial based on a landlord reference is not within its terms. Section 1681m(b)(2) is separate again and concerns information supplied by a corporate affiliate. For a screening report, § 1681m(a) is the operative subsection.

Federally, 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)(3)(F)(i): a legitimate business need for the information in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer. A rental application initiated by the applicant fits. Be careful not to cite § 1681b(b) for this; that subsection sets out the conditions for furnishing and using consumer reports for employment purposes, including the standalone disclosure and written authorisation and the pre-adverse-action copy, and those employment rules do not transfer to tenancy. New York separately recognises the rental or lease of a residence as a permissible purpose in General Business Law § 380-b(a)(3)(vi).

Advance written notice. General Business Law § 380-b(b) provides that no person shall request a consumer report in connection with an application for the rental or lease of a residence unless the applicant is first informed, in writing or in the same manner in which the application is made, that a consumer report may be requested and that on request the applicant will be told whether one was requested and the name and address of the agency that furnished it. If an investigative consumer report is involved, § 380-c adds a further notice requirement and requires the consumer’s authorisation before procurement.

New York restricts this more tightly than most states, and more tightly than the phrase “filings versus judgments” suggests. RPL § 227-f(1) says no landlord of residential premises shall refuse to rent or offer a lease to a potential tenant on the basis that the potential tenant was involved in a past or pending landlord-tenant action or summary proceeding under RPAPL Article 7. The same subdivision creates a rebuttable presumption of violation where the landlord requested information from a tenant screening bureau, or inspected court records, and then refused. Subdivision 2 authorises Attorney General enforcement with civil penalties.

It should not be in a New York report to begin with. General Business Law § 380-j(a)(1) prohibits a consumer reporting agency from reporting or maintaining information relative to an arrest or a criminal charge unless there has been a criminal conviction for that offence, or the charges are still pending. Section 380-j(a)(2) likewise bars information relative to race, religion, colour, ancestry or ethnic origin, and § 380-j(a)(4) bars information the agency has reason to know is inaccurate. New York City imposes further restrictions on the use of criminal history in housing; confirm those with the NYC Commission on Human Rights before deciding.

Neither substitution works in New York. General Obligations Law § 7-108(1-a)(a) provides that no deposit or advance shall exceed the amount of one month’s rent for covered non-rent-stabilized dwelling units, subject to narrow seasonal-use and owner-occupied cooperative exceptions, so a larger deposit is not an available condition. Executive Law § 296(5)(a)(1) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice to refuse to rent or lease a housing accommodation because of a person’s lawful source of income, among other protected characteristics. A conditional approval is still an adverse action, so the § 1681m(a) disclosures are owed either way.