What does a rental application collect?

A residential rental application collects applicant identity (legal name, date of birth, and often the last four digits of a Social Security number), residence history, employment and income, personal and prior-landlord references, the number of occupants and pets, and the applicant's written authorization to run credit, criminal, and eviction screening.

Do I need the applicant's consent to run a credit or background check?

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), a landlord must have a permissible purpose before obtaining a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency; for tenant screening that purpose is the rental application the applicant submits. The applicant's signed authorization is required before a report that includes credit is obtained, and it documents that purpose; a background-only report (no credit) needs no signature. The signed authorization block on the application collects that authorization.

What must an FCRA adverse-action notice include?

If you deny an applicant based even in part on a consumer report, 15 U.S.C. 1681m requires notice of the adverse action; the name, address, and phone of the consumer reporting agency; a statement that the agency did not make the decision and cannot explain it; notice of the right to a free copy of the report within sixty days; and notice of the right to dispute the accuracy of the information with the agency.

What questions violate Fair Housing law?

Do not ask questions or apply criteria that screen on the seven federally protected classes under the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.): race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. Ask every applicant the same questions and apply the same criteria.

Can I automatically reject anyone with a criminal record?

A blanket ban on applicants with any criminal record can violate the Fair Housing Act under a disparate-impact theory, because of documented racial disparities in the justice system. The authority for that is the Fair Housing Act itself and HUD's discriminatory-effects rule at 24 CFR section 100.500, in force since May 1, 2023, not HUD's 2016 criminal-records guidance, which was withdrawn effective September 25, 2025 and should no longer be relied on. Section 100.500 is a burden-shifting litigation standard and imposes no individualized-assessment step, so assessing criminal history individually is the strongest defensible practice and the evidence that defends a denial, not a federal requirement. Consider the nature and age of the conduct, and never screen on arrests that did not lead to conviction.

How much can I charge for an application fee?

Application-fee rules vary by state. Some states cap the fee, tie it to the actual cost of screening, require a receipt, or require you to return unused amounts. There is no single national cap, so verify the limit for your state before charging and disclose the fee up front.

How long should I keep completed applications?

Retain applications, screening authorizations, and supporting documents consistently for all applicants under applicable state law and FCRA record-handling rules, and dispose of consumer-report data securely. Many landlords keep records for several years to document that decisions were made on lawful, consistent grounds.

Should I take the same application from every adult?

Yes. Every adult who will live in the unit should complete the same application and sign the same authorization. Uniform intake is the strongest evidence that you screened consistently and did not treat applicants differently based on a protected class.

Should I use the fillable PDF, the online form, or the Word template?

All three collect the same FCRA-compliant information, so it comes down to how you like to work. Use this fillable PDF when you want a permanent, print-ready document to complete in Acrobat or on paper and keep on file. Use the interactive online rental application when you would rather fill every field on screen with no PDF reader. Use the Word and print template when you need to edit the wording or print blank copies. Landlords who collect applications on their own website can embed the form directly.

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Free Rental Application (Fillable PDF)

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Free fillable PDF rental application — build it in your browser, download the PDF, then fill it in Adobe Acrobat or print it for the applicant to complete by hand. It captures identity, residence and employment history, income, references, and the applicant’s signed authorization to run credit.

Rental Application FCRA Authorization Fair Housing Free Fillable PDF

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Reviewed for FCRA & Fair Housing ~9 min read

A rental application is the form a prospective tenant fills out so a landlord can evaluate whether to rent to them. It gathers the applicant’s identity, residence history, employment and income, and references, and it carries the applicant’s written authorization to obtain a consumer report. Two federal laws frame the whole process: the Fair Credit Reporting Act governs how you pull and act on a screening report, and the Fair Housing Act governs which questions you may ask and how consistently you must treat every applicant. Use the generator below to build a clean, downloadable PDF you can complete in Acrobat or print, then read on for the FCRA authorization and adverse-action rules, the Fair Housing do’s and don’ts, and the mistakes that most often get landlords into trouble. Prefer to fill it out on screen instead? Use the interactive online rental application, or grab the editable Word and print template for landlords.

Rental Application at a Glance

Governing Law

FCRA + Fair Housing Act

Type

Screening Intake Form

Who Completes It

Every Adult Applicant

Consent Collected

Signed applicant authorization

Compliance note: Give every adult occupant the same application, apply the same written criteria to each, obtain the applicant’s signed authorization before pulling a report that includes credit, and send an adverse-action notice if you deny based on a consumer report. Application-fee rules vary by state — verify your state’s cap locally.

Two laws you cannot skip

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) controls the credit, criminal, and eviction report you pull and what you must tell an applicant you turn down. The Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) forbids screening on protected classes and demands that you ask every applicant the same questions. Both apply to nearly every landlord, and both are covered in detail below.

How the Rental Application and Screening Work

The Screening Playbook, Start to Finish

Hand every adult the same application

Give an identical application to each adult who will live in the unit, and apply the same written criteria to all of them. Uniform intake is your best proof you screened fairly.

Collect identity, history, income, and references

The applicant supplies legal name, date of birth, current and prior addresses, employer and income, and personal and prior-landlord references.

Get the applicant’s signed authorization

The applicant signs the authorization block before you obtain a report that includes credit. Do not pull any report without a permissible purpose, or a report that includes credit without that signature.

Screen against uniform, lawful criteria

Compare each applicant to the same documented standards for income, credit, and history. Never screen on protected classes, and assess criminal history individually.

Decide, and send an adverse-action notice if you deny on a report

If a denial rests even partly on a consumer report, deliver an FCRA adverse-action notice naming the reporting agency and the applicant’s rights to a free copy and to dispute.

Think of the application as the front door to a regulated process. Everything the applicant writes and signs on this one page determines what you may lawfully do next: the consent block gives you a permissible purpose to order a report, the uniform questions protect you under Fair Housing, and the completed record documents that your decision rested on legitimate, consistent business criteria rather than anything the law forbids.

Which Rental Application Format Should You Use?

This page hands you a downloadable, fillable PDF: fill the fields below, click generate, and a print-ready application lands in your downloads to complete in Adobe Acrobat or print and hand to the applicant. It is the right pick when you want a permanent PDF on file, need to email an identical form to several applicants, or want to fill it offline. Three companion formats cover the other ways landlords like to work, and each collects the same FCRA-compliant information:

Format	Best for	Where to get it
Fillable PDF (this page)	A permanent, print-ready PDF you fill in Acrobat or on paper.	Use the generator below.
Interactive online form	Filling every field on screen and generating instantly, no PDF reader needed.	Online rental application
Word / print template	Editing the wording, adding your own clauses, or printing blank copies.	Rental application template for landlords
Embeddable form	Collecting applications directly on your own website or listing page.	Embeddable rental application

Whichever format you choose, the compliance rules are identical: give every adult the same application, obtain the applicant’s signed authorization before pulling a report that includes credit, screen on uniform criteria, and send an adverse-action notice if you deny on a consumer report. For a deeper walkthrough of the whole intake, see the rental application guide for landlords.

Build Your Rental Application

Complete the fields below to generate a clean, print-ready rental application PDF. Every field you fill flows into the document, including the FCRA authorization block and the signature line. Leave a field blank and the PDF prints a labeled line so the applicant can complete it by hand. Save the finished PDF, keep a copy on file, and reuse the same blank form for every applicant so your intake stays consistent. When an applicant is self-employed or paid through gig platforms, follow up with the steps in our guide on verifying gig-economy income.

What this form does

It produces a residential rental application that collects applicant identity, residence and employment history, income, references, and the applicant’s signed authorization to run credit, criminal, and eviction screening — the information a landlord needs to evaluate a prospective tenant lawfully.

1. Property & Landlord

Landlord / property manager name

Property address applied for (street, unit, city, state, ZIP)

Monthly rent (in words, e.g. “one thousand four hundred dollars”)

Desired move-in date

2. Applicant Identity

Applicant full legal name

Date of birth

SSN (last 4 only)

Phone

Government-issued ID (type & number)

Other adult occupants (names)

3. Residence History

Current address (street, city, state, ZIP)

Current landlord name & phone

Reason for leaving

Prior address (street, city, state, ZIP)

Prior landlord name & phone

4. Employment & Income

Current employer

Position / title

Supervisor & phone

Monthly gross income (in words)

Other income source (optional)

5. References & Household

Personal reference (name, relationship, phone)

Number of occupants

Pets (type, number)

Vehicles (make, model, plate)

Emergency contact (name & phone)

6. FCRA Screening Authorization

Read before signing. The landlord is asking for your written authorization to obtain a consumer report. Check the boxes below to authorize the specific reports and confirm the information you provided is accurate. This authorization appears in full on the generated PDF above the signature line.

The applicant authorizes the following

I authorize the landlord to obtain a credit report I authorize a criminal background check (as permitted by state law) I authorize an eviction / rental history report I authorize verification of my income, employment, and rental history I certify the information provided is true and complete

7. Applicant Signature

Applicant print name

Date signed

Application fee acknowledgment (optional — amount in words, per your state’s rules)

FCRA Authorization and the Adverse-Action Process

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is the federal law that governs consumer reports, which is what a tenant credit, criminal, or eviction screening report is. Two parts of the FCRA matter most on a rental application: getting a lawful permissible purpose to pull the report, and following the adverse-action steps if you turn someone down because of it.

Permissible purpose and written authorization

Under 15 U.S.C. 1681b, a consumer reporting agency may furnish a report only to someone with a permissible purpose. For tenant screening, that purpose comes from the applicant, who initiates the transaction by applying and gives written instructions authorizing the pull. That is exactly what the signed authorization block on this application provides. Never obtain a report that includes credit without it, and never reuse one applicant’s authorization to screen a different person.

The adverse-action notice (15 U.S.C. 1681m)

If you deny an application, raise the deposit, require a co-signer, or take any other unfavorable step based even partly on a consumer report, the FCRA’s adverse-action rule at 15 U.S.C. 1681m requires you to give the applicant a notice. The notice must include five things:

Notice of the adverse action itself (oral, written, or electronic).
The name, address, and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report, including a toll-free number if the agency is nationwide.
A statement that the agency did not make the decision and cannot explain the specific reasons for it.
Notice of the right to a free copy of the report from that agency, which the applicant may request within sixty days.
Notice of the right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report with the agency.

Why the notice protects you too

The adverse-action notice is not just an applicant right; it is your paper trail. It shows you followed the FCRA, told the applicant where the data came from, and did not hide behind the reporting agency. A rental denial is an adverse action under the FCRA’s definition of the term (which reaches consumer-initiated transactions), so treat it as one whenever a report played a part. For the exact wording and a ready-made letter, see our adverse-action notice guide and the deeper FCRA landlord guide.

Accuracy, disposal, and consistency

Only order the reports the applicant authorized, use the data only for the screening decision, and dispose of consumer-report information securely when you no longer need it. If you offer applicants the chance to explain a report before you decide, offer it to everyone on the same terms. Consistency is the theme that runs through both the FCRA and Fair Housing law.

Fair Housing: What You May and May Not Ask

The Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) makes it unlawful to discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of a rental, or to make any statement indicating a preference, based on a protected class. The statute at 42 U.S.C. 3604 recognizes seven federally protected classes: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability (the statute uses the word “handicap”). Many states and cities add classes such as source of income, age, marital status, or sexual orientation, so check your state’s list as well.

Do	Do Not
Ask every applicant the same questions on the same form.	Ask about race, religion, national origin, disability, or family status.
Screen on income, credit, rental history, and verifiable employment.	Ask whether the applicant has children or is pregnant.
State occupancy standards that are neutral and reasonable.	Steer applicants toward or away from units based on who they are.
Assess criminal history individually and by relevance.	Apply a blanket ban on anyone with any record.
Offer reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.	Ask the nature or severity of a disability.

The disparate-impact trap in criminal screening

Start with what changed: HUD’s 2016 criminal-records guidance — the document most landlord articles still cite — was withdrawn effective September 25, 2025 (Docket No. FR-6617-N-01, published July 17, 2026), and HUD’s notice says the withdrawn documents “have been removed from active use and should not be relied upon as authoritative.” No successor guidance has been issued. What governs is the Fair Housing Act itself and HUD’s discriminatory-effects rule at 24 CFR section 100.500, in force since May 1, 2023. Under it a blanket ban on applicants with any criminal record can still violate the Act under a disparate-impact theory, because arrests and convictions fall unevenly across racial groups, and the landlord then carries the burden of proving the policy necessary to a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest that no less discriminatory practice would serve. HUD has proposed to remove section 100.500 and a supplemental proposal reopened comment through October 9, 2026, but a proposal is not a rule and nothing has changed yet; the Supreme Court’s decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project (2015) is what makes disparate-impact claims available in the first place, and HUD cannot undo it. So screen criminal history the way a court expects: consider the nature and seriousness of the conduct and how long ago it occurred, never rely on an arrest that did not lead to conviction, and give the applicant a chance to explain. Section 100.500 imposes no