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Usually, when a tenant approaches a prospective landlord to rent an apartment, the landlord is required to screen the tenant prior to giving them the apartment for renting. Such screening normally includes reviewing the tenant’s past credit history, doing background verification checks as well as assessing the current income of the tenant. The application that helps a property owner to do such verifications is called a rental application. This application contains basic information such as tenant’s name, address and their social security number. However, it also comprises of the income related information like how long a tenant has been working at his/her current organization. This usually helps the landlord to have a clear understanding regarding the tenant’s financial stability. Below are answers to few of the more common legal questions about this type of an application: What type of questions in a lease application form could be regarded as unlawful, if someone is filling out a form?
Usually, it is not possible to note down each and every unlawful question in a lease application form. However, questions that are related to issues about religion, race, or national origin are regarded as unlawful. In addition to this, you will find that there are many jurisdictions that consider it illegal to ask questions about children, marital status, and sexual preferences. Generally, a couple of these prohibitions have emerged out of the Federal anti-discrimination laws. However, the rest seems to be local in nature. Therefore, while filling out a form, it is always best to consult a local housing authority, if you feel that any question in the form seems to be unlawful in nature or you have a doubt regarding a question. You could always check with them to be sure about the exact purpose of the question. Am I legally obliged to rent out my property to someone whose income and rental history does not qualify him to become a tenant of my property? I got an application from him. However, his father is compelling me to lease out my property to his son as a co-signor. This means he would co-sign the agreement and rent my property. But, I am not willing to have a co-signor on my rental agreement.
In this particular case, you are no way legally obliged to rent out your property to the son. Usually, as a landlord, you do not have the right of discrimination against any tenants on grounds of religion, race, national origin and so on. But in case, you have to decide whether you would want to rent out your house or not to someone depending on his income and rental history, then in that situation, you are absolutely allowed to discriminate under law. What should I do if I receive an application from a person who does not provide me with the required paperwork and also offers very less information about him? All I know is that he has a Mexico driver’s license and passport and no proof of his work visa. Is it legal to attend the application?
It is very important for every landlord to thoroughly verify if the person you intend to rent out your apartment to as a tenant, has the legal right of staying in the country. This is because if the person is residing in the country illegally, there may be a possibility of him to get deported to his own country once the government find outs about his unlawful stay. Moreover, he might violate the rental agreement and go back to his own country at his own will. Thus, whatever the situation may be, you would have to bear the loss. In other words, it would be you who would have to lose money. Therefore, in order to avoid such unpleasant situations, all you could do is make a request to the person and ask him to provide you with the necessary paperwork such as work visa or extended stay visa, which would prove that he is legally staying in the country. When a tenant or a renter fills out a lease application form, he or she should have a complete understanding of what is expected out of them. This would help in creating a good impression over the landlord. On the other hand, when a landlord is making a tenant fill out the application, he or she should have a clear idea as to what type of questions they should ask so that they are able to properly evaluate the tenant’s financial status. However, an application like this cannot be used as a medium to cause discrimination against tenants on grounds like race, religion, national origin, and so on. If you need any clarification about your particular situation on the subject, you may wish to ask a real estate lawyer for legal insight based on an expert evaluation of your circumstances.
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