California rental application: what you can and can't ask

Most rental application forms on the internet were written for no state in particular. In California that is a problem, because three of the questions those forms like to ask are ones a California landlord either can’t ask or can’t use the way the form assumes.

This is the short version of what a California application can ask, what it can’t, and what the screening fee rules add on top. Read it next to your form, line by line.

What you can ask

The test is whether the question helps you decide if the applicant can pay the rent and keep the lease. These pass:

• Identity. Full name, contact details, and a document to verify who they are. Civil Code § 1940.3(c)(2) expressly allows requests for information needed to verify identity.
• Income and employment. Employer, how long they have worked there, monthly income, and documents that show it. The same subsection allows requests needed to verify financial qualifications.
• Rental history. Current and prior addresses, landlord contacts, and the reason for leaving.
• Who will live there. The names of the adults who will sign the lease and the number of people who will occupy the unit, so you can apply an occupancy standard. Ask the number, not the ages or the relationships.
• Permission to run a consumer report, signed by the applicant, if you plan to order one.
• Pets and vehicles, if your lease has rules about either.

The free rental application template covers all of these sections and nothing else, which makes it a reasonable starting point for a California form.

What you can’t ask

Immigration or citizenship status. Civil Code § 1940.3(b) bars a landlord from making any inquiry about the immigration or citizenship status of a tenant or prospective tenant, or requiring them to make any statement about it. That rules out “Are you a U.S. citizen?” and any checkbox for citizenship or residency status, however it is worded. Verifying identity is still allowed, so ask for an ID and leave the status question off.

Protected characteristics. Government Code § 12955(b) makes it unlawful to make any written or oral inquiry about race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, disability, veteran or military status, or genetic information. That list is longer than the federal one, and it is why “marital status” and “spouse’s name” should come off a California form. Ask for the names of every adult applicant instead.

Anything a fair housing investigator would read as a preference. Section 12955(c) covers statements and notices, not only decisions. An application that says “no Section 8” is a written statement of a limitation based on source of income, and “employed applicants only” can read the same way to someone whose income is a pension or benefits.

Source of income and Section 8

Since SB 329 took effect in 2020, California’s source of income protection covers housing subsidies. Government Code § 12955(p)(1) defines source of income as lawful, verifiable income paid to a tenant or to the landlord on a tenant’s behalf, including Section 8 housing choice vouchers. Refusing an applicant because they have a voucher is discrimination under § 12955(a).

You can still ask about income. Section 12955(p)(2) says a written or oral inquiry about the level or source of income is not, by itself, source of income discrimination. What changes is how you use the answer when part of the rent is subsidized:

1. The income standard applies to the tenant’s share. Under § 12955(o)(1)(A), when there is a government rent subsidy, a financial or income standard has to be based on the portion of the rent the tenant pays. Three times a $2,400 rent is the wrong test for an applicant whose share is $700.
2. Credit history needs an alternative. Under § 12955(o)(1)(B), added by SB 267, if you use credit history for a subsidized applicant, you have to offer them the option of providing other lawful, verifiable evidence that they can pay their share, such as benefit payments, pay records, or bank statements. Give them reasonable time to send it, and actually weigh it instead of the credit report.

You can still verify employment, call landlord references, and verify identity for every applicant (§ 12955(o)(2)).

Applicants who apply together

Section 12955(n) bars an income standard that does not count the combined income of people who will live together on the same basis as a married couple’s combined income. Roommates, partners, and adult family members applying together get their incomes added the same way a married couple would. A form that has one income box per household and no way to list a second earner invites this mistake.

Criminal history

California regulates criminal history in housing separately, in state regulations at 2 CCR § 12264 and following, and several cities go further. Civil Code § 1950.1(f) points to those regulations and local ordinances as still controlling what a landlord may review and consider. Read them before you put any conviction question on a California form, and never a blanket “Have you ever been convicted?” line. Criminal background checks on rental applications covers what the rules allow.

The application fee

California calls it an application screening fee, and Civil Code § 1950.6 controls it. It applies to guarantors and co-signers too, because subdivision (j) counts them as applicants.

• The cap. The fee can’t exceed your actual out-of-pocket cost of gathering information on the applicant, including the screening service and the reasonable value of your own time. In no case can it exceed $30 per applicant, a figure the statute lets you adjust each year for increases in the Consumer Price Index, starting January 1, 1998. Both limits apply, so the lower one wins.
• No unit, no fee. You can’t charge the fee when you know or should know no unit is available now or will be within a reasonable time (§ 1950.6(c)(1)).
• Pick a process before you collect. Subdivision (c)(2) allows a fee only if you offer one of two processes: consider completed applications in the order received against written criteria you hand out with the form, and approve the first who qualifies, or refund the whole fee to everyone not selected within 7 days of selecting a tenant or 30 days after the application, whichever comes first.
• Receipt. Give the applicant a receipt that itemizes your out-of-pocket costs and time (§ 1950.6(d)).
• Unused money goes back. If you never run the reference check or credit report, return whatever part of the fee you did not use (§ 1950.6(e)).
• A copy of the report. If the applicant paid a fee, send them a copy of their credit report within seven days of receiving it (§ 1950.6(f)).

One more option to know about. Civil Code § 1950.1 lets you choose to accept reusable tenant screening reports, prepared within the past 30 days at the applicant’s expense. You are not required to accept them. If you do, you can’t charge that applicant a screening fee or a fee to access the report.

A quick pass over your form

1. Delete citizenship, marital status, and spouse questions, and any question about a characteristic on the § 12955(b) list.
2. Make sure there is room for every adult applicant’s income.
3. Remove any “no vouchers” or “employed only” language, and check your income rule against the tenant’s share.
4. Remove any blanket conviction question, and check the state and city rules before keeping any other.
5. Attach your written screening criteria, and write down which of the two fee processes you use.

Once the form is clean, the printable screening checklist is the sheet to fill in for each application that comes back. Screening in LeaseRooster keeps the criteria, the report from your own screening provider, and the decision together on the application.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and local ordinances vary. Confirm current requirements with your city, county, or an attorney before you act.