A screening checklist is only useful if it ends up in the applicant’s file. The version taped inside a kitchen cabinet tells you what to do. The version filled in, dated, and stapled to an application shows what you actually did, for this person, on this day, against the standard you wrote before you met them.
So this one is built to be printed once per applicant. One page. Criteria at the top, a line for each check, and a decision box at the bottom that has to name a reason.
If you want the bigger picture first, the four-stage screening checklist walks through the whole process from listing to decision. This page is the worksheet that goes with it.
The sheet
Copy this into a document, fill in the top block once per unit, and print a fresh copy for each completed application.
TENANT SCREENING SHEET
Property / unit: ______________________
Criteria version date: ______________________
Applicant name: ______________________
Application received: ____/____/____ at ____:____
Application complete: ____/____/____ (all pages, all adults)
CRITERIA FOR THIS UNIT (copied from the written criteria, word for word)
Income: gross monthly income of at least ___ x the rent
Credit: ______________________
Rental history: ______________________
Other: ______________________
CHECKS Done Result Initials
Photo ID matches the application [ ] __________ ____
Income documents received and read [ ] __________ ____
Employer or income source verified [ ] __________ ____
Current landlord contacted [ ] __________ ____
Prior landlord contacted [ ] __________ ____
Signed report authorization on file [ ] __________ ____
Consumer report received [ ] __________ ____
DECISION
[ ] Approved
[ ] Approved with conditions: ______________________
[ ] Denied
Criterion that decided it: ______________________
Did a consumer report contribute? [ ] Yes [ ] No
Adverse action notice sent: ____/____/____ (required if Yes and not a plain approval)
Decided by: ________ Date: ____/____/____
Two lines on that sheet do most of the work. “Criteria version date” ties the applicant to the standard that was in force when they applied, so a criteria change in March cannot be read back onto a February applicant. “Criterion that decided it” forces the decision to point at the standard instead of at a feeling.
How to fill in each line
Received and complete are two different dates. Write down when the application arrived and when the last missing piece came in. If you process applications in order, completeness is the date that sets the order, and you will want to show it.
Copy the criteria, do not paraphrase them. If the written standard says income of three times the rent, the sheet says three times the rent. A paraphrase that drifts (“good income”) is how two applicants end up measured against two different bars.
Results are facts, not impressions. “Pay stubs show $5,100 a month” is a result. “Seems stable” is not. The same goes for landlord calls: “Paid on time, would rent again, gave proper notice” belongs on the line. Your read on the person’s tone does not. The questions that get those facts in one phone call are in questions to ask a tenant’s previous landlord, and the income side is covered in how to verify tenant income and employment.
The authorization line comes before the report line. The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets a landlord get a consumer report when there is a legitimate business need in connection with a transaction the applicant started (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)(3)(F)(i)), and § 1681b(f) bars getting one without a permissible purpose. The applicant’s signed authorization is your record that they applied and asked to be considered. File it before you order anything.
The decision box
Most landlords fill this in last and fast. Slow down for it.
The FCRA’s adverse action duty is wider than a flat no. Under § 1681m(a), if you take adverse action based in whole or in part on a consumer report, you owe the applicant a notice. The FTC’s landlord guidance gives the common cases: denying the application, requiring a co-signer, asking for a larger deposit, or charging higher rent because of what the report showed. That is why the sheet asks “did a consumer report contribute?” as its own question, and why “approved with conditions” is not a plain approval. If a report contributed to the conditions, the notice goes out. What the notice has to say is a short list.
Then name the criterion. “Denied: income below three times the rent, verified at $3,900 against $4,500 required” will hold up when someone asks. “Denied: not a good fit” will not.
Wording that does not belong on the sheet
The sheet is evidence. Anything written on it can be read by a fair housing investigator, so the rule for every line and every margin note is simple: write down only what measures the ability to pay the rent and keep the lease.
The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse to rent, or to set different terms, because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin, and it separately covers disability (42 U.S.C. § 3604(a), (b), (f)). It also bars any statement about a rental that shows a preference or limitation on those grounds (§ 3604(c)). In practice, keep these off the page:
- Notes about children or pregnancy. An occupancy limit you apply to everyone is a criterion. “Two kids, might be loud” is a familial status note in your own handwriting.
- Notes about accent, language, or where someone is from. Verify identity with the same documents for everyone and stop there.
- Notes about health, disability, or why someone has an assistance animal. If an accommodation request comes in, handle it as its own process, not as a screening remark.
- Notes about religion, dress, or appearance. None of it measures anything the lease cares about.
Many states and cities protect more groups than the federal list, including source of income in some places. Check yours before you write a criterion about where the rent money comes from.
Criteria that look neutral and still cause trouble
A rule can be neutral on its face and still be unlawful if it shuts out a protected group without a real business reason. The Supreme Court held in 2015 that this kind of disparate impact claim can be brought under the Fair Housing Act (Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project).
The classic example in screening is a blanket ban: “no criminal record of any kind.” It does not separate a decades-old minor conviction from a recent one that bears on safety, and an arrest that never led to a conviction is not proof anyone did anything. If you consider criminal history at all, write a narrow, specific standard and check your state and city rules first. California and a number of cities restrict it further. The details are in criminal background checks on rental applications.
The same caution applies to income rules that ignore how the rent is actually paid, and to credit floors set higher than the unit needs. The written fair housing screening criteria guide covers how to word each one.
Keeping the sheets
Staple the sheet to the application, put both in the file, and keep every applicant’s file, approved or not. A denied applicant’s file is the one you are most likely to be asked for, and a complete one answers the question in a page.
If paper is not your thing, the same structure works on screen. Start every applicant on the same blank form, like the free rental application, and keep the result with it. Screening in LeaseRooster holds your saved criteria, the uploaded report from your own screening provider, and the decision with its date on the application itself.
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.