Is it legal to reject an applicant due to a late move-in date?

[Meher Bandela]

Hi,

I'm a first-time landlord in NJ. I advertised my rental property as available from April 1. I accepted an application from a prospective tenant who, after submitting the application and paying for the credit history and background checks, told me that the earliest move-in they can do is April 12. We haven't signed a lease yet. I have a couple of questions now:

1) If another qualified applicant shows up and is willing to move-in on April 1, am I allowed to reject the first applicant? If I go ahead with the first applicant, I lose nearly $1000 in rent for the April 1 to 12 period.

2) If I reject the first applicant for this reason, am I expected to reimburse them for the credit and background checks? In general, if I'm processing 4 applicants in parallel, and they're all qualified in terms of income and references, am I obligated to return/reimburse the credit and background check fees for all the applicants that I end up rejecting?

Thanks for helping!

[Kyle J.]

Yes, you can reject an applicant if their move-in date is too far in the future for you. 

To avoid this sort of miscommunication with future applicants, I'd suggest asking a question on your initial application similar to "When would you like to move in?" I ask that exact question so I know from the moment they turn in their app if it's something I can work with or not. If it's not, you then have the option to discuss it with them and see if it's something they're flexible on, or (if they're not flexible) you can just tell them at that time it's not going to work and avoid incurring any background check fees.