Tenant Screening Question

[Mindy Jensen]

So I posted recently about the new HUD regulations regarding tenant screening and blanket denial for any criminal record. It created a very interesting discussion, but also prompted some questions, at least for me.

I've read through the landlord tenant laws for all 50 states plus DC, and I don't recall this being addressed in any state.

Are you legally required to process applications in the order they were received? 

Are you legally obligated to give reason or even notice that an application has been denied?

Are you only obligated to give reason or notice if you have processed an application and charged the applicant a processing fee?

[Roy N.]

@Mindy Jensen

I do not recall ever seeing regulations requiring that applicants be processed in the order received, just that they all be processed under the same process and with the same consideration.

That said, we do process ours in the order received (as identified in our application process) but I know of other landlords who accept applications until a given date and then sort all qualifying applications in order of strongest (net) income.

In Canada, I do not believe there is a jurisdiction where you are required to tell a candidate why their application was rejected.

Since we process applicants in the order received, it has been our practice to return application fees if we do not process an application.