Prospective tenant is a slob. How to reject legally?

[Larry Bowers]

I’ve seen a few posts in this forum that recommend handling lease paperwork for a prospective tenant at their current residence as a way to see how they will treat your place, like how clean they will keep it. Great idea. 

But if everything else checks out for credit, criminal background, evictions, etc, but their place is filthy, how can you legally deny them if they meet the other criteria?  A defense of "I saw your place and don't want you to rent my place" is good enough?  

[Anthony Hurlburt]

Being a dirty person is not a protected class. So deny away. I however wouldn't give a specific reason for denial to a prospective tenant, unless it was credit report related.