The adverse-action notice landlords forget to send.

When you must send the notice

The triggering question is "did the consumer report influence my decision in any way?" If yes, FCRA § 615 requires the notice. The triggering events include:

• Denying the rental application outright
• Approving with a higher security deposit than offered to other applicants
• Requiring a co-signer or guarantor
• Requiring a higher first-month or last-month payment
• Approving for a shorter lease term than requested
• Any other condition imposed because of report content

Note: the standard is "based in whole or in part." If the report was a factor — even alongside non-report factors — the notice is required.

What the notice must contain

FCRA § 615(a) requires that the adverse-action notice include:

1. The name, address, and toll-free telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that supplied the report (if a nationwide CRA); for non-nationwide CRAs, the name, address, and phone number for general inquiries.
2. A statement that the consumer reporting agency did not make the decision and is unable to provide specific reasons for it.
3. Notice of the consumer's right to obtain a free copy of the consumer report from the CRA within 60 days.
4. Notice of the consumer's right to dispute with the CRA the accuracy or completeness of any information in the report.

If a credit score was used in the decision, § 615(a)(2) adds:

5. The numerical credit score used.
6. The range of possible scores under the model used.
7. Up to four key factors that adversely affected the score.
8. The date the score was created.
9. The name of the consumer reporting agency that provided the score.

How fast must it go out?

FCRA § 615 requires "a reasonable time" but doesn't specify days. Most attorneys recommend 5 business days from the date of the adverse decision. RentalApplication.ai generates the notice on a one-click action from the landlord dashboard, so the typical turn-around is hours, not days.

Penalties for failing to send

• Statutory damages. FCRA § 1681n provides for statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per willful violation, plus actual damages, plus punitive damages.
• Attorneys' fees. § 1681n and § 1681o both authorize award of attorneys' fees to a prevailing consumer plaintiff.
• Class-action exposure. A failure-to-send-notice claim translates well into a class because the same violation can recur across many landlord screenings.
• State penalties. California, New York, and several other states have analog statutes with their own penalty structures.

Failure-to-send claims are one of the most common bases for FCRA litigation against landlords. The single most cost-effective compliance investment a landlord can make is making sure the notice always goes out.

How RentalApplication.ai handles adverse-action notices

The platform is built to make skipping the notice harder than sending it:

• When the landlord clicks "Decline" on an applicant, the system automatically generates an FCRA § 615 notice with the correct CRA contact information, a state-specific overlay (California Civil Code § 1786.40, etc.), and the case code that lets the consumer dispute through our portal.
• The notice can be delivered by email, by physical mail (via our LetterStream integration), or both.
• If the landlord changes the decision — e.g., declines, then approves — the notice can be revoked or re-sent as needed.
• The notice is logged in the audit trail so the landlord has a defensible record of compliance.
• The recipient can dispute the underlying report through our consumer compliance portal at disputes.rentalapplication.ai; we forward to the originating CRA per FCRA § 1681i(f)(2).

Best practices for landlords

• Send the notice every time. When in doubt, send it. There's no penalty for sending it unnecessarily; there's a $1,000 penalty per violation for skipping.
• Document the basis. Keep a record of which report content led to the decision, even if you don't share that with the applicant.
• Use the platform's template. Don't write your own from scratch — the language is statutorily prescribed in important places.
• Apply to deposit/co-signer decisions, not just denials. Most landlords miss this category.
• Pre-adverse notice for sensitive decisions. If you're declining based on a contested item, consider sending a pre-adverse-action notice giving the applicant 5 business days to dispute before the decision is final.