What landlords can — and cannot — screen for.

The legal framework, layered

Three regimes stack on top of each other:

1. Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq. — Prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation post-Bostock), familial status, and disability. The federal floor.
2. State fair-housing laws. Add protected categories beyond the federal floor — commonly source of income, marital status, age, ancestry, military/veteran status, and (in many states) criminal history with limits.
3. Local ordinances. City- and county-level laws add further protections (e.g., Cook County's Just Housing Amendment, Seattle's Fair Chance Housing ordinance, NYC's source-of-income protections).

What landlords can screen for

• Credit history and credit score. Permitted at any threshold the landlord sets, applied consistently. FCRA § 604(a)(3)(F) gives a tenancy decision permissible-purpose status.
• Income and employment. Permitted, including a 3x-rent multiplier (the industry standard). Watch out for source-of-income discrimination in jurisdictions that ban it.
• Prior eviction / housing-court history. Permitted within FCRA § 605 reporting limits (typically 7 years) and state-specific carve-outs. See our eviction-history-check guide.
• Criminal history. Permitted, but with HUD's April 2016 disparate-impact guidance and growing state/local fair-chance laws restricting how. Individualized assessment is the safe posture.
• SSN trace. On RentalApplication.ai tiers that include TLO data, the applicant's Social Security number is matched against historical name and address records to surface aliases and prior residences. We do not perform driver's license verification, document-image analysis, or selfie-to-ID matching.
• Pet history. Permitted (pet ownership isn't a protected class), with the critical exception of assistance animals.
• Smoker / non-smoker status. Permitted in most jurisdictions; California and a handful of cities have restrictions.
• Reference calls to prior landlords. Permitted with applicant consent; two-party-consent recording laws apply where relevant.

What landlords cannot screen for

• Race, color, ethnicity, national origin. Protected federally and in every state.
• Religion. Protected federally and in every state.
• Sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation. Protected federally (post-Bostock for gender identity / sexual orientation) and explicitly in many states.
• Familial status. "No children" or "no families" policies are illegal under federal law (with narrow exceptions for senior housing).
• Disability. Cannot ask about a disability, require disclosure, or refuse a reasonable accommodation. Reasonable-accommodation requests must be granted unless they impose an undue burden.
• Source of income (in many states/cities). California, NYC, Washington State, Oregon, and a long list of municipalities prohibit refusing rent because of how the income is paid (especially Section 8 housing-choice vouchers).
• Marital status (in many states). California, New York, and others.
• Age (over 18) (in many states). Federally not a protected class for housing; state laws often add it.
• Military / veteran status (in many states). Federally not a protected class; many states (e.g., New York, Illinois, Massachusetts) protect it.
• Pregnancy. Protected as part of "sex" and "familial status" under FHA.
• Whether the applicant has a service / assistance animal. Cannot ask, refuse, or charge pet fees for assistance animals (FHA reasonable accommodation).

The criminal-history nuance

Criminal record is the single most-litigated screening category. Three rules to internalize:

• HUD April 2016 guidance. A blanket "no criminal record" policy can violate the Fair Housing Act under disparate-impact theory. Individualized assessment — nature of offense, time elapsed, evidence of rehabilitation — is the safe posture.
• Fair-chance housing laws. California (state-wide effective 2024), New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, Cook County, Seattle, and others restrict when the question can be asked (typically only after a conditional offer) and which records can be considered (typically only convictions within recent windows).
• FCRA § 605 reporting limits. Most non-conviction records older than 7 years cannot be reported. Convictions can be reported indefinitely federally; some states cap at 7 years.

Best practices for landlords

• Write your screening criteria down before you list the unit. Minimum credit score, income-to-rent ratio, what counts as a disqualifying record, how you weigh rehabilitation evidence. Consistency is your strongest defense against discrimination claims.
• Apply the criteria to every applicant identically. Disparate-treatment claims are proven by showing different standards applied to similarly-situated applicants.
• Use individualized assessment for criminal history. A blanket ban creates HUD disparate-impact exposure.
• Don't ask questions you can't legally use the answer to. If your jurisdiction protects source of income, don't ask about it. If you can't refuse based on familial status, don't ask if applicants have children.
• Send the adverse-action notice. Always. See our adverse-action guide.
• Get the application in writing. A signed application with the screening criteria attached is your best record of consistent application.