Wyoming tenant screening laws

No section of Wyoming's residential rental property article limits application or screening fees or says who pays for a background check (W.S. 1-21-1201 to 1-21-1211).

• Screening decisions must still follow the Wyoming Fair Housing Act (W.S. 40-26-103).See Fair housing on the Wyoming page

The Wyoming Fair Housing Act bars refusing to rent, refusing to negotiate, or otherwise denying a home, and bars different terms, conditions, privileges, services or facilities, because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin. Ads and statements may not show a preference or limitation on those grounds (W.S. 40-26-103; W.S. 40-26-104).

• Refusing a reasonable modification at the tenant's expense, or a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services, that a person with a disability needs is discrimination. You may condition a modification, where reasonable, on the tenant restoring the interior at move-out, reasonable wear and tear excepted (W.S. 40-26-107(c)).
• Familial status covers a household with minors living with a parent or custodian, and anyone pregnant or securing custody of a minor (W.S. 40-26-102(a)(ix)).
• Two narrow exemptions exist: an owner of no more than three single-family houses who rents one without a broker or agent and without a discriminatory advertisement, subject to further limits, and an owner who lives in one of the units of a building with no more than four. The second exemption never covers discriminatory advertising (W.S. 40-26-110).
• Reasonable limits on the number of occupants remain allowed, and refusing someone convicted of manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance is not barred (W.S. 40-26-113(a); W.S. 40-26-103(c)).
• A person may sue in district court within two years, and the court may award actual and punitive damages, attorney's fees, costs and an injunction (W.S. 40-26-139; W.S. 40-26-140).
• Disability protection is not limited to the applicant who signs the lease. Wyoming also bars making housing unavailable, imposing different terms or providing different services because of the disability of someone who lives or intends to live in the home, or a person associated with the applicant or resident. Include those relationships when evaluating an application; the applicant need not personally have the disability for this protection to apply (W.S. 40-26-107(a), (b)).