A Georgia rental application tells you who will live in your rental, where they have lived and how they will pay the rent. When every applicant answers the same questions, you can compare renters fairly and show that you did.
This guide covers what to ask, how to pre-screen leads, the federal and Georgia laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Georgia rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Georgia rental application should ask for:
- Applicant and co-signer names, email, phone and date of birth,
- A Social Security number, entered securely,
- The desired move-in date and everyone who will live in the home,
- The current address and current landlord’s contact details,
- Employer, job title and monthly income,
- Any housing voucher or rental assistance,
- Pets, assistance animals, vehicles and smoking, and
- Past evictions and consent to screening.
The Rentari application covers all of this in six short sections. Renters can upload a pay stub, photo ID, bank statement or reference letter, and you choose which background questions to ask, with up to four of your own.
See it first: open the whole application before you send it.
Pre-screen your leads
Not every lead fits your rental. A short pre-screener shows who meets your basic criteria before anyone spends time or money on a full application.
Send the Rentari pre-screener from Leads. Your Georgia pre-screener asks every lead for:
- Monthly household income,
- Desired move-in date,
- How many people would live there,
- Pets, and what kind,
- Smoking, and
- A self-reported credit band.
When a lead’s answers fit, invite them to apply. Remember: pre-screener answers are what the renter tells you, so verify them with the application and screening.
Federal application laws
Federal law sets the baseline for every screening decision in Georgia. These five laws shape how you screen applicants:
Fair Housing Act (FHA): You may not treat applicants differently because of these seven protected characteristics:
- Race,
- Color,
- National origin,
- Religion,
- Sex,
- Familial status, or
- Disability
It also bars ads that show a preference and different rental terms for different applicants (42 U.S.C. § 3604).
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): Bars credit discrimination, including because income comes from public assistance. Courts differ on whether a lease counts as credit, so count assistance income the same way as wages (15 U.S.C. § 1691).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Covers places open to the public, such as a leasing office. Disability rules for the rental home itself come from the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 12182).
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Covers credit, criminal and eviction reports. You need the renter’s consent before screening. Rentari collects it before our screening partner, RentButter, runs the checks (15 U.S.C. § 1681b).
Civil Rights Act of 1866: Bars race discrimination when renting any property, including homes the Fair Housing Act exempts, such as some small owner-occupied buildings (42 U.S.C. § 1982).
Criminal history: HUD warns that blanket bans on applicants with any criminal record can be discriminatory, and an arrest alone does not show that a person did anything.
Further reading: HUD fair housing rights and obligations and FTC guidance for landlords.
Georgia application laws
Beyond federal law, Georgia has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Georgia Law
Georgia application and screening fees
The rule: We found no verified Georgia limit on application or screening fees. Georgia's rules on criminal-record access, restriction and correction still apply to screening (GBI: obtaining criminal-history information).
Use the authorization process for the record source and product you actually request. GBI describes a signed consent on the prescribed form for a private person or business requesting another person's Georgia criminal-history record. Its separate public felony-conviction route has a different scope. Neither route establishes that every screening product has the same coverage or removes the separate permissible-purpose, certification and notice duties for consumer reports (GBI: private criminal-history requests; FTC: landlord consumer reports).
Record restriction limits public access to specified criminal-history information; it does not permanently delete the entire record. The state's June 2026 guide describes qualifying cases, including some closed without conviction and certain misdemeanors. Check the actual disposition and restriction status rather than assuming every old conviction remains publicly reportable or every record can be restricted. The guide directs pre-July 1, 2013 arrest requests through the arresting agency and later arrests to the prosecutor. Eligibility for an individual record was not reviewed here (Georgia.gov: record restriction guide).
Keep a record error, a mistaken identity and an application for restriction distinct. GBI says a missing or inaccurate record needs appropriate documentation or authorization from the submitting agency; identity challenges use its comparison process. Direct the applicant to the official agency and reporting-company correction channels and pause reliance on the disputed item while it is checked. Editing an application does not correct the underlying criminal-history or consumer report (GBI: corrections and identity challenges).
Local rules: Cities and counties can add their own limits. Check local rules before you set a fee.
In Rentari: You choose an optional application fee when you send the invite. It is paid to you on top of any screening fee.
Georgia Law
Fair housing in Georgia
Protected classes: Georgia DCA’s fair housing guidance identifies disability, race, sex, color, national origin, religion and familial status as protected grounds. It prohibits different housing terms or privileges on those grounds, along with discriminatory advertising, denial and interference. Review rent changes against those protections. Check coverage and exemptions for your rental (Georgia DCA: fair housing protections).
Accommodations: Request only information needed to assess the accommodation. The joint guidance says not to seek additional disability information when both the disability and related need are obvious or known. When clarification is appropriate, limit it to the necessary disability-related need, keep it confidential and avoid demanding a general medical history. This is a separate accommodation review, not an ordinary application qualification question (DOJ/HUD: accommodation guidance, questions 16-18).
Pets, ESAs and service animals
Ask about animals on every application, but treat an assistance animal differently from a pet. Here is what to keep in mind:
Pet information: The Rentari application asks whether an animal will live at the property and lets the renter mark an assistance animal.
Not a pet: A service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet. Under federal fair housing law you generally can’t:
- Charge a pet fee, pet deposit or pet rent for one, or
- Apply your pet breed, size or weight limits to it.
Damage: The renter stays responsible for any damage the animal causes.
In Rentari: An assistance animal is routed as a fair housing request and is never charged a pet fee.
Georgia rules on assistance animals
Assistance animals: When the federal Fair Housing Act covers the home, assess disability-related requests separately from ordinary pets. DOJ and HUD explain that an assistance-animal accommodation cannot be conditioned on an extra fee or deposit. Actual animal damage may still be charged consistently with the practice for other residents. A request may be oral and need not use legal terminology; evaluate the actual disability-related need and applicable coverage rather than promising automatic approval (DOJ/HUD: accommodation guidance, questions 6, 7, 11 and 12).
Approvals and denials
Apply the same written criteria to every applicant, and handle each decision the same way.
Approval: Choose Accept complete household in the household decision. Your lease draft is ready to review. Before move-in, check Georgia’s deposit rules:
Lawful reasons to deny: Deny only for reasons in your written criteria that you apply to every applicant, such as income below your standard, credit history, rental history including unpaid rent or eviction judgments, or incomplete or false information. Use criminal history only where Georgia and local law allow it, and weigh the offense and how long ago it happened.
Adverse action notice: If a screening report contributes to a denial, or to terms such as a co-signer, a higher deposit or higher rent, federal law requires a notice that:
- Names the reporting company and how to reach it,
- Says that company did not make the decision,
- Explains the renter’s right to a free copy of the report within 60 days, and
- Explains the right to dispute the report.
In Rentari: Choose Deny selected applicants and send individual notices in the household decision to send each notice. You make the decision.
Record keeping: Federal law sets no retention period for a private landlord’s applications. A fair housing lawsuit can be filed up to two years after a decision, so keep each application, your written criteria and the decision at least that long (42 U.S.C. § 3613(a)(1)(A)).
Screening reports: When you no longer need a screening report, destroy it securely. The FTC Disposal Rule covers consumer reports (16 C.F.R. Part 682).
Georgia rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee in Georgia?
We found no verified Georgia limit on application or screening fees. Georgia's rules on criminal-record access, restriction and correction still apply to screening (GBI: obtaining criminal-history information).
Who pays for screening on Rentari?
In most states the renter pays the screening fee at the end of the application and nothing is charged to you. Where a state requires the landlord to pay, the invite tells you. The fee is shown before payment.
Can I ask about criminal history?
You choose whether the application asks about criminal convictions; it is off by default. Check Georgia and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.