A New York 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 New York laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a New York rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your New York 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 New York 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 New York. 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.
New York application laws
Beyond federal law, New York has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
New York Law
New York application and screening fees
The rule: Before or at the start of a tenancy you may not charge any application, processing or other fee except to cover a background check and credit check. That charge may not exceed the actual cost or $20, whichever is less. You must waive it if the applicant gives you a background or credit check done in the past 30 days, and you may not collect it unless you give the applicant a copy of the check and the screening company's receipt or invoice (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1)).
A lease or agreement that waives these fee limits is void (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(3)).
You may not refuse to rent to someone because they were involved in a past or pending landlord and tenant case. Pulling a screening report or court records and then refusing to rent is presumed to violate this rule, and the Attorney General may seek a penalty of $500 to $1,000 for each violation (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-f).
You may not refuse to rent to someone, or set different terms, because of their status as a victim of domestic violence (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-d; N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)).
An application form or inquiry that expresses a limitation based on a protected class is itself unlawful (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(3)).
Special cooperative rules apply when an applicant will become a unit owner or shareholder: screening charges may exceed $20 up to actual cost, with reasonable, agency-approved charges for cooperatives subject to the listed Private Housing Finance Law articles. Certain other cooperatives may also recover necessary managing or transfer-agent application-processing charges. Check the corporation and transaction before using these exceptions for a rental (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1)(a), (b)).
In New York City, covered providers choosing a criminal check must first assess noncriminal eligibility, commit a unit through a written conditional offer, and give the Commission's rights notice. Housing with at most two rooms or units where the provider or family lives in one is exempt; legally authorized checks in funded housing have limited exceptions (NYC Commission on Human Rights: Fair Chance Housing coverage and offers).
City review is limited to qualifying felonies within five years of release (or sentencing without incarceration), misdemeanors within three, and convictions requiring current sex-offender registration. Excluded records include arrests, pending cases, and sealed or expunged matters. Consult the city's full exclusions before ordering a report (NYC Commission on Human Rights: reviewable history).
Before revoking an offer based on reviewable history, give the reviewed information, allow five business days for a response, keep the unit available, and assess the applicant's individual information. Revocation requires a written explanation connecting that history and circumstances to a specific legitimate business interest (NYC Commission on Human Rights: Fair Chance Housing process).
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.
New York Law
Fair housing in New York
Protected classes: New York's Human Rights Law bars refusing to rent, or setting different terms, because of race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, age, disability, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence, lawful source of income or familial status (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)).
Advertising: Ads, application forms and inquiries may not express a limitation based on these traits. An owner-occupied two-family building must follow this rule too and loses its exemption from the refusal and terms rules if it breaks it; rooms limited to one sex, rooms rented by a resident owner or occupant and qualifying senior housing are exempt from it (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(3); N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(4)).
Exemptions: The refusal and terms rules do not apply to an owner-occupied two-family building, to rooms rented by a resident owner or occupant, to rooms limited to one sex, or, for age and familial status only, to qualifying senior housing (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(4)).
Occupancy: You may not restrict occupancy to the tenant and immediate family. For a lease entered by one tenant, section 235-f permits the tenant, immediate family, one additional occupant and that occupant's dependent children, provided the tenant or the tenant's spouse occupies the home as a primary residence. An occupant under this section is someone there with the tenant's consent who is neither a tenant nor the tenant's immediate family (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(1)-(3)).
Refusing to rent: Refusing to rent because of a past or pending landlord and tenant case is prohibited (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-f).
Familial status: A lease clause requiring tenants to stay childless or not to have children during the term is a violation of law (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 237).
Occupancy: For a lease entered by two or more tenants, section 235-f(4) permits tenants, immediate family, occupants and occupants' dependent children. The combined number of tenants and occupants, excluding occupants' dependent children, may not exceed the number of tenants named in the current lease, and at least one tenant or a tenant's spouse must use the home as a primary residence (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(4)).
Occupancy: The tenant must give the landlord an occupant's name within 30 days after that person begins occupying the home or within 30 days after the landlord requests it. This identification duty is separate from the statute's protection against an unlawful occupancy restriction (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(5)).
Occupancy: An occupant or the occupant's dependent child does not gain continued occupancy after the tenant leaves, or other tenancy rights, under section 235-f without the landlord's express written permission. The section preserves previously accrued rights and remedies; separate succession and lawful-occupant protections require their own review. This rule does not authorize a lockout (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(6); N.Y. Real Prop. Actions & Proc. Law section768).
Occupancy: A lease cannot waive section 235-f. Its protections do not invalidate federal, state or local occupancy laws or codes, and an aggrieved person may seek an injunction, actual damages and court costs. Check the applicable occupancy rules rather than using the roommate statute alone as a capacity limit (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(7)-(9)).
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.
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 New York’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 New York 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).
New York rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee in New York?
Only the cost of a background and credit check, capped at the actual cost or $20, whichever is less. You must waive it if the applicant brings a check from the past 30 days, and give the applicant a copy of the check and the receipt (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1)).
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 New York and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.