A Oregon 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 Oregon laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Oregon rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Oregon 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 Oregon 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 Oregon. 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.
Oregon application laws
Beyond federal law, Oregon has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Oregon Law
Oregon application and screening fees
The rule: You may charge an applicant screening charge only to cover the cost of screening, no more than your average actual cost or the customary amount screening companies charge, and only one charge in any 60-day period no matter how many of your units the applicant applies for. Before accepting it, adopt written screening criteria and tell the applicant in writing the amount, your criteria and process, the rent and deposits, any renter's insurance requirement, the applicant's dispute and refund rights, and your nondiscrimination policy (ORS 90.295; ORS 90.297; ORS 90.303; ORS 90.304).
Give a receipt for the charge, and promptly after a screening company or credit agency screens the applicant, give confirmation with a copy of its receipt (ORS 90.295(1)(a)).
Refund the charge within 30 days if you fill the unit before screening the applicant, or if the applicant withdraws in writing before you screen. Do not take a charge when you know no unit is or soon will be available. A violation costs twice the charge plus $250 (ORS 90.295(4); ORS 90.295(5); ORS 90.295(6)).
A deposit to hold a unit may be taken only after you approve the applicant and before the rental agreement is signed, with a written statement of the terms. If the agreement is not signed because of your failure or because of habitability defects, return it within five business days (ORS 90.297).
When evaluating an applicant you may not consider an eviction case that was dismissed or won by the applicant, or a judgment against the applicant entered five or more years earlier; criminal history is limited to convictions and certain pending charges in listed categories, and marijuana possession convictions and medical marijuana status are off limits (ORS 90.303).
If you deny an application after screening, give a written statement of reasons within 14 days. Before denying for criminal history, let the applicant submit supplemental evidence and make an individualized assessment. A violation costs $100. The statement must identify reporting companies not already disclosed, explain why any supplemental evidence considered did not overcome the reasons for rejection, and describe any available appeal right. The state statement does not replace applicable federal consumer-report notices (ORS 90.304).
You may not ask about immigration or citizenship status, and if you verify identity you must accept the documents the statute lists, including expired government identification (ORS 90.306; ORS 90.303(6)).
Since June 5, 2026, a landlord who takes applications through a tenant portal must also offer a printable application, process applications made outside the portal, and not force an applicant who asks in writing to use the portal alone to verify identity or sign documents (Or. Laws 2026, ch. 23, § 2).
Through January 1, 2028, the current version of ORS 90.303 also excludes possession judgments on claims arising April 1, 2020 through February 28, 2022, and unpaid rent accrued during that period, including collection referrals and judgments. Check the accrual or claim date rather than treating every collection entry alike. The Legislature publishes a different version operative January 2, 2028; do not apply that future version early (ORS 90.303(1), (5) and operative-date note).
For a covered Portland application, first identify whether the landlord uses low-barrier criteria or more restrictive criteria. The low-barrier criminal criteria include three-year misdemeanor and seven-year felony sentencing windows and exclude the listed juvenile, invalidated and other records. These are not universal permission to reject everything within those windows. More restrictive criteria require the city individual assessment before denial on any proposed basis, alongside the state protections. Check the section G exemptions and any conflicting funding requirements for the actual tenancy (Portland City Code 30.01.086(D)-(G)).
Portland requires a 30-day opportunity to appeal a covered application denial and to correct, refute or explain negative information. If the appeal is approved, the city rule provides three months of prequalification for the landlord's Portland properties and a screening-fee waiver for that period, subject to the permitted self-certification that conditions have not materially changed. Keep the appeal route and decision record separate from a reporting company's dispute process (Portland City Code 30.01.086(D)(8)).
Licensed property managers and managing principal brokers have a separate professional-record duty under ORS 696.280. Covered rental-management records must be kept for at least six years after expiration, replacement, termination or otherwise ceasing to be in effect; other record categories have different starting dates. Identify the applicable record category and licensing rules. This provision does not by itself establish a six-year rule for every private owner's rejected application (ORS 696.280(1), (4)).
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.
Oregon Law
Fair housing in Oregon
Protected classes: Oregon bars refusing to rent, setting different terms, discouraging applicants or advertising a preference because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, familial status or source of income. Source of income includes federal rent subsidy payments and other local, state or federal housing assistance. Discrimination because of a disability is barred by a separate statute (ORS 659A.421; ORS 90.390; ORS 659A.145).
Source of income: You may still refuse based on an applicant's past conduct, or inability to pay rent after counting the value of their housing assistance, if that is consistent with fair housing law (ORS 659A.421(2)(a)).
Exemptions: Renting space within your own home, where you live and share common space, is exempt from the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and familial status rules, except for advertising (ORS 659A.421(8)).
Domestic violence: You may not discriminate against a tenant or applicant for being a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, bias crime or stalking. A violation costs up to two months' rent or twice actual damages, whichever is greater (ORS 90.449).
Immigration status: You may not ask about immigration or citizenship status or discriminate based on it (ORS 90.306).
Enforcement: A tenant who proves discrimination has a defense to eviction unless behind on rent, and may prove it through a neutral policy's disparate impact (ORS 90.390).
Privacy: Since June 5, 2026, you may not disclose a tenant's or applicant's confidential information, such as date of birth, Social Security number, contact details, income or immigration status, except as the statute allows; a knowing violation costs twice the monthly rent (Or. Laws 2026, ch. 61, § 2).
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 Oregon’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 Oregon 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).
Oregon rental application questions
Can I charge a move-in fee or an application fee in Oregon?
No move-in fee: you may not charge a fee at the start of the tenancy for an expected landlord expense. A screening charge is allowed if it covers only your screening cost, is limited to one in 60 days, and follows the written notice rules (ORS 90.302(1); ORS 90.295).
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 Oregon and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.