A Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Pennsylvania rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania. 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.
Pennsylvania application laws
Beyond federal law, Pennsylvania has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Pennsylvania Law
Pennsylvania application and screening fees
The rule: The Landlord and Tenant Act sets no limit on application or screening fees. Check other Pennsylvania and local rules too (Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951).
Screening decisions are still subject to the state fair housing law (43 P.S. § 955(h)).
An application may not ask about race, color, familial status, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin or disability (43 P.S. § 955(h)(6)).
The FTC explains that consumer reports include credit, rental, eviction and criminal-history reports, screening recommendations and reports from a reference-checking service. Obtain a report only for a permissible purpose and certify to the reporting company that you will use it for housing. Apply the separate fair-housing rules to the decision (FTC: report types and permissible purpose).
An adverse-action notice can be required when a report influences a denial, higher rent or deposit, or a co-signer requirement. The FTC says the report need only play a part in the decision, including when it prompts further investigation. These examples do not authorize a charge or condition that another applicable law prohibits (FTC: adverse actions and mixed reasons).
The notice must identify the reporting agency with its name, address and phone number, explain that it did not make the decision and cannot give the reasons, and state the person's rights to dispute report information and request a free report from that agency within 60 days. The FTC recommends a written record, although the basic notice may be oral, electronic or written (FTC: adverse-action notice contents).
If a credit score was used for the adverse action, the FTC describes additional written or electronic disclosures: the score, its source and creation date, the model's score range, and the key negative factors in order of importance. A general statement that credit was checked does not replace those disclosures (FTC: additional credit-score disclosures).
Investigative reports based on personal interviews carry additional written notice and disclosure duties. The FTC also directs secure disposal of consumer reports and information derived from them when their use is finished. Review those separate requirements and any record-retention duties before collecting interview reports or disposing of records (FTC: investigative reports and secure disposal).
For a Philadelphia rental, the city’s Renters’ Access Act guidance says to give written or electronic screening criteria before accepting an application or fee. Do not screen solely by a credit or tenant-screening score or an eviction record. After rejection, give written or electronic reasons and the relied-on third-party reports within three business days, subject to applicable report-disclosure restrictions. The guidance gives an applicant 48 hours to say they will dispute or request reconsideration and seven business days to provide corrective or mitigating evidence. If that evidence demonstrates an ability to meet tenancy requirements, an owner of five or more city rental units must offer the next available comparable-size, comparable-rent unit. Review the city’s full prohibited-criteria and exception rules for the particular application. These city steps are additional to the federal consumer-report duties above (Philadelphia: Renters’ Access Act tenant-screening guidelines).
Before relying on a report, match it to the applicant and examine the dates, duplicate entries and case outcomes. A court filing does not establish the final result. If the applicant points out an error or supplies corrective records, keep that information with the report and direct report disputes to the reporting company. Track the criteria used, relevant facts, communications and any notice or reconsideration deadlines; Philadelphia's additional steps above must be considered separately. Do not describe a report as a complete or error-free history (FTC: disputing tenant background report errors).
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.
Pennsylvania Law
Fair housing in Pennsylvania
Protected classes: Pennsylvania's Human Relations Act makes it unlawful to refuse to rent or otherwise deny housing because of race, color, familial status, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, or handicap or disability, or because a tenant uses a guide or support animal (43 P.S. § 955(h)).
Familial status: It is also unlawful to evict or try to evict an occupant before the lease ends because of pregnancy or the birth of a child (43 P.S. § 955(h)).
Exemptions: The Act leaves out some rentals: a unit in an owner-occupied building of no more than two households, and rooms in a landlord-occupied rooming house with a common entrance (43 P.S. § 954(i), (k); 43 P.S. § 955(h)(10)).
Accommodations: You must make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services for a person with a disability and allow reasonable modifications at the tenant's expense; in a rental you may condition a modification on restoring the interior (43 P.S. § 955(h)(3.1), (3.2)).
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 Pennsylvania’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 Pennsylvania 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).
Pennsylvania rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee in Pennsylvania?
The Landlord and Tenant Act sets no limit on application or screening fees. Check other Pennsylvania and local rules too (Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951).
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 Pennsylvania and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.