A Washington 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 Washington laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Washington rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington. 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.
Washington application laws
Beyond federal law, Washington has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Washington Law
Washington application and screening fees
The rule: Before obtaining any information about an applicant, tell the applicant in writing, or by posting, what types of information you will use, what criteria may lead to denial, the consumer reporting agency's name and address if you use a consumer report along with the applicant's rights to a free copy and to dispute it, and whether you accept a comprehensive reusable tenant screening report. You may charge for a screening report only if you gave that notice (RCW 59.18.257; RCW 59.18.253).
If you screen applicants yourself, you may charge your actual costs, but no more than the customary costs of a screening service in the area (RCW 59.18.257(1)(b)(ii)).
If you accept a reusable screening report, you may still run your own screening as long as the applicant is not charged for it. A landlord with a website advertising the unit must say on the property's home page whether it accepts a reusable report (RCW 59.18.257(1)(a)(iv), (2)).
If you deny an application or approve it with conditions, give a written adverse action notice stating the reasons, substantially in the statutory form (RCW 59.18.257(1)(c)).
Failing to give the notice before screening can cost up to $100 plus court costs and attorneys' fees (RCW 59.18.257(3)).
You may not charge a fee to be placed on a waiting list, and a holding fee after the unit is offered may not exceed 25 percent of the first month's rent; the cost of screening is not part of a holding fee (RCW 59.18.253(1), (3), (4)(b)).
Keep screening procedure separate from the rules governing which records you may use. RCW 59.18.257 sets the advance notice, screening-cost and written adverse-action requirements; it does not establish a statewide blanket criminal-history rejection rule. A disclosed criterion and a completed notice do not by themselves make a decision lawful. Check the applicable civil rights, consumer reporting and local requirements before requesting or using records (RCW 59.18.257).
A written court order can limit dissemination of an eviction action when the case lacked a sufficient factual or legal basis, the tenancy was reinstated, or other good cause exists. For the person covered by that order, a tenant screening service must omit the action from its report and cannot use it in a score or recommendation. This protection depends on the order; this section does not impose a general seven-year limit on all eviction records (RCW 59.18.367).
Washington separately limits what consumer reporting agencies may include in reports. Medical debt is prohibited. Other record categories have different age rules: bankruptcy has a ten-year limit, while suits and judgments use seven years or the applicable limitations period, whichever is longer. Other listed adverse records generally have seven-year rules, with specified exceptions for certain credit, insurance and employment reports. Do not turn these reporting limits into a blanket rule allowing or forbidding every landlord screening decision (RCW 19.182.040).
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.
Washington Law
Fair housing in Washington
Protected classes: Washington bars discrimination in renting because of sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, families with children, honorably discharged veteran or military status, disability, or use of a trained dog guide or service animal. It is also unlawful to refuse, discourage or treat differently a tenant because of lawful source of income, such as a housing voucher or other assistance (RCW 49.60.222(1); RCW 59.18.255).
Accommodations: Allow reasonable modifications at the tenant's expense and make reasonable accommodations in rules and practices for a person with a disability; a landlord may, where reasonable, require restoring the interior when a modified rental is vacated. These two duties do not apply to an owner renting a single-family house who owns no more than three, with no broker and no discriminatory ad, or to an owner who lives in a building of up to four units (RCW 49.60.222(2)).
Source of income: If you set a minimum income, subtract any voucher or subsidy from the rent before applying the test (RCW 59.18.255(3)).
Source of income: A source of income violation can cost up to four and one-half times the monthly rent, plus costs and attorneys' fees (RCW 59.18.255(4)).
Advertising: Ads and notices may not show a preference or limitation based on a protected class or on source of income (RCW 49.60.222(1)(g); RCW 59.18.255(2)).
Exemptions: The state law against discrimination does not apply to renting a room or part of a unit the owner lives in (RCW 49.60.222(7)).
Criminal history: Seattle has separate Fair Chance Housing protections. The Office for Civil Rights says that, following a Ninth Circuit ruling, it stopped enforcing the criminal-history inquiry ban on June 6, 2023. Its current guidance says it continues enforcing the other portions, including restrictions, subject to exceptions, on requiring disclosure of criminal history or taking adverse action based on it. The city also prohibits advertising that categorically excludes people with criminal records. Do not treat the inquiry ruling as permission to require disclosure or reject an applicant; confirm the current city requirements and any applicable exception before acting (Seattle Office for Civil Rights: criminal history protections).
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 Washington’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 Washington 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).
Washington rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee in Washington?
Before obtaining any information about an applicant, tell the applicant in writing, or by posting, what types of information you will use, what criteria may lead to denial, the consumer reporting agency's name and address if you use a consumer report along with the applicant's rights to a free copy and to dispute it, and whether you accept a comprehensive reusable tenant screening report. You may charge for a screening report only if you gave that notice (RCW 59.18.257; RCW 59.18.253).
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 Washington and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.