THE RENTAL APPLICATION PROCESS
In applying to rent a house or apartment, you will be given an Application. You will fill out your personal information including, where you are employed, documentation of income, prior addresses, and asked to give permission for the landlord to run a credit check, and perhaps, criminal history.
In accepting or considering an application, or deciding to rent, a landlord, by federal and state fair housing laws, is prohibited from discrimination on some, but not all grounds. The prohibition against discrimination is limited to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. In Texas, it is perfectly legal for the landlord to discriminate, just not on these grounds. For example, a landlord can discriminate against gay and transgender people. It is legal to discriminate if you are unemployed, have bad credit, have been evicted, have a criminal history, or pets. Landlords can refuse to rent to you if you do not have a minimum level of monthly income (typically, 3 times the rent). Some landlords have these limitations, some don’t, some apply them on a case by case basis. Each landlord sets their own standards. These are just some examples of ‘legal’ discrimination. If you are a victim of ‘legal’ discrimination, you don’t have any legal recourse.
This sounds terrible, but many times there is ‘wiggle room’, which is solely up to the discretion of the landlord. For example, if you do not meet the income requirement, the landlord may require a ‘guarantor’ who does meet the standards. This is typical in renting to a student, where the landlord will accept the guarantee of a parent. If you have a criminal record, if the offence was sufficiently in the past and/or a minor infraction, the landlord may decide to accept you. Each landlord sets their own standard as to what credit score is acceptable. In times or locations with high vacancies, some landlords will lower their requirements to attract tenants.
Many landlords require a non-refundable application fee. There is no prohibition to this practice.
Texas law requires that the landlord inform you in writing, before you pay the application fee, of the right to review the criteria by which they will evaluate your application. If they fail to do this, and your application is rejected, you are entitled to a refund of your application fee.
If you make an application, and more than 7 days pass without hearing a response, it is deemed that your application was rejected.
If your application was rejected because of your credit score, the landlord is required to let you know in writing that this was the reason for non-acceptance. This document is called an ‘adverse action notice’ and gives you the right to request a free credit report, with an opportunity to correct inaccurate information.
In the following blogs we will discuss the terms and conditions of a residential lease.
A good website for more information is https://texaslawhelp.org/legal-advice or contact the Law Office of Elliott Klein.