Arkansas Rental Application

What type of information should landlords collect?

To get to know prospective tenants, Arkansas rental applications help landlords collect crucial information about the person who may be living in their house, apartment, or home. This data can be used to verify a tenant’s trustworthiness and determine whether they will be a good fit for a particular dwelling unit.

As part of the application process, landlords should utilize an application that covers the following details:

• Personal information: The names of the applicants, co-applicants, and co-signers; the tenant’s date of birth and social security number; and the tenant’s contact information
• Financial and rental information: The tenant’s employment status, income history, and eviction records, if any
• Pet information: How many pets a tenant has, as well as their size and breed
• Whether or not a tenant smokes
• Personal and/or professional references
• Vehicle information

Due to the sensitive nature of the data collected through rental applications, landlords must comply with Arkansas landlord-tenant laws that govern the application process. These regulations limit the type of information landlords can gather, how the information can be used to select a tenant, and the kinds of questions that may be used as part of the application. If you’re not sure where to start, try TurboTenant’s state-specific rental application sample.

Below, we’ll also take an in-depth look at Arkansas rental application elements such as pre-screeners, application fees, denial processes, and much more.

Pre-Screener

Before tenants apply to a rental unit, landlords can save all parties valuable time and money by asking the applicant to complete a pre-screening questionnaire. A pre-screener covers essential information such as contact details, employment and income status, self-reported credit score, and more.

Pre-screeners can help landlords easily and quickly sort through interested tenants, weeding out applicants who show interest in a rental listing but may not be the best choice for a certain rental property. While these forms can help landlords initiate the rental application process, they cannot be used as a substitute for a comprehensive rental application.

Federal Application Laws

Certain federal laws apply to rental application processes across the U.S. Landlords in Arkansas must ensure they administer rental applications in accordance with these nationwide laws:

Fair Housing Act (FHA) 

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords from discriminating against applicants based on certain protected characteristics, including race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Landlords are not permitted to deny housing solely because of these characteristics and cannot ask questions about them during the application process. For example, an application asking about a tenant’s religion or familial status would be prohibited.

The Fair Housing Act also prohibits discriminatory advertising, as well as housing denial and unequal lease terms based on protected characteristics. These rules apply to property managers and other employees; therefore, landlords must ensure that all staff members are thoroughly trained to avoid housing violations.

Landlords must ensure that rental property advertisements adhere to these rules, allowing the best applicants to be identified based solely on objective criteria (Fair Housing Act)

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)

Similar to the FHA, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits landlords from discriminating against applicants on the basis of the protected characteristics above. However, the ECOA also prevents landlords from discriminating against tenants who receive public assistance. 

This law limits the ways in which landlords can assess rental and credit applications, creating a more level playing field for all applicants (Equal Credit Opportunity Act)

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, landlords are prohibited from discriminating against applicants with disabilities. Applications cannot be denied solely due to a disability, and rental listings and communication with applicants should avoid language that could be viewed as discriminatory against those with disabilities.

Additionally, landlords must allow tenants to make, at their own expense, reasonable modifications to the property or dwelling unit to ensure equal access (Americans with Disabilities Act)

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates the use of credit reports by landlords in the rental application process. Landlords are required to obtain tenants’ consent before initiating a credit check, and must also notify applicants if housing was denied solely due to poor credit history (Fair Credit Reporting Act).

Arkansas Application Laws

In addition to federal laws, Arkansas has a variety of state-wide laws that govern the questions landlords can ask and how that information can be used during the rental application process. 

These laws include Arkansas’ Fair Housing Act. Like the federal Fair Housing Act, this similarly prohibits discrimination on the basis of certain protected characteristics. We’ll explore some of those characteristics below:

Criminal history: Landlords in Arkansas are permitted to inquire about a tenant’s criminal history during the application process. However, landlords are required to consider criminal history on a case-by-case basis and must apply these considerations equally to all tenants. 

Portable tenant screening reports: As of 2025, Arkansas does not have any laws in place that prevent tenants from using portable tenant screening reports. It’s up the the landlord’s discretion on whether or not they want to use them. 

Pets, ESAs, and Service Animals

Pet information: If you decide to permit tenants with pets, you should include a section of the application for tenants to disclose information about their animals, such as the number, size, and breed of pets.

Fair Housing Act: As in the rest of the country, landlords in Arkansas are prohibited from denying housing or discriminating against applicants due to an emotional support animal or a service animal, no matter the animal’s breed, weight, or size. Additionally, landlords are not permitted to charge a pet deposit, pet rent, or other pet fees for emotional support animals (ESAs) and service animals.

With that said, tenants may still be held liable for the damages these animals may cause.

Denial Process

During the application process, landlords in Arkansas may need to decline some applicants for various reasons. In this case, denials must be handled legally and consistently across all rental applicants. Landlords may deny housing for valid reasons such as insufficient income, negative credit or rental history, or if the tenant provides incomplete or false information on the application. 

Denial notice: Although certain states require landlords to issue denial notices to rejected applicants, Arkansas does not have such a requirement.

Credit/Background denials: If the landlord denied housing based on the results of a credit or background check, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires landlords to provide applicants with an adverse action notice that includes the name of the credit or background check provider, an explanation of the tenant’s right to dispute any inaccuracies discovered, and the contact information of the reporting agency.

Document storage: Unlike other states, Arkansas landlord-tenant law does not require landlords to store denied applications for a certain period of time. However, document storage is highly recommended to prevent the possibility of future disputes with former applicants.