California Rental Application

What information should landlords collect?

A California rental application provides landlords with the information they need to conduct a thorough tenant background check. That said, it’s important to collect the right details to evaluate whether an applicant is a good fit for the property.

Landlords typically use a residential rental application to collect standard tenant information like:

• Name and contact info,
• Employment and income details,
• Rental and eviction history,
• Landlord references,
• Smoking and pet status,
• Vehicle information,
• And more.

TurboTenant, a property management software platform for landlords, offers free, fillable online California rental application templates that will save you time and money.

Pre-Screener

Before sending out an application, many landlords use a pre-screener to check whether or not an applicant meets their minimum rental criteria.

Typically, pre-screeners ask for:

• Tenant contact information,
• Employment status and job title,
• Monthly household income,
• Self-reported credit score,
• Intended move-in date,
• Number of occupants,
• Pet information,
• Smoking/vaping habits,
• And more.

Pre-screeners save time for everyone involved, but aren’t a suitable alternative to a comprehensive rental application and tenant screening report. Landlords can use these questionnaires to screen out unqualified candidates, but should think twice before relying on them to select their next tenant.

Federal Application Laws

Before diving into California state landlord-tenant regulations, we’ll first discuss the federal laws that impact rental application practices across all 50 states.

Fair Housing Act (FHA): The FHA prohibits housing discrimination based on an applicant’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status.

Landlords can’t ask questions on California rental applications that seek to reveal protected characteristics, like where an applicant was born or whether they have children.

Further, the FHA applies to anyone involved in renting, managing, or marketing property, including landlords, property managers, and their employees (42 U.S.C. §§ 3601–3619).

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): This federal law strictly prohibits credit-related discrimination during rental application reviews involving credit checks or payment plans.

Similar to the FHA, landlords can’t choose or deny tenants based on an applicant’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age (as long as they can legally sign a contract), receipt of public assistance, or whether the applicant has rights under the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1691–1691f).

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Under the ADA, landlords cannot discriminate based on an applicant’s disability and must provide candidates with reasonable accommodations (like installing handrails or providing assigned parking spaces) if the landlord selects them as tenants.

Plus, landlords shouldn’t seek to understand whether they’ll have to complete these requests beforehand. They must avoid asking questions on California rental application forms that hint at or attempt to uncover a tenant’s disability. The law strictly forbids asking if an applicant has a health condition, physical limitation, or mental illness (42 U.S.C. §§ 12101–12213).

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): The FCRA governs how landlords may collect and use credit and background reports. In the United States, all landlords must:

• Obtain the tenant’s written permission to run credit and background reports,
• Notify applicants if you deny their application based on the results of their report, and
• Provide an adverse action notice with the reporting agency’s contact information (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.).

Civil Rights Act of 1866: This longstanding federal law guarantees all U.S. citizens the right to buy, lease, or hold property, regardless of race or color. The federal government prohibits discrimination in any property-related transaction (42 U.S.C. § 1981).

California Application Laws

In addition to the federal regulations covered above, California landlords must comply with state and local housing laws, such as the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), which essentially mirrors the federal Fair Housing Act.

Below are additional, state-specific rules that are relevant to California rental applications in 2026:

Application fees: California landlords can charge rental application fees, but only up to a state-set maximum amount that the government adjusts annually for inflation. Landlords must also issue tenants a receipt and cannot charge more than the actual cost of screening. The landlord must refund the fee to the applicant if they ultimately do not conduct the tenant screening.

Landlords must also follow a compliant screening process before charging fees, prohibit fees when no unit is available, mandate refunds for unused or unprocessed applications, and require written disclosure of screening criteria. Lastly, if using a first-come, first-served process, landlords must review applications in the order received (Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.6).

Criminal background checks: For properties with five or more rental units, landlords cannot ask about an applicant’s criminal history during the application or initial screening and may consider criminal background only after making a conditional offer to the applicant. If the landlord withdraws the offer, they must issue the applicant a written notice and allow the applicant to respond (Cal. Civ. Code § 12952).

Immigration status: California landlords may not ask about or use an applicant’s immigration or citizenship status when making rental decisions. They can, however, request information to verify the applicant’s identity or run background checks, as long as they use the same screening procedures consistently with all applicants (Cal. Civ. Code § 1940.3).

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): Some landlords must disclose how they collect, store, and share applicants’ personal data. Applicants can request access to their data, ask for its deletion, or opt out of its sale at any time. Note: The CCPA applies only to landlords that meet certain business size thresholds (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.100).

Denial Process

Landlords can only reject tenants based on objective, non-discriminatory criteria. Common and legal reasons to deny an applicant include:

• Insufficient income,
• Unverifiable or unstable employment,
• Poor credit score or history,
• Past evictions,
• Relevant criminal record, and
• False or incomplete information given in the rental application form.

Denial notice: California doesn’t require landlords to issue applicants a written denial notice unless they base their decision on the information found in a credit report. If so, landlords must comply with FCRA rules when notifying the tenant.

Credit/Background denials: If a landlord denies a candidate based on a background or credit check in 2026, they must issue an adverse action notice with:

• The name and contact info of the credit or background agency that ran the report,
• A summary of the applicant’s rights, and
• Instructions on how to dispute the report with the reporting agency (15 U.S.C. § 1681m).

Denied application and screening report storage: California law doesn’t require landlords to retain denied applications or screening reports for any period after receiving them.

However, landlords often opt to store these documents securely for at least 2 years. By retaining denied applications and screening reports, landlords will be better prepared to defend themselves against legal action from applicants or audits from housing authorities.