Oregon Rental Application

What information should landlords collect?

All free Oregon rental applications should collect standard details, like:

• Personal information: Gather the names of applicants, co-applicants, and co-signers, along with their dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, emergency contacts, Social Security numbers, and smoking status.
• Financial history: Ask for employment information, self-reported income, and rental history details.
• References: Obtain written references from the applicant’s employer and previous landlords if necessary.
• Rental history: Verifying past addresses can help verify application information and check for eviction history.
• Pets: Information regarding pets can help determine the security deposit or additional pet fees.
• Vehicle information: Details regarding the tenant’s vehicles should remain on file during their stay.

Standard rental applications collect information about potential tenants, and federal and state laws set guidelines regarding the types of information landlords can gather, how they collect it, and how they can use it when deciding on a renter. Next, we’ll review these guidelines.

Note: TurboTenant offers a free-for-landlords, legally reviewed rental application template that complies with all applicable federal and state screening laws.

Pre-Screener

Sometimes, landlords ask renters to complete a pre-screening questionnaire before issuing an Oregon rental application to ensure the tenant meets the unit’s minimum criteria. But while pre-screeners are helpful, they don’t replace a complete rental application.

This quick list of questions can save time by filtering out unqualified tenants by collecting:

• General contact information,
• Employment status and income,
• Self-reported credit score,
• Desired move-in date,
• Number of occupants,
• Information about pets, service animals, and ESAs,
• Smoking status,
• And more.

Federal Application Laws

Since rental application forms collect sensitive information, several federal laws govern how landlords may collect and use the data they obtain. Landlords must carefully understand and follow these laws to avoid penalties:

Fair Housing Act (FHA): The Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics like race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. Landlords, property managers, and their employees are prohibited from not asking questions about these categories.

Beyond the application process, landlords should not write property listings to attract or deflect applicants based on protected characteristics (42 U.S.C. §§ 3601–3619).

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): Passed in 1974, the ECOA protects applicants from discrimination based on the same categories established in the FHA, but adds a vital group: People who have received public assistance. Regulating how landlords can assess rental or credit applications helps ensure a more level playing field among potential renters (15 U.S.C. §§ 1691–1691f).

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The ADA requires landlords to provide reasonable accommodations to tenants with disabilities and protects those tenants from discrimination in the application process (42 U.S.C. §§ 12101–12213).

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): The FCRA requires landlords to obtain written consent before conducting a credit check on an applicant. The landlord must also inform the applicant whether they were denied due to their credit history (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.).

Civil Rights Act of 1866: This law requires landlords to treat all applicants equally. Landlords cannot deny a rental application based on the applicant’s color or race (42 U.S.C. § 1981).

Oregon Application Laws

Just as federal laws affect the 2026 rental application process, Oregon landlord-tenant laws can also play a significant role.

Many states protect tenants in the same way as the Federal Fair Housing Act, either through a single law or a series of laws designed to guide landlords in accepting tenants equally and fairly. The Oregon Fair Housing Council provides helpful resources to help tenants and landlords navigate the screening process.

Source of income: Oregon law prohibits landlords from rejecting applicants based on their source of income, which includes government assistance and housing vouchers (ORS 659A.421).

Criminal history: Landlords in Oregon can run a criminal tenant background check on the applicant with the applicant’s consent and use the results to evaluate the application within specific parameters. For instance, a court must have convicted the applicant, and the crime must be on the list provided by the legislature. Importantly, recent legislative action has amended this law, with changes taking effect in January of 2028 (ORS 90.303).

Eviction history: Oregon landlords can consider eviction history for up to 5 years prior to the applicant applying for a property. However, landlords cannot use an eviction action to deny a rental if the eviction occurred between April 1, 2020, and March 1, 2022, as rent collection and evictions were atypical during the COVID-19 pandemic (ORS 90.303).

Pets, ESAs, and Service Animals

If you allow pets into your rental house/apartment/home, include a section in the application that asks the applicant about their specific circumstances. While landlords cannot deny an application for a pet if the pet is a service or emotional support animal (ESA), landlords can still hold tenants liable for any damages the animal causes.

Pet information: Landlords should collect information about the pet (type, size, weight, ESA status, or service animal status) and inform the tenant of any additional pet charges, such as rent or additional security deposits.

Fair Housing Act: The FHA prohibits landlords from denying housing to an applicant because of a service animal or an ESA. They cannot charge pet deposits, pet rent, or additional fees for those animals. Landlords cannot restrict the breed or size of emotional support animals (ESAs) or service animals (HUD Assistance Animals).

Denial Process

When it comes time to deny an Oregon rental applicant, landlords must ensure that all denials are lawful and consistent, regardless of the applicant’s status. It’s legal for a landlord to deny an applicant for:

• Insufficient income,
• Poor credit history,
• Adverse rental history,
• Criminal background (as allowed by state and federal law), or
• False or incomplete information.

Denial notice: Oregon landlords must provide applicants with a written denial notice within 14 days of the decision, stating the reason for the denial (ORS 90.304).

Credit/Background denials: As outlined above, the FCRA requires landlords to notify the applicant and issue an adverse action notice for the denial, which includes:

• Name of the credit/background check provider,
• An explanation of the tenant’s right to dispute any inaccuracies in the screening report, and
• Contact details of the reporting agency (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.).

Document storage: While Oregon law doesn’t explicitly mention applications, property managers and landlords should maintain all records related to renting property for at least 6 years. Adhering to these standards will help protect landlords from discrimination claims and establish a best practice for record retention across all rental units (OAR 863-025-0035).