Description

Most landlords use a rental application to screen potential tenants. The goal is to select tenants who are likely to pay rent on time, keep the unit in good condition and not cause problems. Documenting the applicants' information also protects you from claims of discrimination from rejected tenants.

If you’re a prospective tenant, use this form to preview the kinds of information you’ll probably be asked to provide.

Important to Know

If you’re the landlord:

• verify the information you receive on the form
• be sure to obtain a signature before performing a credit check
• make sure you know how discrimination laws work
• If you’re a prospective tenant in a competitive market, be prepared to answer these questions when you apply to rent a unit, or bring a filled-out application with you.

System Requirements

Operating system: Windows- and Macintosh-compatible. The computer you use to purchase an eForm must be the same computer you will download it to. (For example, don't purchase the eForm using your computer at work if you intend to download it later on to your home computer; instead, wait until you're on the computer you intend to download the eForm to and then make your purchase. After you've downloaded the file, you will be able to "transfer" it to another computer by copying it to external media or by email.) In addition, you will not be able to download this file if:

• cookies are disabled on your computer, or
• a firewall prevents you from downloading files from the Internet.

Software: Before you can use an eForm, additional software must be installed:
To expand the ZIP archive you download after making your purchase, you'll need:

• A decompression utility such as the following, both of which can be downloaded for free:

• 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org) (for Windows users).
• StuffIt Expander (http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit/expander.html) (for Macintosh). Please note: Many recently manufactured Macs have a native capability to decompress zip files. See your computer's user manual for verification of this and instructions for access.

To open, fill out and print an eForm, you need a word processor that "reads" RTF (rich text format) files:

• Windows XP, Vista & 7 all come with WordPad, an RTF-compatible word processor.
• Macintosh OS X comes with TextEdit, an RTF-compatible word processor; non-OS X users need Word 5.0 or greater, WordPerfect 2.1 or greater, or another RTF-compatible word processor.