You have decided to reject a tenant’s application, now what? In this Legal Briefs video, Gabrielle Amaya, Texas REALTORS® Associate Counsel of Legal Affairs, explains the reasons why a tenant’s application can be rejected and how you can use Adverse Action Notice and Credit Score Disclosure (TXR 2212) to notify them.
View the episode below or click here to access all the videos in the Legal Briefs series.
What scenarios would you refund the applicant’s application fee under?
Great Question!
When you don’t have or give a written rental criteria for your application and then denied the application, you have to refund the application fee. ZipForm/Texas REALTORS has a sample rental criteria available to download in the ZipForm documents.
It costs money to run the credit and background checks. Please specify why you would refund the application fee in each scenario.
I believe she said “application fee deposit”, which I believe is different from the actual “application fee” used to process the application and/or credit.
There is no mention of deposit in original question
Is there a guide for criteria that can be used to reject an application?
Any Landlord that leases should have a rental criteria that they provide to all applicants. The criteria spells out the requirements to qualify, and the the things that the application could be denied for. This should be given to the applicant prior to submitting an application. Having each applicant sign the criteria prior to submission is the best way to ensure each applicant was aware of the qualifications. Having a criteria ensures you are evaluating all applicants equally based on the same criteria. You would refund an applicant’s application fee if you approve applicants ahead of them, and never pulled… Read more »