Delaware Rental Application

What information should landlords collect?

Since a Delaware rental application gives everyone a fair chance to apply for your property, what should you focus on to collect the information you need while treating all applicants equally under the law?

As a Delaware landlord, you can collect information about:

• Names and contact details for applicants, co-applicants, and co-signers
• Social Security numbers and dates of birth
• Employment status
• Income history
• Smoking status
• Rental history, including past evictions and landlord references
• Pets
• Vehicle information

Because rental applications deal with sensitive personal data, state and federal laws regulate the questions you can ask and how to use the answers in your decisions.

Pro tip: Use a property management platform like TurboTenant to create a free online rental application template to save time and effort.

Pre-Screener

A pre-screener lets you quickly determine whether a potential renter meets your basic requirements before you ask them to complete a full application. Many landlords use pre-screeners to save time and avoid processing applicants who don’t qualify.

You can include the following in a pre-screener:

• Applicant contact info
• Employment status
• Verified income
• Self-reported credit score
• Desired move-in date
• Number of occupants
• Pets
• Smoking status

Federal Application Laws

To promote fair housing access, the federal government enforces laws that shape how you accept or reject rental applications.

Fair Housing Act (FHA): The Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords from discriminating against an applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status. The following information cannot play any role in the decision-making process.

The FHA also prevents landlords from advertising a unit in a way that indicates a preference for or against anyone based on the above list of protected characteristics. All property managers, landlords, and their employees must follow these guidelines (Fair Housing Act).

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): The ECOA protects certain classes from discrimination in financial and credit-based decisions, including individuals who receive public assistance. This law also regulates how landlords can assess a credit report in relation to a Delaware rental application (Equal Credit Opportunity Act).

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Landlords may not discriminate against an applicant based on a disability and cannot reject a rental application for that reason. They must also provide reasonable accommodations for renters with disabilities (Americans with Disabilities Act).

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Related to the ECOA, the Fair Credit Reporting Act governs how landlords may use credit reports for rental applications. Landlords must obtain the applicant’s consent before running a credit check and notify the applicant of any adverse decisions based on their credit history (Fair Credit Reporting Act).

Civil Rights Act of 1866: Landlords in the United States may not consider race in any rental application decisions (Civil Rights Act of 1866).

Delaware Application Laws

To ensure fair and equitable access to housing, many states have passed their own landlord-tenant laws to guide the process. This includes Fair Housing laws, of which Delaware has enacted its own Fair Housing Act to clarify specifics that apply to Delaware landlords and renters throughout the rental process.

Source of income: Delaware landlords may not discriminate against an applicant based on their source of income, including public assistance or Section 8 housing vouchers (Delaware Fair Housing Act).

Criminal history: Delaware has not passed laws explicitly addressing how landlords may use criminal history to evaluate an applicant. However, landlords should avoid blanket policies that deny anyone with a criminal background and should evaluate each applicant individually and consistently.

Eviction history: Landlords may consider eviction history in a Delaware rental application, but should verify that any information they receive or uncover is accurate.

Sexual orientation & gender identity: Delaware’s Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords from considering an applicant’s sexual orientation or gender identity when making rental decisions.

Pets, ESAs, and Service Animals

If tenants are allowed to have pets, a Delaware rental application can include a pet-specific section to collect information about them. However, service animals and emotional support animals (ESAs) are not considered “pets” under the law, and landlords cannot ban them from a unit.

Pet information: This section allows landlords to collect details about a pet, ESA, or service animal, including breed, size, and weight.

Fair Housing Act: The FHA prohibits landlords from rejecting an application because the applicant has an ESA or service animal, regardless of the animal’s type, breed, size, or weight. While landlords must accept these animals, tenants remain responsible for any damage they cause. Additionally, landlords may not charge a pet deposit or collect pet rent for ESAs or service animals.

Denial Process

To avoid potential challenges, landlords must ensure that all application denials are legal and applied consistently to every applicant who submits a Delaware rental application. Landlords may legally deny an applicant based on insufficient income, poor credit history, adverse rental history, criminal background, or incomplete or false information.

Denying an applicant for any other reason could expose the landlord to liability or discrimination claims.

Denial notice: Delaware does not require landlords to issue a denial notice when rejecting an application, unless the denial comes from information on a consumer report.

Credit/background denials: The FCRA requires landlords to notify applicants in writing when denying an application due to a poor credit report, using an adverse action notice. The notice should include:

• The name of the firm that conducted the credit or background check
• An explanation of the applicant’s right to dispute the findings in the report
• Contact details for the reporting agency

Document storage: Delaware landlords must store documents that involve a paid fee for at least one year after receiving the payment, although the law does not specifically mention rental applications. Still, keeping all documents (including rejected applications) is a good practice for property managers to help protect against potential discrimination claims in the future.