Screening tenants in NY - question about what is allowed and feedback on prescreen Qs

[Ned Marz]

Hey all, 

Recently bought a 3family in my home state of NY and am choosing to do most of the management on my own to cut my teeth and learn what I don't know before I outsource it in the future.  I am working with an attorney but I dont want to bug him with all of my learning questions.  Figured I would throw a couple here :).

#1 -- I see NY has a maximum allowed application fee of just $20.  I don't care about the fee for my time but most good background checks and credit checks are closer to $40-50 and I want the applicant to pay for those.  If I have the reporting agency direct bill to the applicant but also allow the applicant to use any other site they want as long as it provides me with the correct info, does that still fall under the $20 restriction or is that a sufficient workaround?  (Let's ignore the possibility of them falsifying reports for the sake of the question)

#2 -- I have a tenant Application I want to use that I will run past my attorney, but I have some prescreening questions below that I want to email to anyone who shows interest in the unit.  Most of these are picked up from other posts/websites during my research.  Does anyone see any problematic wording for NY specifically?  For example, I heard there might be some limitations on how we use criminal history but haven't seen anything concrete on that.

PRESCREEN EMAIL__________________________

Please complete these Prescreen Questions. If chosen to move forward, you will complete a full application which must include a criminal background and credit check (approximately $45).

1.  Please provide the following for each Applicant (include co-signers if applicable)
   1. Name, current address, phone # 
   2. Current Occupation & length of time employed.
   3. Monthly gross (before-tax) verifiable income 
   4. How many evictions have been filed against you?
   5. What will show on a criminal background check? <-- this legal to ask?
   6. Describe your credit score and any bankruptcies that will show on your record 
2.  Pet names + type/breed (list all)
3.  How many people will be living in your apartment in total?
4.  Is anyone who will be living with you a smoker? If yes, do they ever smoke inside?
5.  How much money do all applicants have saved, in total?
6.  What may interrupt your ability to pay your rent?
7.  Requested move-in date:

Appreciate any feedback from my fellow New Yorkers or anyone familiar with us.  Thank you!