Rejection Letter Language & Fair Housing

[Brandon Sturgill]

I am about to issue 20+ rejection letters to section 8 applicants on a rental property- what is the most appropriate way to do this? Thoughts?

[Marcia Maynard]

Check with the requirements for your jurisdiction.

We are fortunate in Washington State because we are required to send an "Adverse Action Notice" and the items in it are defined. Doesn't matter if the applicant is Section 8 or not. If they don't meet our minimum criteria to rent we can reject their application. We are also required to provide applicants with our rental criteria prior to taking their application, so if they see they will not qualify they can choose not to apply. We just check the appropriate boxes and do not need to go into detail. Note: in our local jurisdiction, city ordinance does not allow us to discriminate based on source of income and we must consider the value of the Section 8 voucher as income. We actually have had a very good experience with the S8 program and some of our longest term tenants have S8 vouchers. The key is in using the same rental criteria and application process with all prospective renters and to making sure your rental criteria is compliant with non-discrimination law and fair housing law.

Here is the wording from the "Adverse Action Notice" that we use. RCW refers to Revised Code of Washington, so you can eliminate that if you choose to borrow from this document:

ADVERSE ACTION NOTICE (RCW 19.182.110 & RCW 59.18.257)

Applicant Name ___________

Mailing Address ___________

This notice is to inform you that your application to rent the property located at __________ has been:

[   ] Rejected

[   ] Approved with conditions:

[   ] Residency requires an increased monthly rent of $_____

[   ] Residency requires increased [   ] fee or [   ] deposit of $_____

[   ] Residency requires last month's rent.

[   ] Residency requires a qualified guarantor.

[   ] Other requirement: __________

Adverse action on your application was based on one or more of the following:

[   ] Information contained in a consumer credit report.*

[   ] The consumer credit report did not contain sufficient information.*

[   ] Information received in a criminal record.

[   ] Information received in a civil record.

[   ] Information received from references.

[   ] Information received from previous rental history or housing reference.

[   ] Information received from employment verification or income verification.

[   ] Inaccurate, false, or misleading statements or missing critical information on application.

*If you were rejected based on a consumer credit report, you can request a copy of your credit report free from the below-checked ageny.

[   ] Experian, P.O. Box 9556, Allen TX 75013, 1-888-397-3742 or 1-888-211-0728

[   ] Exquifax, P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta GA 30374, 1-888-202-4025

[   ] TransUnion, Customer Relations, P.O. Box 2000, Chester PA 19022, 1-800-888-4213

Dated this ____ day of ___________, 20_____.

Agent/Owner Signature: _______________