Can you deny a tenant with new/low credit history?

[Matthew T.]

I am currently screening tenants for my rental apartment, a few of them have good credit score (above 700) but their credit history is only 0.5-1 year old.  Can this be a good enough reason to deny their application?  

[Jake Thompson]

In order to avoid discrimination you should have a set of minimum qualification standards for all applicants. If that minimum is at least 2 years of credit history, for example, than that's fine, just as long as that applies to everyone. If your standards change based on the applicant you are opening yourself up to a potential lawsuit. If everything else checks out I'd say go ahead and rent to them. If you are worried you could also have them get a cosigner.