A Residential Rental Application is a form used by rental property owners, property managers, and landlords to gather information on potential tenants looking to lease a living space.

Rental applications are typically used when accepting applications for a rental unit in an apartment complex, but they can be used for all sorts of residential rental properties, including rooms in boarding houses, rental bungalows, and vacation properties.

These are the details commonly captured in a rental application:

• Location of the rental property
• Proposed terms of the lease, including duration and rent amount
• Security deposit amount (if applicable)
• The applicant's name and contact information
• The applicant's residential rental history, including names and contact information for previous landlords
• The applicant's employment history, with details about their current job and monthly income
• If the applicant is a pet owner or not, and if so, the type of pet
• The applicant's vehicle type and description

You may ask a potential tenant to provide their Social Security Number (SSN) on their application for the purposes of performing a credit check. However, there is no legal requirement for applicants to provide their SSN.

Tenant application forms provide landlords and property managers with a well-organized method to gather information on prospective renters.

The form can be used to capture the information you need to contact the applicant's previous landlords for references, as well as perform a credit check and criminal background check through a vendor offering those services.

The information being collected is also used to determine if a prospective tenant can comply with the lease obligations, such as being able to make the regular rent payment and take care of the property.