The way to screen tenants safely is to write your criteria down before you advertise, publish them, and apply them identically to every applicant. Consistency, not strictness, is what makes a screening decision defensible - a landlord who applies a 3x income rule to everyone is on solid ground, while one who applies it selectively is not, no matter how reasonable each individual decision felt.
Screening is also where the biggest financial outcome of a tenancy is decided. An eviction in Connecticut is a court process, not a phone call, and it will cost more than a year of careful screening ever would.
What should my written criteria include?
Set these before a single enquiry arrives. The specific thresholds are yours to choose; having them in writing is not optional.
- Income. A gross income multiple of monthly rent. 3x is the most common standard.
- Credit. A minimum score, or a set of conditions such as no unsatisfied judgments and no rental collections.
- Rental history. A minimum period of verifiable tenancy and a landlord reference.
- Employment. Verifiable current income, with a defined position on self-employment and non-employment income.
- Occupancy. A maximum occupants-per-bedroom figure applied by unit size, never by family composition.
- Criminal history. If used at all, narrowly defined - see below.
- Pets. A clear policy, with assistance animals excluded from it as a matter of law.
Publish the criteria in the listing or make them available on request. An applicant who can read the standard before applying is an applicant who cannot later claim it was invented for them.
Which characteristics are protected?
Federal fair housing law protects race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, familial status and disability. Connecticut protects additional categories beyond the federal list, so a Connecticut landlord cannot rely on the federal seven alone.
The practical effect is on questions. These are the ones that get landlords into trouble, usually asked innocently in conversation rather than written on a form:
| Do not ask | Ask instead |
|---|---|
| “Do you have children?” | Nothing - occupancy is judged by number of occupants, not who they are |
| “Where are you from originally?” | “Can you provide identification and proof of income?” |
| “Do you go to church nearby?” | Nothing |
| “Is that a service dog? What is your condition?” | You may ask if the animal is needed because of a disability and what task it performs - not for medical records |
| “Are you planning a family?” | Nothing |
| “Is your income from a job or benefits?” | “Can you document your income?” - treating all lawful income sources equally |
The same rule applies to advertising. Describing a unit as “perfect for a young professional” or “ideal for a quiet couple” signals a preference about who should live there, and that is the part fair housing law is aimed at.
What is the safest way to run the process?
A sequence, applied the same way every time.
1. Pre-screen at the enquiry. State the rent, deposit, move-in date, income standard and pet policy up front. This filters on published criteria before anyone has met anyone.
2. Take a complete written application from every applicant. Same form, every time. An incomplete application is not evaluated - which is itself a criterion, applied consistently.
3. Verify income independently. Pay stubs, an employment letter or bank statements. For self-employed applicants, tax returns or several months of statements. Do not verify one applicant’s income harder than another’s.
4. Pull credit and background with written consent. Use a screening service and keep the consent on file.
5. Call the previous landlord, not just the current one. A current landlord who wants a difficult tenant to leave has a reason to be generous. The one before has none. Ask: did they pay on time, did they give proper notice, would you rent to them again.
6. Decide against the written criteria only. Nothing else enters the decision.
7. Document the decision. Note which criterion was or was not met, and keep applications for every applicant, not only the successful one. Records of a consistent process are what defend it.
How should criminal history be handled?
Carefully, or not at all. HUD guidance treats blanket criminal-record bans as likely to produce a discriminatory effect, because arrest and conviction rates differ substantially across racial groups.
If you use criminal history at all, keep the criterion narrow:
- Consider convictions, not arrests. An arrest is not evidence of conduct.
- Tie it to a real risk to residents or property, not to a general sense of character.
- Set a lookback period so that old conduct falls away.
- Allow the applicant to explain the circumstances and take that into account.
A criterion that reads “any conviction, ever, is an automatic decline” is the version most likely to cause you a problem.
What are the rules on declining an applicant?
If your decision relies even partly on a consumer report - credit, background, eviction history - the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires an adverse action notice. You must tell the applicant, name the agency that supplied the report, and inform them of their right to a free copy and to dispute what is in it.
Send it in writing. Keep a copy. This is a short, cheap step that regularly gets skipped, and skipping it is a violation in itself regardless of whether the underlying decision was sound.
Should I take the first qualified applicant?
Usually, yes. First qualified applicant is the policy that most reliably survives scrutiny, because it removes discretion - and discretion is where discrimination claims are built.
If you prefer to compare applicants, then compare them only on the published criteria, score them the same way, and write down the result. “I just had a better feeling about them” is not a criterion, and it is exactly the reasoning a complaint will focus on.
What screening will not tell you
Two things, worth knowing before you rely on it too heavily.
A clean report is not a guarantee. People lose jobs. Circumstances change. Screening improves the odds; it does not remove the risk.
A flawed report is not always a decline. An applicant with a thin credit file, recent immigration, or a first tenancy may be entirely reliable. This is where a larger deposit - inside Connecticut’s two-month cap - or a guarantor can bridge a gap your criteria alone would close.
The five-minute version
- Write the criteria down before you advertise. Publish them.
- Same application form, same verification depth, same questions for everyone.
- Never ask anything that reveals a protected characteristic.
- Call the previous landlord as well as the current one.
- No blanket criminal-record bans.
- Send an adverse action notice whenever a report contributed to a decline.
- Keep every application, not only the one you accepted.
Screening carefully takes a few hours per tenancy. An eviction takes months. If you would rather that work sat with someone who does it every week, it is part of what our leasing and management service covers - tell us about the unit and we will explain exactly how we would screen for it.
This article describes general fair housing and screening practice as of August 2026. Connecticut protects categories beyond the federal list and state law changes; this is general information, not legal advice. Consult a Connecticut attorney before finalising screening criteria.