Write Your Tenant Screening Criteria Before You List in Rocklin

Settle the yardstick before the photos go up

The carpets are clean, the photos are ready, and the listing could go live tonight. In Rocklin, a well-kept home can draw several applications in the first few days. If you decide what "qualified" means only after the applications arrive, you end up comparing people instead of comparing them to a standard, and that is where fair housing trouble starts.

Written criteria fix that. They tell every applicant the same thing, they let you explain a decision later, and California's screening fee law now assumes you have them. The Civil Rights Department also expects a provider who checks criminal history to give a copy or description of that policy to an applicant who asks. A one-page criteria sheet, finished before the first showing, covers all three.

What the application fee rules require

Civil Code 1950.6 limits the screening fee to your actual out-of-pocket cost, including a reasonable value for your time. The statute's base cap is $30 per applicant, which may be adjusted each year for inflation measured from 1998. Guarantors and cosigners count as applicants, and the fee is separate from the security deposit.

Since January 1, 2025, you may charge the fee only if, at the time you collect it, you use one of two processes:

• First-come, first-qualified. You hand out the written criteria with the application, review completed applications in the order received, approve the first applicant who meets the criteria, and charge no one until their application is actually considered.
• Refund the rest. You return the entire fee to every applicant you do not select, for any reason, within 7 days of choosing a tenant or 30 days after the application was submitted, whichever comes first.
• No unit, no fee. You may not charge anyone when you know, or should know, that no home is available now or within a reasonable time.
• Paper trail. Give an itemized receipt for costs and time, and send the applicant a copy of any credit report within seven days of receiving it, without waiting to be asked.
• Reusable reports. Accepting a reusable screening report under Civil Code 1950.1 is your choice. If your policy accepts them and an applicant brings one, you may not charge a screening fee or an access fee.

Income tests that count every lawful dollar

California treats source of income as a protected characteristic. Under Government Code 12955, that expressly includes Section 8 and HUD-VASH vouchers. Asking about the amount or source of income is fine; turning someone away because rent will be paid partly by a housing authority is not.

Three income rules belong on your criteria sheet. First, if an applicant has a rent subsidy, any income minimum applies only to the tenant's share of the rent, never the full contract rent. Second, if you check credit for a subsidized applicant, you must offer the option to show ability to pay another way, such as benefit letters, bank statements or pay records, and give reasonable time to do it. Third, people who will live together must have their incomes added up the same way you would for a married couple.

You may verify identity and finances, but Civil Code 1940.3 bars questions about immigration or citizenship status. Pick documents that prove income without asking about status.

Criminal history and eviction records

The Civil Rights Department's criminal history guidance rules out blanket bans such as "no felons." You may not seek or consider arrests that did not lead to a conviction, infractions, diversion programs, sealed or expunged convictions, or juvenile records. A denial must rest on a "directly-related conviction," judged by the nature and severity of the crime and how much time has passed.

CRD also says a policy should give every applicant written notice that they may present mitigating information, check the report for errors, and wait to pull criminal history until financial and other qualifications are verified. Put that order of steps in writing so it happens the same way every time.

Eviction history needs the same care. The DRE notes that limited eviction case records are masked unless the landlord wins a judgment within 60 days of filing, so a filing alone tells you little. Civil Code 1946.9 also bars holding against an applicant a lease breach that grew out of abuse or violence against them. Look at what a record actually shows rather than applying a flat rule.

When the answer is no, or yes with conditions

If a consumer report plays any part in a denial, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires an adverse action notice. The FTC's landlord guidance says this applies even when the report played only a small part, and that requiring a cosigner or a larger deposit counts too. The notice names the screening company with its address and phone number, says that company did not make the decision, and explains the right to a free copy and to dispute errors.

California adds its own rule in Civil Code 1785.20: adverse action based on a credit report calls for written notice. A short template, filled in the same day you decide, keeps you covered under both laws. File it with the application, the criteria sheet and your notes on why the applicant did or did not qualify.

Doing it yourself or handing it off

If you rent one home every few years and you are comfortable with forms, you can screen on your own. The work is mostly paperwork: the criteria sheet, the fee process, the receipts, the credit report copy and the notice templates. Where owners slip is consistency, such as waiving a rule for a friendly applicant and then enforcing it against the next one.

If you would rather not build that system, compare how managers handle it. SPMG lists finding and screening residents in every plan on its pricing page, and its renter criteria page describes the factors its screening looks at. The rental leasing page covers the leasing steps that follow approval. Whoever screens, ask to see the written criteria and the denial notice before your listing goes live, or send a note through the contact page with your home's details.