A rental application is a pre-tenancy disclosure and consent form — it collects an applicant’s information and their consent to a credit and background check so a landlord can decide whether to offer a lease. It has no term, no rent, and creates no tenancy of any kind. Download the ready-to-fill template below, or read the field-by-field checklist first.
A complete, ready-to-fill PDF — 11 clauses, blanks for every detail, and a signature block for both parties. Free, no email, no account. Read it and adapt it before you use it; the cover page explains what it can and cannot do for you.
Need the other party to sign it too? Send it for signature with a full audit trail and a tamper-evident seal on the finished file — they never need an account. See pricing.
This document is a general-purpose template provided for information only. It is not legal advice, it does not create a lawyer–client relationship, and nobody has reviewed it against your situation.
Laws differ by country, state and province, and they change. A clause that is standard in one place can be unenforceable — or illegal — in another. Terms that are ordinary between two businesses can be void in a consumer or employment context.
Read every clause before you use it, fill in every blank, and delete anything that does not apply. For anything high-value, unusual, or that you could not afford to lose a dispute over, have a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction review it before it is signed.
This kind of document is regulated differently almost everywhere. Many places require specific notices, disclosures or statutory wording, and some make clauses like these unenforceable outright. Treat this template as a starting point to take to a local lawyer, not as a document to sign as-is.
These are the fields and clauses a rental application needs. It’s a screening form, not a contract — leaving a field out weakens the landlord’s ability to verify the applicant, not a term either side is bound by.
A lease is bilateral: both the landlord and the tenant take on obligations — rent, a term, maintenance responsibilities. A rental application is different on purpose. It exists before any of that, so the landlord can decide whether to offer a lease at all. It states no rent, no term, and no tenancy obligation — only the applicant’s information and the applicant’s consent for the landlord to verify it.
That’s why only the applicant (and a co-applicant, if any) signs it. There’s no landlord signature line, because there’s nothing for the landlord to agree to yet — the applicant is asking to be considered, and the landlord decides based on what screening turns up. Submitting this form, and paying any application fee, doesn’t create a tenancy or a right to occupy the property. That happens only if and when the landlord and the applicant later sign a separate lease.
The operative clause is the screening consent: it authorizes a credit check, a background and eviction-history check, and verification calls to employers, prior landlords and references. Because that consent can result in a denial, the form also carries the applicant’s adverse-action rights and a fair-housing statement — the screening has to be applied the same way to every applicant, without regard to a protected characteristic.
Applicant identifying & contact info. Full legal name, date of birth, ID or Social Security number, and contact details — the baseline a landlord needs to run a credit or background check against the right person.
Property applying for & requested move-in date. Which unit the applicant wants and when — stated as a request, not a term. No rent figure or lease length is agreed here; that’s for the lease itself, if one follows.
Residence history. Current address and landlord, how long the applicant has lived there, and why they’re leaving — plus a prior address if the current one is recent. Landlords use this to check for a pattern of short tenancies or unpaid rent.
Employment & income information. Current employer, position, length of employment, and gross monthly income, with a contact for verification. Applicants aren’t required to disclose alimony, child support or public assistance income unless they choose to have it counted.
References. Personal references and any prior landlord not already listed — people the landlord may contact as part of screening.
Application fee, if any. Stated separately from any future deposit or rent, and tied to the actual cost of screening — many places cap the amount or require a refund of any unused portion, so check the local rule before charging one.
Consent to credit & background check. The authorization to pull a credit report, run a background and eviction check, and verify employment and references — the clause the rest of the form exists to support.
Adverse-action notice rights. What happens if the applicant is denied based on a consumer report: a notice naming the reporting agency and the applicant’s right to a free copy and to dispute inaccurate information.
Equal housing / fair-housing statement. A statement that screening is applied the same way to every applicant, without regard to race, religion, familial status, disability, or any other characteristic protected where the property is located.
Applicant certification & signature. The applicant’s statement that everything given is true and complete, with the consequence spelled out: a false statement is grounds for denial now, or for lease termination later if discovered after move-in.
Landlords: fill in the template above and send it to a prospective tenant to complete and sign with a free Evenseal account — 3 documents a month, no card required. Applicants who just need their own signed copy can self-sign for free with no account at /sign-pdf.
Not legal advice — application-fee limits, screening-consent rules and fair-housing requirements vary by state and city. Have a local attorney review anything unusual.