Tenant Screening in New York: What Landlords Can (and Can’t) Ask

Finding the right tenant is the single biggest factor in a successful rental. A thorough, consistent screening process protects your property and your cash flow — but New York landlords need to know where the legal lines are.

What you can review

• Credit history and current income (a common benchmark is gross income of about 3x the monthly rent)
• Rental history and references from prior landlords
• Employment verification
• Criminal background, within the limits of New York and federal fair housing guidance

What you cannot do in New York

• Charge more than $20 for an application and background/credit check, and you must accept a copy of a report the applicant obtained within the last 30 days
• Refuse an applicant because they use lawful source of income such as Section 8 or other assistance — source-of-income discrimination is illegal statewide
• Consider an applicant’s history in housing court ("tenant blacklists" are prohibited)
• Discriminate based on any protected class: race, religion, national origin, family status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, military status, and more

Be consistent

The strongest legal protection is a written, uniform process: the same application, the same checks, the same income standard for every applicant, applied in the order applications are completed. Document your decisions. If you decline someone based on a screening report, federal law requires an adverse-action notice telling them which agency produced the report.

The bottom line

Screening well isn’t about finding reasons to say no — it’s about verifying that the applicant can comfortably afford the home and has a track record of treating rentals well. A professional manager runs this process the same way every time, which protects owners from both bad tenancies and discrimination claims.