I am a member of Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound and this is a very important announcement:
New Tenant Screening Requirement for Landlords Takes Effect Soon
SB 6315 takes effect June 7, 2012
By Sean Martin, RHA
Perhaps the most important byproduct to come out of the 2012 legislative session
concerning landlords is SB 6315. The new law concerns tenant screening and is intended to provide applicants with more information up front when deciding whether or not to submit an application for tenancy and pay a tenant screening fee. Specifically, the law reads “Prior to obtaining any information about a prospective tenant, the prospective landlord shall first notify the prospective tenant in writing, or by posting,
of…what types of information will be accessed to conduct the tenant screening (and) what criteria may result in denial of the application.”
The new requirements for landlords to provide their screening criteria up front to
applicants came about after tenant advocates complainted that, in some cases, tenants
were being rejected as applicants due to reasons unknown or for reasons which an
applicant was aware existed, but did not know would result in denial of tenancy. These
scenarios could result in money wasted on a screening fee when, had the applicant known of the screening criteria up front, they could have chosen not to apply knowing that some part of the screening would result in denial of tenancy. As originally proposed, SB 6315 would have required landlords to accept portable tenant
screening reports as provided by a tenant or third party screening company. RHA was
successful in rewriting SB 6315 to eliminate any portable screening report requirements
and amended the bill to match the best business practices in the tenant screening industry.
In addition to requirements for up front screening criteria, a written Adverse Action
notice is also required to explain the reason for denial and providing contact references
for tenants to dispute or correct those records if they choose. This mandate already
existed under Federal law and RHA has been following these rules for some time now.
SB 6315 will also set up a workgroup to further discuss tenant screening issues and that group is expected to begin meeting later this year. RHA will have two representatives involved in those discussions.
RHA recommendations:
RHA has created an updated version of its Criteria for Tenant Selection which offers
guidance to members as to which screening criteria may be considered when evaluating
an applicant for tenancy. This form is available to all RHA members in the Membersonly
section under our Free Forms list. Another great resource is our Ask Megan
columns.
