if you are applying to rent a house,apartment, or manufactured home, you should know about a new law in washington state that affects landlords and tenants.that affects landlord and tenant welcome to our video about the fairtenant screening act, brought to you by the northwest justiceproject. if you apply to rent a house, apartment,or mobile home, the landlord may "screen" you. screening means making a decision onyour rental application by looking up information about you like youremployment status, credit history, criminal and civil court records, and history with previous landlords. as of june 2012, washington'sfair tenant screening act now requires landlords to give you some information in writing before screening you
and also limits how much the landlordcan charge you. the law also affects what you can doif you disagree with information that the landlord uses to reject your application and what you can do if the landlord doesnot follow the new law. what does the law say? before screening you, a landlord mustnow give you a written notice that tells you what kind of informationthe landlord will look at to conduct the tenant screening and what kinds of background informationmay result in your application being turned down or only accepted withconditions. for example, that means the landlord hasto give you a written notice that tells you ahead of time if they won't accept tenants with certain criminal convictions, or that you'll need a co-signer if you have acertain credit score.
a lot of landlords use screening reportsfrom "consumer reporting agencies" to get background information about you-- these "consumer reports" may include yourcredit scores, criminal history, eviction records and lots of other informationabout you. the fair tenant screening act says thatnow, if a landlord uses a consumer report, the landlord has to tellyou the name and address of the consumer reporting agency. the landlord also has to tell you aboutyour right to get a free copy of the consumer report if the landlord denies your application, and your right to dispute the accuracyof information in the consumer report. the landlord must post this information in an obvious place or give it to you in writing-- just telling you this information verbally is not enough. i applied for an apartment and thelandlord made me paid for my own screening report!
can the landlord charge me to screen me? yes, the landlord may charge you to screenyou but only if he or she lets you know therequired information, in writing. also, the landlord may only charge theactual cost of the screening, and not more. these may include costs incurred for longdistance phone calls and for time spent calling your past andpresent landlords, employers, and banks. however, the landlord may not charge you any more than the costs that a local screening service would normally charge. the landlord rejected my tenant applicationbased on something he found when screening me. what now?
the landlord must provide you a writtennotice that states his or her reasons. this is called an "adverse action notice"and should look something like this: the notice should clearly state what"adverse action" the landlord decided to take-- for example rejecting your applicationor accepting it only with added requirements. the notice should also clearly state whatinformation the landlord used to make this decision-- previous court records or informationfrom an employer, for example. i know the landlord screened me. she didn't give me a notice about whatinformation she would look at, but i know she turned me down because of theinformation she got from a screening report.
what can i do now? if the landlord doesnot follow the requirements of the new law you can take the landlord to court and the court may award you some money, butonly up to 100 dollars. however, you may recover the court costsand attorneys fees. thanks for listening. you'll probably need more information. to find written materials with much more detailed information on this and other legal issues, visit: washingtonlawhelp.org. if you are low-income, you may qualify for legal help or a referral from the clear hotline. you can begin the online intake and screening process at clear* online or you can also call the clear hotline at 1-888-201-1014. this video was produced in august 2012. the laws may have changed since that time.
this video provides general information only. your situation may be very different than those shown in this video. this video is not a substitute for talking to a lawyer about your unique situation. it does not create an attorney-client relationship and it cannot predict or guarantee an outcome in any legal proceeding.
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