BleepingComputer.com: How much is a potential landlord legally allowed to ask you?

Shopping for a new apartment, and just looking at some of the applications... Some of them seem particularly intrusive. Beyond knowing my income (ie, can I pay the rent he's asking every month), just what is a landlord allowed to know/ask for on your applications?

Since this forum has an international appeal as well as we are not dispensers of legal advice it would be impossible to give you an accurate answer. Your best place to ask that is with the local chapter of a Fair Housing advocate, which you should be able to find in your telephone book. What would be legal or acceptable in one state or country may not be elsewhere.

If you are US based you can start here: Fair Housing Laws and Complaints

Like Animal said, we're not lawyers. What can and cannot be asked about varies greatly from country to country and from region to region within countries, and even from city to city. An exemplar of this fact are the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. Here in San Francisco, we are subject to certain restriction whereas just across the bay is Oakland there are different restrictions in effect.

In the USA, if your feel as though you have been discriminated against for being in a protected class, you should contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That said, and being a landlord myself (or at least working for one), I know we can't ask about race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status or disability. We can ask about, but can't discriminate based upon, source of income.

This post has been edited by Amazing Andrew: 03 December 2009 - 01:54 PM