Georgia Rental Application Form
A Georgia Rental Application Form is a document that has been created for landlords to screen potential tenants to lease their residential property. The rental application form serves as a useful tool to find a suitable tenant as it helps landlords gain important knowledge about them.
Apart from personal details like name, date of birth, phone number, email address, and social security number, the application form requests information pertaining to a potential tenant’s prior rental history, eviction history, credit score, as well as their employment details.
It helps property owners in keeping a fair and organized screening process to lease their apartment, condo, or other real estate properties.
A person submitting a rental application form gives the landlord the authorization to perform a financial and background check on them to determine their viability for tenancy. The form looks to establish a potential tenant’s creditworthiness in order to avoid delayed rent payments.
A rental application form is legally compliant with Georgia’s Landlord-Tenant Laws as well as the federal Fair Housing Act. The latter makes it illegal to discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, color, nationality, religion, sex, familial status, or disabilities.
Enquiring about any of these on the application form is not allowed, although some exceptions do exist.
If the application form is approved, the tenant is issued a lease agreement form. Once both parties sign the lease, the tenant is required to pay the security deposit fee as entailed in the lease agreement.
Rental Application Fee
There is no law in Georgia that puts a limit on how much a landlord may charge as a rental application fee, and it is usually non-refundable in nature. Although they are advised not to charge exorbitant fees for rental applications, the final fee lies at the sole discretion of the landlord.
The fee can be applied to the tenant’s first month’s rent, but it is not necessary. It is advised for tenants to always get a receipt for any fee they pay.
Security Deposits
There is no statute in Georgia law that describes a limit to the security deposit amount. If the tenant has given proper notice before vacating and without causing any damage to the property (as determined after the move-out inspection), the landlord is required to return the security deposit within a month after the tenant moves out.