The only decision
you fully control
Once a tenant is in, the law governs almost everything. Before they are in, you choose — under rules that cap fees, bar certain checks, and require the same yardstick for everyone.
Before you read on
- General information as of August 2026; NYC adds protections beyond federal law and they change.
- Not legal advice.
- Write your criteria down before the first applicant — Section 1 explains why.
Point 1Objective criteria, applied identically
Fair housing law — federal, state, and city — prohibits decisions on protected characteristics, and New York City's list is long: race, national origin, family status, source of income (vouchers count), and more. The practical compliance tool is a written criteria sheet: income multiple, credit standard, references, complete file — applied in order of application, identically, every time.
The sheet protects twice. It keeps decisions lawful, and it documents that they were: when a rejected applicant alleges discrimination, contemporaneous criteria applied uniformly are the defense. Landlords who decide case-by-case by feel are the ones who cannot prove what they did.
Point 2The standards and the caps
The $20 fee cap changed workflow citywide: landlords can no longer charge applicants for deep screening, so order checks only for finalists and eat the cost as business expense. The one-month deposit cap similarly moved the protection burden onto screening itself and onto guarantee structures.
| Item | NYC practice |
|---|---|
| Income standard | Customarily 40x monthly rent in annual income |
| Application fee | Capped at $20, credit check included |
| Security deposit | One month maximum, held in trust |
| Criminal history | Fair Chance rules restrict use — take advice |
| Source of income | Protected: vouchers must be considered |
| Guarantors | Customarily 80x monthly rent, US-based |
Caps are statutory; the 40x and 80x multiples are market custom, not law.
Point 3Thin files: students, expats, foreign income
New York's applicant pool is full of excellent tenants with no US credit: arriving expats, foreign students, transferred executives. The standard solutions — a US-based guarantor at 80x, an institutional guaranty company standing behind the lease for a fee, or documented foreign income and assets with larger reserves — let you accept them without abandoning standards.
Which to prefer is a business decision to fix in advance with your manager: guaranty companies cost the tenant money but pay claims predictably; individual guarantors are free but must themselves be screened. What fails is improvising a different answer for each sympathetic story.
Point 4Verification: the unglamorous part that works
Documents lie occasionally; sources rarely do. Call the employer through its main line rather than the cell number on the letter; confirm the prior landlord actually owns the building they reference; match bank statements to claimed salary deposits. Fifteen minutes of verification defeats most application fraud, which has grown professional in recent years.
Then move fast. Good applicants have alternatives, and a landlord who verifies in a day beats one who deliberates for a week. Speed and rigor are complements — the criteria sheet is what makes both possible.
Custom is 40x the monthly rent in annual income — $120,000 for a $3,000 apartment — with guarantors at 80x where the tenant falls short.
$20, including the credit and background check. Deeper screening costs are the landlord's to absorb, which argues for checking finalists only.
No — source of income is protected in New York City. Voucher applications must be evaluated under the same criteria as any other income.
NYC's Fair Chance Housing rules sharply restrict criminal-history screening. Take current legal advice before including it in criteria at all.
Use a US guarantor at 80x, an institutional guaranty product, or documented foreign income with reserves. Decide the policy in advance and apply it uniformly.
Applying criteria in application order is the cleanest discrimination-proof practice and the market norm. Skipping a qualified earlier applicant for a later favorite invites claims.
RELATED GUIDES
Let’s talk first
We will draft your criteria sheet with your manager and set up a screening flow that is fast, uniform, and defensible.
Important notice
The figures on this page are general information as of August 2026 and do not represent an offer, a quote, or a guarantee of any transaction terms. Reinvent NY does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Confirm anything material with an attorney and a CPA before you act on it. Nothing here is a solicitation to invest, and no return is promised. Real estate brokerage services are provided through R New York.