Rental application form template

A rental application is the form a would-be tenant fills in and signs so a landlord can check their identity, income, rental history and references before offering a lease.

What it is

Before a lease, there is usually an application. The landlord wants to know who the applicant is and whether they can pay. The applicant's signature does two jobs: it confirms the answers are true, and it gives consent for any screening the landlord plans, such as checks with past landlords or a credit report.

This page is general information and not legal advice. Fair housing, screening and fee rules vary by country, state and city. Have a lawyer check your form, especially the screening consent and any questions you ask.

When it is used

After a showing, when someone wants the unit.
For every adult who will live in the home, often one form each.
For a co-signer or guarantor, who may fill in a shorter version.
When a tenant transfers to another unit managed by the same company. See property management.

If the application is approved, the next document is the residential lease agreement.

What it usually contains

Section	What the applicant gives
Applicant details	Name, contact details and date of birth.
Property	The unit applied for and the desired move-in date.
Occupants	Everyone who will live there, and pets.
Rental history	Current and past addresses, landlords and reasons for moving.
Employment and income	Employer, role, income and how it can be confirmed.
References	Personal or professional contacts.
Screening consent	Permission for the checks the landlord will run, described plainly.
Fee notice	Any application fee and whether it is refundable, where fees are allowed.
Certification	A statement that the answers are true and complete.
Signature and date	The applicant signs.

Things to get right

Ask only what you need. Every extra question is data you must protect and may be a fair housing risk. Your lawyer can tell you what to drop.
Be careful with sensitive numbers. Think twice before asking for full government ID numbers inside a signed PDF that will be emailed to the applicant and stored for years. Many landlords collect those through their screening provider instead.
One applicant, one document. Each adult should sign their own form, so each certification is clearly theirs.
Keep it readable on a phone. Most applicants will fill it in on a phone. Use a simple one-column PDF.

How to send it for signature with docuinked

In the app

Upload a fillable-looking PDF with blank lines. Add text fields for each answer, a checkbox for the screening consent, and a signature and date at the end. Save it as a template with one role, "Applicant". After a showing, send it in a few clicks.

By API

A listing site can send the application when someone taps "Apply". Text fields hold the answers, and the screening consent checkbox is required.

curl https://docuinked.com/v1/documents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DOCUINKED_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: apply-listing-772-lead-3104" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "Rental application: 40 Example Ave, Unit 2",
       "pdf_url": "https://example.com/forms/rental-application.pdf",
       "metadata": {"listing": "772", "lead": "3104"},
       "signers": [{"name": "Avery Johnson", "email": "avery@example.com"}],
       "fields": [{"signer": 1, "kind": "text", "anchor": "Current address:"},
                  {"signer": 1, "kind": "text", "anchor": "Employer:"},
                  {"signer": 1, "kind": "text", "anchor": "Monthly income:"},
                  {"signer": 1, "kind": "checkbox", "anchor": "I consent to the screening described above", "required": true},
                  {"signer": 1, "kind": "signature", "anchor": "Applicant signature:"},
                  {"signer": 1, "kind": "date", "anchor": "Date:"}],
       "send": true}'

Most landlords move from application to lease in a day or two. Wire document.completed to your screening step with a webhook, and let the lease follow when you approve.

From an agent

A leasing assistant can answer questions about a listing and, when someone is ready, prepare their application with create_from_template. On a live key it can only ask to send, and a person on your team approves from the approval_url. That keeps an agent from sending forms to the wrong person or the wrong unit. Read about agents and approvals.

Sources

Checked 2026-11-07.

ESIGN, 15 USC 7001: consent and consumer disclosure rules for records given to consumers.
UETA, 1999 text: s.5 on agreeing to deal electronically.

Common questions

Can two applicants share one rental application?

It is cleaner to send one form per adult. Each person certifies their own answers, and each has their own evidence record.

What happens to a rental application if the applicant is turned down?

Keep it for as long as your rules require, then delete it. docuinked does not set your retention period. You can download the signed PDF and evidence with the API before you delete.

Can an applicant fix a mistake after signing?

Not in the same document. A signed document can't change. Send a new application and note in your records which one replaced the other.

Can a guarantor sign the application too?

A guarantor usually signs their own form or a separate guarantee. Ask your lawyer which you need, and send it as its own document.

Try it in test mode

Free during the beta. Test keys send no email, so you can build the whole flow first.

Get an API key Read the quickstart