Can the landlord ask questions about physical or mental disability in the rental application?

Full question:

My girlfriend and I recently moved to a new city and was trying to find a place to live. We are a young couple and I was wondering if the landlord can turn us down for our age. We applied for renting an apartment in a nice neighborhood. The rental application had some personal questions that we were not comfortable answering. I would like to know if the landlord can legally ask a question about personal medical information like physical or mental disability in the rental application.

• Category: Landlord Tenant
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: National

Answer:

A landlord is legally free to rent his property to anyone of his liking as long as the landlord doesn’t violate antidiscrimination laws under Fair Housing Acts (42 U.S. Code §§ 3601-3619) which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, familial status and physical or mental disability. However, a landlord may reject you for poor credit history, having an income insufficient to pay the rent, negative references from a previous landlord or employer, a criminal conviction, or a prior eviction lawsuit. Thus, a landlord can choose to rent out his property to anyone as long as the landlord doesn’t discriminate.
 
A landlord can ask you any question in the rental application that helps the landlord ascertain if you are likely to be a good tenant and help the landlord find you if you skip town owing them for rent or property damage. Moreover, the set of questions in the rental application should be identical for all the applicants. But, questions that don't relate to this may not be legal. However, not all discrimination is illegal and the landlord, for example, may discriminate based on your marital status which is legal in many states.
 
Misrepresentations on a rental application are legitimate grounds for rejection. Further, the landlord can easily verify the information you gave. In essence, a landlord can ask you for information that helps him determine that you will be a good tenant and information that will help him find you in case you defaulted on rent or property damages.