Is this legal?

[Rathi]

Well, wasn't sure which category to put this in, but it has to do with real-estate. I made up this document for my credit applications, I just need to know if it's legal. (In your opinion, of course) I just need to know if it's good enough to say that the applicant is giving consent for me to check refrences, and such, just by submitting the application. Thanks in advance for checkin' it out!
http://www.geocities.com/rathi25801/CreditApp.html

 

[Michael Wechsler]

No one can give you "legal advice" here that you can say is the word of your attorney. However, the bottom line is that from my understanding, you can ask for almost anything reasonable (e.g. income history, rental history, etc.) Discrimination based upon a suspect class (e.g. race, gender, religion) might get you into trouble. You've asked for the above, banking/credit numbers (I might not be comfortable with that unless through a certifiable broker), current obligations, etc. and all of those are reasonable criteria to determine whether the potential tenant can meet monthly rental obligations.

 

[Rathi]

Thanks a load, that's really what I was wondering, just if it was legit for me to collect that sort of information. I too, wouldn't be all that comfortable giving out the Account information to my bank, but I pretty much had just copied that form from another form the gentleman had already been using. May remove that in the future. Thanks again for your reply.