Receive organized applicant information and screening documentation in one place, helping simplify the rental application process while keeping the applicant in control of their information.
Receive standardized applicant information rather than scattered information across emails, attachments, and different application formats.
Because applicants build their information once, you spend less time chasing down missing details or reformatting scattered application materials.
Where screening results are included, you can review an applicant's screening information alongside their application in a single view.
Keep applicant information, supporting documents, and screening results together instead of tracking them across separate systems.
Applicants initiate and control the sharing of their Rental Passport. You review only what the applicant has chosen to share, for as long as they choose to share it.
A standardized application format can help create a more consistent review workflow, while you continue to apply your own lawful screening criteria to each applicant.
Keeping application information, documents, and screening results organized in one place can support clearer recordkeeping for your rental business.
Maryland Real Property §8-218 recognizes a “reusable tenant screening report” — a report prepared within the previous 30 days by a consumer reporting agency, at the tenant's request and expense, and made available to a landlord at no charge. To qualify, the statute specifies that the report must include information such as:
The statute requires landlords to notify prospective tenants whether they accept reusable tenant screening reports. If a landlord accepts a report that meets the statutory requirements, the landlord generally may not charge that tenant an application fee or a fee to access the report.
This is general educational information about Maryland law, not legal advice. It does not mean that every screening report provided through Rental Passport automatically satisfies this statutory definition. Landlords should evaluate whether a specific report actually meets the requirements of §8-218 before treating it as a qualifying reusable tenant screening report, and should not assume that using Rental Passport eliminates their own application fee or screening policies.
Source: Maryland General Assembly, Real Property §8-218.
Tenant screening reports — including credit, criminal, and eviction history reports — can be “consumer reports” regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Landlords who use consumer reports for tenant screening generally must have a permissible purpose for obtaining the report, and must provide an adverse action notice if they deny an application, require a co-signer, charge a higher deposit, or take other unfavorable action based in whole or in part on a consumer report.
Rental Passport does not replace your obligation to comply with the FCRA or any other applicable federal, state, or local screening law. This section is general educational information, not legal advice.
Source: Federal Trade Commission, “Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know.”
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on protected characteristics, and applies to how landlords screen and evaluate rental applicants. Landlords should apply consistent, lawful, nondiscriminatory screening criteria to every applicant. Rental Passport organizes applicant information but does not evaluate applicants or make rental decisions — the landlord or property owner remains responsible for its own rental decisions and screening policies.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, guidance on the application of the Fair Housing Act to the screening of applicants for rental housing.