# How to Get Apartment Screening Criteria in Writing | HAL > Written criteria protects you against a misquoted policy — and a wasted application fee. See exactly what to request and how to ask before you apply. URL: https://houstonapartmentlocators.com/guide/how-to-get-screening-criteria-in-writing/ Last-Modified: 2026-08-01 Before You Sign # How to Get Screening Criteria in Writing Written criteria protects you against a misquoted policy — and a wasted application fee. See exactly what to request and how to ask before you apply. Published August 1, 2026 · 4 min read ![Renter emailing a leasing office from a sunlit room](/images/featured/renter-emailing-a-leasing-office-on-a-laptop-in-a-.webp) ## Why this is the highest-value five minutes of your search Application fees don’t come back. Neither do administrative fees. Between them, applying at a Houston community typically costs $150–$300, and a decline pays you back nothing but the information. Written criteria turns that gamble into a check. If the property’s published rental criteria say a 580 score with an additional deposit clears, and your score is 605, you’re applying with confidence. If the criteria say a filing within three years is an automatic decline and yours was eighteen months ago, you’ve saved the fee. The whole exercise is one email. ## What to ask for Request the property’s **published rental criteria** or **qualification standards**. That’s the document, and most Texas communities maintain one. Asking for a document beats asking for an opinion, which invites a guess — see why the leasing agent’s answer may be wrong [/guide/why-the-leasing-agents-answer-may-be-wrong/ →](/guide/why-the-leasing-agents-answer-may-be-wrong/) . Then ask about the four items that decide most applications: - **Credit:** minimum score or band, and how collections and charge-offs are treated - **Income:** the multiplier (2.5x, 3x, 3.5x), and what documentation is accepted for non-standard income - **Rental history:** how broken leases, filings, judgments, and balances owed are weighed, and the lookback window - **Background:** the lookback windows by offense class ![Printed rental criteria sheet on a wood desk](/images/content/printed-rental-criteria-sheet-on-a-wood-desk-in-wa.webp) ## How to ask so you actually get it Email, not phone. You want a record, and email gives the agent time to find the document instead of answering from memory. Something like this works: > Hi — I’m interested in a one-bedroom for a September move-in and I’d like to make sure I qualify before I apply. Could you send me your published rental criteria? I’d particularly like to confirm the minimum credit score, the income requirement and what documentation you accept, and how a paid-off rental balance from 2023 is treated. Thanks very much. Three things that email does well. It signals you’re a serious applicant rather than a tyre-kicker. It names the specific item you’re worried about, which forces a real check instead of a general reassurance. And it arrives in writing, so the answer exists. > **Name your specific circumstance** > > “Is bad credit a problem?” gets a shrug. “My score is 592 and I have a paid collection from 2022 — does that clear your criteria?” gets checked against the document. Specificity is the whole technique. ## If they won’t put it in writing Some won’t, and that’s information. Escalate once, politely: ask whether the property manager can confirm, since you’d rather not submit an application you don’t qualify for. Most offices will help, because a declined application is administrative work they don’t want either. If you still get nothing, weigh whether to spend the fee. A community that won’t state its own criteria is telling you something about how the rest of the tenancy will go. ## Keep the answer Save the email. If underwriting later declines you on a criterion that contradicts what you were sent, you have a basis to ask for the fee back and a reason for someone senior to look again. It doesn’t always work. It works often enough to be worth the folder. Also note: under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, if you’re declined based on a consumer report you’re entitled to an adverse action notice telling you which agency supplied it. That lets you check the report and dispute an error rather than guessing. ## Or hand it to us This is a large part of what we do all day. We call these offices constantly, we know which management companies keep criteria centrally and which properties hold discretion on-site, and we get the answer confirmed before you spend anything. If your file has anything complicated in it — a filing, a balance, a thin credit history, or income that doesn’t look like a salary — start at second chance leasing [/second-chance-leasing/ →](/second-chance-leasing/) . We don’t guarantee approval. We do make sure you know where you stand before the money moves. Common questions ## Questions we get on this ### Can a property refuse to give criteria in writing? Some hesitate, usually because the person answering doesn't have the document to hand. Most Texas communities do maintain published rental criteria, and a polite email request to the property manager will usually produce it. ### Why does written criteria matter? It protects your application fee. Application and admin fees are non-refundable, so applying on a verbally misquoted policy is how renters lose $200–$300 for nothing. ### What if my situation isn't covered by the written criteria? Ask specifically about it and get that answer in writing too. 'Our criteria say X — my situation is Y. Does Y clear?' is a better question than any general enquiry, and it's the one that saves the fee. ## Want the math run on your own shortlist? Send us your budget and move date and we'll come back with verified options and the concession math already done. Free to you, either way. Text Us Your Search [/contact/ →](/contact/)