Applicant Screening

Oregon Senate Bill 1523 & House Bill 4123 (2026) Summaries

Answer: City of Portland (and presumably entire state) allows landlords to use SSN but a tenant's failure to provide a social security number cannot be the basis of rejection.

Federal and State Fair Housing Issues.  The federal Fair Housing Act, prohibits discrimination based on:

Solution: There are five steps you can take to minimize discrimination risks when dealing with undocumented aliens: 

By:  Rebekah Near, CEO, Orca Information, Inc.

Rebekah Near is the owner and CEO of a Tenant and Employment screening company in the Northwest. 

Changes to Tenant Screening Notice. If a landlord intends to charge an applicant for screening, the landlord must provide notice of various information related to screening and landlord policies (see MHCO Form 1B). One of the things an applicant must be notified of is the landlord’s commitment to non-discrimination.

Reviewing the applicant’s rental application Since 1995 when Orca Information, Inc. first opened its doors for business Nationwide, we found the following: The Landlord who reviews a rental application, making sure it is filled out correctly, all phone numbers are provided, signatures, etc., will receive a quicker turn-around time on the background screening report. This applies to this day.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?