Apartment Hunting: How to Find the Right Rental

Start looking before you give notice at your current place, with a rent ceiling based on the landlord's income test and your own budget, and confirm that whoever shows a unit owns or manages it before you pay anything. Federal law bars most landlords from refusing you or advertising a preference because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status, and California, for example, also protects renters who pay with housing vouchers. If you have a pet, compare pet policies and charges early: California counts a pet deposit toward its cap on security deposits, Colorado caps pet deposits at $300, and different rules apply to assistance animals.

When should you start looking?

Work backward from the notice your current lease requires. In California, a month-to-month tenant must give at least 30 days' written notice, or the different amount the rental agreement sets, and pays rent through the end of the notice period.

Where your notice deadline allows, sign the new lease before you give notice. A holding deposit does not give you the right to move in: in California, it only keeps the landlord from renting the unit to someone else for a stated period, and you still have to pay the first month's rent and required deposits within that period to move in.

Have your documents ready before you tour. California lets a landlord that charges a screening fee consider completed applications in the order received and approve the first applicant who meets its written criteria; the alternative is refunding the full fee to every applicant it does not pick. What to expect in the rental application process lists what to gather, and the move-out timeline lines up your notice, packing, and move-in dates.

How much rent will a landlord approve you for?

Landlords set their own income and credit standards, so ask each one for its written screening criteria before you pay an application fee. When the income test is a multiple of the rent, the math works in both directions:

• Under a rule of income at least 3 times the monthly rent, a $1,600 apartment needs gross income of $4,800 a month ($1,600 x 3), or $57,600 a year.
• Turned around, $4,500 a month in gross income qualifies you for rent up to $1,500 ($4,500 / 3).

Colorado limits the test. A landlord there cannot require yearly income above 200% of the yearly rent, so a $1,600 apartment can require no more than $38,400 a year ($1,600 x 12 x 2). If a housing subsidy pays part of your rent, the Colorado test applies only to your share, and the landlord cannot consider your credit score or your lack of one unless federal law requires it.

Check the landlord's number against your own costs with how much rent you can afford. Count the cash due before move-in too: the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) tells renters to budget for application screening fees and holding, security, and pet deposits, along with rent and utilities.

How do you check a listing before paying?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describes two common rental scams: hijacked listings, where scammers copy the photos and description of a real rental and post them with their own contact information, and fake listings for homes that are not for rent or do not exist. Stop before paying if you see any of these warning signs from the FTC:

• A demand for payment by wire transfer, gift card, or cryptocurrency.
• An owner who says they are out of the country and cannot show the home.
• Rent far below similar units in the area.
• Pressure to decide quickly.
• A request that you get your credit score for them.

To check the listing:

1. Search the address with the owner's or company's name, and look for other ads that show a different owner or rental company.
2. Look up the owner on the city or county tax assessment website. If you are dealing directly with the owner, check that their ID matches those records.
3. If a management company is named, find the listing on the company's own website, and ask the agent for a business card issued by the company that owns or manages the property. Check that the agent's ID matches the card.
4. Tour the unit in person. Before paying, contact the owner or company using contact details you found independently of the listing to confirm the person's authority to rent the unit, and get a written lease or written holding terms.

If you already paid someone you cannot verify, see security deposit scams for how to try to get the money back and where to report it.

What fair housing protections apply while you search?

The federal Fair Housing Act makes it illegal, because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status, to:

• Refuse to rent to you after you make a genuine offer, refuse to negotiate with you, or otherwise make a unit unavailable.
• Publish an ad or statement that shows a preference, such as "adults only."
• Tell you a unit is not available for inspection or rental when it is.

Familial status covers a household with a child under 18 who lives with a parent or legal custodian, and anyone who is pregnant or in the process of getting custody of a child. Two kinds of small owners are exempt from most of these rules: an owner of no more than three single-family homes who rents one out without a broker, and an owner who lives in a building with four or fewer units. Neither may publish a discriminatory ad.

Federal law bars covered Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties from refusing you because you hold a Section 8 voucher. Some states provide broader protection. In California, a landlord cannot refuse you because you use a Section 8 or other housing voucher, and an ad that says "No Section 8 tenants" is unlawful.

If you think a landlord turned you away for a protected reason, write down the date, who you spoke with, and what was said, and keep a copy of the ad. A federal complaint goes to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which must receive it within one year of the last date of the discrimination.

How do you search with a pet?

Before you apply, ask for the written pet policy: which animals are allowed, any breed, size, or weight limits, how many pets you can have, and every pet charge. Once you are approved, make sure the lease or a pet addendum names your animal; the DRE lists whether pets are allowed as one of the terms a rental agreement should state.

Landlords may charge a refundable pet deposit, a one-time pet fee, or monthly pet rent, and some states limit these charges:

• California treats a pet deposit or pet fee, whatever it is called, as part of the security deposit, which most landlords can set at no more than one month's rent. An individual or an LLC owned by individuals that owns no more than two rental properties with no more than four units can charge up to two months' rent.
• Colorado caps a pet deposit at $300, which must be refundable, and pet rent at $35 a month or 1.5% of the monthly rent, whichever is greater. At $2,600 rent, 1.5% is $39, so pet rent can be up to $39.

See pet deposits and pet fees for how these charges differ and how other states treat them.

Assistance animals follow different rules. If your animal is individually trained to do work or perform tasks related to a disability, such as a guide dog, you can ask the landlord for a reasonable accommodation, meaning an exception to its pet policy. HUD's May 22, 2026 enforcement memo presumes that request is reasonable, and the 2004 HUD and Justice Department joint statement on reasonable accommodations, still posted by the Justice Department, says a landlord cannot charge extra fees or deposits as a condition of granting one. For an untrained emotional support animal, the same memo says HUD no longer presumes the request is reasonable and will recommend charges only in cases involving trained animals, though you can still file your own Fair Housing Act lawsuit within two years.

State law can protect more. California's Civil Rights Department says that if you have a disability-related need for an emotional support animal, a landlord may not charge a pet deposit, pet rent, or any other fee for it, or apply breed, size, or weight limits to it. If your disability or need for the animal is not apparent, the landlord may ask for reliable supporting information. A landlord can still refuse a particular animal that poses a direct threat to others' health or safety or would cause substantial damage to others' property. You can still be charged for damage the animal causes beyond ordinary wear and tear.