Applying

Ready to Rent?

To apply for a Downtownian.com apartment, use the link on the listing or email leasing@downtownian.com to request an application. You can review a sample lease agreement before you apply, and if you have a pet, take a look at our Pets policy first.

The Application Process

We review every application in two stages, so you always know where you stand before anything is charged.

• Stage one — initial review. We look at your income and your rental history. There's no charge for this step.
• Stage two — conditional approval and background check. If your income and rental history meet our standard, we'll notify you that you're conditionally approved, pending a background check covering credit, criminal history, and landlord verification. Only once you accept the conditional approval do we run the background check and charge the application fee.

We don't ask about or check credit or criminal history until after a conditional approval has been offered. See Criminal History Reviews and Your Rights below for the full criminal history screening process.

Complete, accurate applications are processed much faster than incomplete ones. Background check turnaround typically takes one to three business days, though it can occasionally take longer than two weeks.

The Application Form

Applications are completed through our secure online application form. We do not offer a paper application. All personal information on the application must be completed in full, and the application must be electronically signed.

As part of the application, you'll upload:

• A valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID (driver's license, state ID card, or passport)
• Your most recent pay stub showing your year-to-date income, or the other income documentation described below

Each applicant, and each cosigner, completes and signs a separate application.

Income Requirements

To qualify, your gross monthly income generally needs to be at least three times the monthly rent.

Acceptable proof of income includes:

• A pay stub showing at least six months of year-to-date earnings, or
• Six months of bank statements showing reliable income
• In limited cases we may accept tax returns as proof of income

If your income comes from a source other than a paycheck - Social Security, disability, or a pension - that documentation is accepted the same way.

All landlords in Maryland are required by law to accept income-based subsidies. If you're applying with a Housing Choice Voucher or another income-based subsidy, the income requirement works differently for you - see Applying with a Housing Voucher or Other Subsidy below.

If income is the only part of your application that falls short, ask us about applying with a cosigner instead of being turned down outright. See Using a Cosigner.

Rental History Requirements

We ask every applicant for at least five years of rental history, along with contact information for at least one landlord from that period. This can be a single landlord if you've lived in the same place for five years, or more than one if you've moved during that time.

We verify this information as part of the background check described below.

Landlord References

As part of your background check, we contact the landlord(s) you list on your application to verify your rental history - your payment record, any lease violations, and whether proper notice was given when you moved out.

To help this go smoothly:

• Give us accurate, current contact information for each landlord you list
• Let your landlord know ahead of time that we'll be reaching out, so they recognize our call or email

We cannot continue with your application until we obtain a reference from your previous landlord(s). Because of this, it's in your interest to make sure the contact information you provide is correct and that your landlord knows to expect us.

Using a Cosigner

If your income or rental history doesn't quite meet our requirement but the rest of your application looks good, you may be able to apply with a cosigner (also called a guarantor) instead of being denied.

To qualify, a cosigner needs to:

• Earn a gross income of least four times the monthly rent, and
• Have excellent credit

A cosigner submits their own application before we run your background check, so we can take a preliminary look before anyone is charged a fee. If the cosigner qualifies, both you and the cosigner move forward to the background check together. A cosigner's credit and income are reviewed as part of this process; their criminal history is not considered. A cosigner also needs to pay an application fee.

If your household has more than one tenant, we strongly recommend that each tenant secure their own cosigner: a cosigner is responsible for the entire lease, not just one tenant's share, so a cosigner covering for a roommate without one of their own is on the hook for the whole household. See Cosigners for the full cosigner policy, including cosigner obligations after move-in.

Applying with Roommates (Co-Applicants)

If you're applying together with one or more roommates, also known as co-applicants, a couple of things work differently from applying on your own:

• The application fee applies to each co-applicant individually, not just once for the group.
• Income is evaluated on a combined basis — your household's total gross income is measured against the standard of three times the monthly rent, rather than each roommate needing to individually meet that standard
• Each co-applicant still needs to meet the rental history requirement and go through the same background check described in this handbook

Every person living in the apartment needs to be individually screened, approved, and listed on the lease - see Unauthorized Roommates for what happens if someone isn't. Once you've moved in, see Multiple Payers for how rent payments are handled among roommates, and Changing Roommates if someone needs to be added or replaced later.

Application Fees

To see the current application fee, visit Service Fees. This applies to you, to a cosigner if one is applying with you, and to every co-applicant or roommate on the application.

This fee is only charged after you accept a conditional approval. You will never be charged if your application is denied before the background check, or if you decide not to move forward after a conditional approval. Once charged, the fee is non-refundable, regardless of the outcome of your background check - it covers the actual cost of the screening performed.

We accept U.S. credit cards only. We do not accept cash, personal checks, money orders, or certified funds for the application fee.

Hold Fee

We sometimes accept a hold fee at the beginning of the application process. While your application is under review and until a lease is signed, the apartment stays on the market. A hold fee secures the unit for five business days during that time to allow the application process to finish and for you to sign your lease. The hold fee is conditionally refundable:

• If your application is approved, the hold fee is applied toward your security deposit
• If your application is denied, the hold fee is fully refunded

What Our Background Check Includes

Before we can run your credit check, you'll need to present a valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID (driver's license, state ID card, passport, or similar) so your identity can be verified.

Once you accept a conditional approval, we run a background check that includes:

• A screening score generated by our screening provider, RealPage, combining your credit history and criminal history along with other factors we've set. Our score is not a single number pulled directly from a credit bureau
• Landlord verification, confirming the rental history you provided

If your criminal history contributes to an unfavorable result, you're still entitled to the individualized review, written notice, and response rights described in Criminal History Reviews and Your Rights below. A screening score is never the final word on a criminal history record by itself.

If You Already Have a Screening Report

Some applicants come to us with a tenant screening report they've already purchased from a screening company. To make sure every applicant is evaluated the same way, we ask all applicants - including those who provide their own report - to complete our standard screening process described above. A report you already have does not replace this step.

Criminal History Reviews and Your Rights

We do not ask about or check criminal history before offering a conditional approval.

If a criminal history record comes up after a conditional approval, we don't act on it automatically. We consider the nature and severity of the offense, how long ago it occurred, your age at the time, evidence of rehabilitation, whether it would realistically affect the safety of the property or other residents, and whether it happened at a property you rented.

If we're considering withdrawing a conditional approval because of a criminal history record, you have the right to:

• Receive written notice of the specific reason
• Respond in writing with corrections, evidence of rehabilitation, or other information relevant to our decision
• Request a copy of the records we relied on, within 30 days of the notice, and we'll provide them within 10 days of your request

If Your Application Is Initially Declined

An initial decline from our screening system isn't the end of the process. Every declined application is automatically reviewed by a manager before it's treated as final.

A few things that review can take into account:

• If criminal history played a role, the manager completes the individualized review described above, and you receive the same notice and response rights
• If credit history played a role, and the negative items are medical debt or student loan debt with a limited, reasonable pattern of late payments - rather than spread out sporadically or over a long stretch of time - the manager will ask for a written explanation and may set that portion of your history aside. Other credit issues unrelated to medical or student debt are still considered as usual.

If your situation fits either of these, let us know when you apply so it can be taken into account during that review.

Applying with a Housing Voucher or Other Subsidy

This section covers everything specific to applying with a Housing Choice Voucher or another income-based subsidy. Everything else in this handbook applies to you too - this is just what's different.

As required by Maryland law, we accept applications from Housing Choice Voucher holders and applicants using other income-based subsidies.

• Your income requirement is calculated against your portion of the rent after the subsidy, not the full rent - proof of your subsidy amount (such as your voucher or subsidy award letter) is accepted the same way as other income documentation
• Your voucher or subsidy status is never, by itself, a reason for denial
• Your credit score, a lack of a credit score, or credit history from before your subsidy began is not used against you - this applies to the manager review described in If Your Application Is Initially Declined as well
• If your criminal history is reviewed, it follows the same process described in Criminal History Reviews and Your Rights - nothing about that process changes based on your income source

Our Fair Housing Commitment

We do not discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or source of income, including Housing Choice Vouchers and other subsidies. In Baltimore City, this also includes status as a survivor of domestic violence.

If you believe you've experienced discrimination during the application process, you can contact the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights or the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs.