Vermont Rental Application Form
9 V.S.A. Section 4456a(a) provides that a landlord or a landlord's agent shall not charge an application fee to apply to enter into a rental agreement for a residential dwelling unit, with a carve-out only for commercial and nonresidential property. Since July 1, 2025 the landlord must also accept an unexpired government-issued ID, an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number or a Social Security number for a background or credit check.
Find out where you stand in Vermont
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
Introduction
Vermont sets no deadline for giving back a rental application fee, no duty to itemize one and no rule about the unused part of one, and the reason sits in the sentence above all three. 9 V.S.A. Section 4456a(a) provides that a landlord or a landlord's agent shall not charge an application fee to any individual in order to apply to enter into a rental agreement for a residential dwelling unit. Where no charge is lawful there is nothing to give back, so the refund machinery other states build around a capped fee is simply not here, and its absence is not a gap. The same logic explains why Vermont has no portable-report provision: a reusable report regime presupposes that an applicant is paying for screening somewhere. The prohibition is flat. It carries no amount, nothing is indexed, and there is only one express carve-out, written into the subsection itself: it shall not be construed to prohibit a person from charging a fee to a person in order to apply to rent commercial or nonresidential property. The prohibition dates to the 1999 act that created the section, and it has been amended once. That amendment, effective July 1, 2025, added subsection (b), and it is the part of the Vermont rule a current application form is most likely to be out of step with. Section 4456a(b)(1) provides that in order to conduct a background or credit check, a landlord shall accept any of the following: an original or a copy of any unexpired form of government-issued identification, an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or a Social Security number. Section 4456a(b)(2) then provides that a landlord or a landlord's agent shall not require a Social Security number for the completion of a residential rental application or refuse to accept an application due to the lack of a Social Security number. Both halves bind the landlord side: one says what must be accepted, the other says what may not be demanded. The section is captioned Residential rental application, and it sits in chapter 137 of Title 9, which carries its own list of ten occupancies it does not reach at Section 4452(a), among them the rental of a manufactured home lot and a taxable transient hotel or motel stay.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Since July 1, 2025 a Vermont landlord has had to work with the identification an applicant actually holds. Section 4456a(b)(1) provides that in order to conduct a background or credit check, a landlord shall accept any of the following: an original or a copy of any unexpired form of government-issued identification; an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number; or a Social Security number. The list is disjunctive, so any one of the three is enough, and a copy of the identification is expressly as good as an original. A form that offers a single box for a Social Security number and no alternative does not match the subsection.
- 2
The companion sentence is a double bar. Section 4456a(b)(2) provides that a landlord or a landlord's agent shall not require a Social Security number for the completion of a residential rental application or refuse to accept an application due to the lack of a Social Security number. Two separate things are forbidden: making the number a condition of a complete application, and turning the application away for want of one. Both were added by the same amendment, effective July 1, 2025.
- 3
The fee prohibition binds the agent as well as the owner, and it is drawn around residential use. Section 4456a(a) names a landlord or a landlord's agent, and the charge it forbids is one made to any individual in order to apply to enter into a rental agreement for a residential dwelling unit. The single carve-out is written into the same subsection and runs only to commercial or nonresidential property, so it does not reach a residential letting managed commercially.
- 4
There is no amount on this page because the statute contains none. The prohibition was added by the 1999 act that created Section 4456a and has been amended once, by the 2025 act that added subsection (b) effective July 1, 2025, which left the prohibition itself alone. A prohibition has no figure to index and no annual republication to track, which is the practical difference between Vermont and a state whose ceiling moves.
- 5
Nothing in chapter 137 requires a receipt, an itemization or a return of any part of an application payment, and that is a consequence of the prohibition rather than an oversight. Where the charge cannot lawfully be made, there is no unused portion, no screening invoice to compare it against and no clock to start. The chapter does separately regulate the return of a security deposit, but a security deposit is a different instrument from an application fee and sits outside this page.
- 6
Chapter 137 does not reach every letting in Vermont. Section 4452(a) takes ten categories outside the whole chapter, each one prefaced by the words unless created to avoid the application of this chapter. They include occupancy at a public or private institution operated to provide medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar service; occupancy under a contract of sale; occupancy by a member of a fraternal, social or religious organization in a portion of a building operated for the organization; a taxable transient hotel, motel or lodging stay; a condominium owner's or a cooperative proprietary lessee's own occupancy; the rental of a manufactured home lot, which is governed instead by 10 V.S.A. chapter 153; transient residence in a campground; a hotel or motel stay funded by General Assistance, Emergency Assistance or federal Emergency Rental Assistance; occupancy without right or permission by a non-tenant; and a hospital-funded transient stay tied to health care treatment or recovery.
- 7
Vermont's list of characteristics an application may not be refused over is longer than the federal one. Section 4503(a)(1) makes it unlawful for any person to refuse to rent, refuse to negotiate for the rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling to any person because of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, religious creed, color, national origin, citizenship, immigration status or disability, or because a person intends to occupy a dwelling with one or more minor children, or because a person is a recipient of public assistance, or because a person is a victim of abuse, sexual assault or stalking. Section 4503(a)(5) adds a separate bar on disclosing a tenant's or occupant's status as a victim of abuse, sexual assault or stalking for the purposes it lists.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Rental Application Form in Vermont, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Rental Application Form guide walks through them.
Open the Rental Application Form guideCustomize your Rental Application Form Template with DocDraft
Vermont Requirements for Rental Application Form
No Application Fee for a Residential Dwelling Unit
9 V.S.A. Section 4456a(a) provides that a landlord or a landlord's agent shall not charge an application fee to any individual in order to apply to enter into a rental agreement for a residential dwelling unit. The prohibition is flat. It names no amount, allows no actual-cost pass-through and is not indexed, so there is no Vermont figure to look up or to refresh each year. It binds the agent alongside the owner, which means collection through a manager or a letting service is the same charge. The prohibition dates to the 1999 act that created the section and was left untouched by the only amendment since.
The Commercial and Nonresidential Carve-Out
The one exception is written into the same subsection: Section 4456a(a) provides that it shall not be construed to prohibit a person from charging a fee to a person in order to apply to rent commercial or nonresidential property. The line is drawn by the use of the property and nothing else. It does not turn on the size of the portfolio, on whether an agent collects the money, or on how the letting is marketed. A building with both kinds of space needs the question answered unit by unit.
Identification the Landlord Must Accept
In force since July 1, 2025. Section 4456a(b)(1) provides that in order to conduct a background or credit check, a landlord shall accept any of the following: an original or a copy of any unexpired form of government-issued identification; an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number; or a Social Security number. Three features of that sentence carry the duty. It says shall accept. It says any of the following, so one item suffices and the landlord may not insist on a particular one. And a copy is expressly as good as an original, so no applicant has to hand over the document itself to be screened.
No Social Security Number Requirement, and No Refusal for the Lack of One
Section 4456a(b)(2) provides that a landlord or a landlord's agent shall not require a Social Security number for the completion of a residential rental application or refuse to accept an application due to the lack of a Social Security number. That is two separate prohibitions in one sentence: the number may not be made a condition of a complete application, and an application may not be turned away for want of it. Added by the same amendment, effective July 1, 2025. A Vermont form that treats the number as a mandatory field is out of step with it.
Why There Is No Receipt, Itemization or Refund Duty
Nothing in chapter 137 requires a receipt for an application payment, an itemization of what screening cost, or the return of any unused part, and the reason is the prohibition rather than an oversight. A refund rule exists to make a cap checkable: the applicant needs to see what was spent in order to test what was charged. Where the charge is not permitted at all, there is no unused portion and no invoice to compare. The chapter does regulate the return of a security deposit, but that is a separate instrument and a separate question from applying.
Rentals the Chapter Does Not Reach
Section 4452(a) takes ten categories outside the whole of chapter 137, each prefaced by the words unless created to avoid the application of this chapter. They are institutional occupancy for medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar service; occupancy under a contract of sale; occupancy by a member of a fraternal, social or religious organization in a portion of a building operated for the organization; a hotel, motel or lodging stay subject to the tax in 32 V.S.A. chapter 225; a condominium owner's or cooperative proprietary lessee's own occupancy; the rental of a manufactured home lot, governed instead by 10 V.S.A. chapter 153; transient residence in a campground; a hotel or motel stay while the occupant receives General Assistance, Emergency Assistance or federal Emergency Rental Assistance temporary housing; occupancy without right or permission by a non-tenant; and a transient hotel or motel stay paid for by a hospital or designated agency in connection with health care treatment or recovery.
Characteristics an Application May Not Be Refused Over
9 V.S.A. Section 4503(a)(1) makes it unlawful for any person to refuse to sell or rent, to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or to otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling or other real estate to any person because of the race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, religious creed, color, national origin, citizenship, immigration status, or disability of a person, or because a person intends to occupy a dwelling with one or more minor children, or because a person is a recipient of public assistance, or because a person is a victim of abuse, sexual assault, or stalking. Citizenship, immigration status, receipt of public assistance and victim status are all on that list and all of them are commonly asked about on an older form.
The Bar on Disclosing Victim Status
Section 4503(a)(5) makes it an unlawful housing practice to disclose to another person information regarding or relating to the status of a tenant or occupant as a victim of abuse, sexual assault, or stalking for the purpose or intent of harassing or intimidating the tenant or occupant, retaliating against a tenant or occupant for exercising his or her rights, influencing or coercing a tenant or occupant to vacate the dwelling, or recovering possession of the dwelling. It bears on the application stage because anything an applicant volunteers about that status, or anything a reference check surfaces, falls under it from the moment it is in the landlord's hands.