Set up rental application templates

Rental application templates let you define exactly what you collect from applicants — fees, background checks, income verification, custom questions, and more. You can create multiple templates and assign them to individual units.

Navigate to Settings > Rental Application Templates to get started.

You can duplicate or delete templates from the template list. If you delete the default template, the next available template becomes the default automatically.

All changes save with the Save button at the top of the page.

Set the application fee amount and how it's labeled on the application:

You can also create coupon codes to offer discounts. Each code can have a percent or flat discount, an expiration date, and a maximum number of uses. The discount can't exceed the application fee.

Choose the screening level for your template:

Screening trigger — Choose when the background check runs:

Choose your preferred income verification options:

If you choose Alternative Required, then the applicant will need to complete at least one of the Required or Alternative Required options.

For income documents, you can require PDF files (recommended) and enable Document Verification that detects signs for fraud, forgery, and tampering.

Set the requirement level for ID verification: Off, Optional, or Required.

Set how much employment and housing history you require from applicants and customize the questions that are sent to them (sent out when the applicant submits their application).

Co-signers — Configure if you allow applicants to invite co-signers.

Included sections — Choose if you'd like to exclude certain sections.

Custom questions — Add questions to the application with the following response types: Short Text, Long Text, Select, or Checkboxes. Each question can be set as required or optional.

Custom documents — Request specific documents from applicants. For each document type, you can add a name, instructions, minimum required count, and a PDF-only restriction.

Add a custom disclaimer that appears on the application's terms page. This text is appended to the standard RentEngine disclaimer and can include your management company's specific terms (such as rental requirements and mandatory fees)

Post-submission instructions — Enter a message shown to applicants immediately after they submit. Use this to set expectations about next steps or timeline.

Prospect decision email templates — Customize the emails sent when you approve, reject, or request additional information from an applicant. You can use variables like {{first_name}} and {{property_address}} to personalize the messages.

Owner decision email templates — Customize the email sent to owners when their approval is needed. The email includes Approve and Speak-to-PM buttons that are generated at send time.

Create a default task list that generates automatically when an application is submitted. For each task, set a name, assignee (team member or subteam), and optional notes.

When a step is marked as completed, the assignee for the next task in the list will be notified via email.

Control what each team member can do within this template:

RentEngine admins have full access by default.

Configure how completed applications sync back to your property management system.

Important: In case your PMS doesn’t support a direct sync, you can set up the Extension that syncs the data for approved applications into your PMS, please download the Extension here. You can watch this video that walks you through the one-click sync

If no template is assigned, the unit uses your account's default template. You can also use the Bulk Edit feature to update the application template for multiple units at the same time.