Our Alaska Rental/Lease Application below helps landlords, owners, or property managers screen potential tenants before offering a lease agreement.
A rental application asks for basic information about prospective tenants, including their name, current address, rental history, financial and employment data, and references.
Alaska Rental Application Fees
Alaska law allows landlords to charge a rental application fee and does not impose a limit on the amount. The fee should be reasonable and comparable to the cost of background check fees and should designate refundable or nonrefundable on the application.
The security deposit cannot exceed two months’ rent in advance. Alaska law requires landlords to maintain a separate account for security deposits.
Landlords can charge an additional deposit of up to one month’s rent as a pet deposit, but only if the pet is not a service animal.
Alaska follows the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in recognizing service animals as a dog or miniature horse trained to assist a person with a physical or psychiatric disability.
Neither the ADA nor Alaska recognizes emotional support animals as service animals.
Authorization for Background Check
Alaska allows landlords to perform background checks consisting of a tenant’s credit history, eviction record, and criminal history. According to the Fair Housing Act, the landlord must screen all tenants using the same criteria.
Before landlords can perform the background check, you must have signed consent and permission from the prospective tenant. You can download a background check authorization form from our website.
Some agencies that run background checks may have their authorization forms.
How To Conduct an Eviction Record Search in Alaska
If the prospective tenants have broken a lease or have an eviction on record from a previous rental, they should have indicated it on the rental application.
However, you can run a court record search yourself to verify the information using the Alaska Court System website.
If you decide to do your research:
- Go to the Alaska CourtView website.
- Read the instructions carefully. You can make payments only with Visa or Mastercard. The court did not accept PayPal and other online payment forms at the time of this writing.
- Press the Search Cases button.
- Perform the search with the prospective tenant’s name and other identifying information, such as the date of birth or case type.
- Always verify the identity of the individual. People often have the same or similar names.
- Always verify the verdict in a criminal case. Check if the defendant was guilty, pled out, or paid a fine.
- Credit card transactions require a 3% convenience fee.
Each name search will correspond with a separate search fee. Keep this in mind when searching. “John Smith” and “Smith, John” will be different fees.
Other Resources for Landlords in Alaska
Alaska’s Fair Housing Act mirrors the Federal Fair Housing Act. Landlords and property owners may not discriminate against a renter based on race, religion, national origin, familial status, disability, or sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation).
In Alaska, a landlord can ask about family status if the premises are for “housing for older persons.” It is allowable to exclude children from an age-restricted or seniors-only residence.
According to Megan’s Law, Alaska maintains a sex offender registry that tracks individuals convicted of certain sex-related crimes in Alaska. Offenders from other states are required to register with Alaska’s database upon arriving in the state.
Landlords can contact the Alaska Consumer Protection Unit for assistance finding resources in legal or other disputes. Note the office cannot provide legal services.
The Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC) has a landlord-tenant helpline for landlords and tenants with legal questions. The toll-free number, 855-743-1001, is available Monday through Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
How to Write a Rental Application
Follow the steps below to write a rental application in Alaska.
Step 1 – Fill in Property Address Information
Write the date of the rental application and the address of the rental property.
Step 2 – Collect Basic Rental Applicant Information
This section provides the applicant(s) basic identifying information about themselves.
Step 3 – Collect Applicant’s Residence History
In this section, the applicant(s) provides their residence history including addresses, dates of residency, and reasons for moving.
Step 4 – Gather Applicant’s Employment History
This section is for the applicant(s) to provide current and previous employment information and other sources of income.
Step 5 – Gather Applicant’s Financial History
This section is for the applicant(s) to provide bank account and credit card information.
Step 6 – Collect References
The applicant(s) provides personal references’ names and contact information in this section.
Step 7 – Additional Questions and Verification
This section contains additional questions to determine more information about the applicant such as smoking or pets.
Sample Alaska Rental Application Form
This rental application for Alaska contains all the information to review a potential tenant’s suitability for rental quickly. You can download this free form or use our document builder to create a custom rental application.
