Clean Slate Guide
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Rental applications in 2026 routinely ask whether the applicant has been convicted of a crime, arrested, or had a record that was sealed or expunged. For applicants whose records have been cleared under a state clean slate law or an individual expungement petition, the answers are no longer simple. The rules depend on which state the rental is in, how the record was cleared, and what database the landlord actually searches.

## What landlords can see in 2026 Three databases are commonly queried in rental screening. The first is the state criminal record repository, usually maintained by the state police or a designated agency. The second is the county court system, accessed through a private background check vendor. The third is the federal layer — the FBI's National Crime Information Center and the Interstate Identification Index — which records arrests and dispositions across state lines. A record that has been sealed or expunged is supposed to disappear from the state repository search. In practice, the disappearance is not always immediate. State repositories update on different schedules, and a background check run weeks or months after a sealing order can still show the original charge. The discrepancy is more common in states with newer automated sealing systems. The federal database layer is slower. Even after a state has cleared a record, the FBI's federal record can continue to show the original charge until the state notifies the federal system and the FBI processes the update. That notification is a separate step under federal regulations and is not automatic. ## What applicants must disclose Disclosure obligations on rental applications are governed by state law. Most states fall into one of three categories. The first prohibits the question entirely. California has prohibited landlords from asking about criminal history on the initial rental application for several years, with extensions to the state's Fair Chance Act. Landlords can ask later in the process but not on the form. The second requires the applicant to disclose convictions that have not been sealed or expunged. Sealed and expunged convictions are treated as if they did not occur, and the applicant is permitted to answer "no." The third requires disclosure of all convictions regardless of sealing, but those provisions have been narrowed by recent litigation. The trend in 2026 is toward the first two categories. Many tenant-rights organizations advise applicants whose records have been cleared to disclose the sealing order itself rather than the underlying conviction. The disclosure, with the case number and the date of the sealing, establishes the legal basis for any later objection to a denial based on the original charge. ## What landlords can consider Even when a landlord has access to a criminal record, federal law limits how that record can be used in housing decisions. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Courts have repeatedly held that criminal history policies that disproportionately affect members of protected classes can violate the Fair Housing Act unless necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest. The practical effect is that blanket bans on applicants with any criminal history have been struck down in multiple jurisdictions. Landlords must consider the nature and severity of the offense, the time elapsed, and the relevance of the offense to the housing. A conviction for writing bad checks from fifteen years ago is unlikely to be considered relevant. A recent conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine in the unit being rented is more likely to be considered relevant. HUD guidance issued in 2016 outlined this framework and has been incorporated into settlements across the country. ## How clean slate laws interact with housing The wave of automatic expungement statutes enacted since 2020 has reshaped the question. In states with active clean slate programs, a meaningful share of the adult population is now legally entitled to have their records treated as if they had no criminal history. Landlords who run criminal background checks in those states will see fewer convictions simply because the records have been cleared. The benefit is not equally distributed. Records that were supposed to be sealed automatically and were missed by the state's automated system remain visible. The Michigan Clean Slate Act has produced both large numbers of cleared records and ongoing disputes over which cases the system failed to catch, and applicants whose cases fell into the gap face the same rental screening obstacles they would have faced before the statute was enacted. ## What to do before applying For applicants whose records have been cleared, the practical first step is to verify that the clearing has propagated to the databases landlords actually use. A state repository self-search is the easiest check. A self-background check run through a major consumer reporting agency is the most realistic check, because it shows what a landlord is likely to see. The safest course is to confirm the status of any record that has been cleared before submitting an application.
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