Using rental applications in DoorLoop starts with your company-level settings. What you configure here will be the default for your rental applications unless you override a section at the property level.

Using these settings, you’ll be able to customize many aspects of your rental application including which information is mandatory and any additional requirements you might need that are outside of the standard categories.

To access the main company default Rental Applications settings, click Settings on the main menu . Then under the Company Defaults section, click Rental Applications.

Clicking this will bring up the Rental Applications settings page. There will be quite a few sections and categories that need to be filled out to create a robust rental application.

Before setting up the contents of your rental application, it is important to select an Application Fee Plan that works best for your business. This is basically what you will charge the prospect for filling out your rental application. Application Fees can be found on the Application Fee tab of the Rental Application settings.

To set up the Applications Fees, you will need to have a verified company address entered. If you've already done this, read on.

On the Rental Applications settings page, in the Application Fees tab, you'll have three options for the Applications Fees:

Property managers typically use this when a state or local law caps how much applicants can be charged for a rental application, but the actual cost of screening and processing exceeds that cap — contributing the difference lets you stay compliant with the fee limit while still covering your full costs.

To enable this feature, you must use the Customizable Plan option. Enter the amount that the applicant will pay, and then toggle on the option labeled Cover fees for applicants. The amount that will be contributed by you, as the property manager, will be automatically filled in under Manager Contribution. This amount will be automatically taken from the Merchant Account associated with the property after the applicant pays their portion - this covers the screening and card processing fees.

You also have the option to request an income verification report from your applicants. This option is available for the Customizable Plan and the Comprehensive Plan. It's an additional $10.00 fee that is charged to the applicant. This helps verify tenant income using bank connections, payroll providers, or uploaded documents to confirm they meet the 3x rent rule. For more information about the income verification feature, read: Income Verification for Rentals: How to Confidently Confirm an Applicant Can Afford the Rent.

Lastly, you can ask for a Holding Deposit as part of the application process. This lets you charge a holding fee - usually a temporary fee used to reserve a rental property while you process the application. This can help secure applicants early and cut down on cancellations and minimize vacancy risks.

The next step is to set up the application form. Click the Application Form tab to get to this section. These are basically all the questions that you will require in the rental application form.

You can add custom instructions to your rental application by toggling on the Additional Instructions option and entering custom instructions.

Add custom instructions (optional) for this section. The applicant information section will ask for general information about the applicant, such as their name, contact information, demographics, ID numbers, etc. Use the checkbox next to each field that you require for your rental application and skip the ones you don't. You will notice that some sections cannot be deselected because they are required.

Add custom instructions (optional) for this section. This section asks about the applicant's current or past residential situation. Here they'll enter their current address, when they started living at that location, and more. You will notice that some sections cannot be deselected because they are required.

Add optional instructions for this section. This section has your applicants tell you where they are working now, and their employment status. Here you can add fields for when they started, when they ended, a current supervisor, and more. You will notice that some sections cannot be deselected because they are required.

The rest of the sections on the rental application are optional, though they do help gather more information about your applicants. You can choose to turn any of these sections on or off, and can even make these sections required if necessary.

You can also ask additional questions in your rental application as well as request any additional documents you require.

If you have additional questions you would like to ask the applicant that isn't part of any of the categories above, you can add them here. If you enable this section with the toggle, we do provide some sample questions you can ask, but you can modify these to fit your needs. Use the Add Question button to add more questions and the Trash Can to remove questions. You can even change the Question Type by using the Pencil icon.

This is another section that isn't required but can be helpful. Here, you can request that applicants upload certain documents if they're necessary as part of your rental process. For instance, you might want a copy of their driver's license, a recent pay stub, or more. Here, you can add those items and mark them as whether or not they're mandatory to continue.
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Pay special attention to the option that Let applicants submit without uploading. This option allows your prospects to skip uploading the necessary documents if they don't have them yet, and then continue with the rental application to the end. This keeps the prospect from having to exit the rental application and possibly not completing it at a later date.

Use the Add Document button to add the documents you are requiring.

While not necessary, you may want to include this section as part of your rental applications. This is where you would add information such as whether or not application fees are non-refundable, and disclaimers, requirements, policies and procedures, and more. This is found on the Terms tab in the Rental Application settings.

When rental applications are completed by your prospect, you'll want to assign a user on your account that will be notified each time. This way, they can review each rental application that comes in without delay. Find this in the Notifications tab in the Rental Application settings.

This section lets you assign Users within your organization who will be notified whenever a new application is received. This could be you, an assistant, or someone in the office. You can assign multiple Users to receive these notifications as well. Toggle on this option if you want this available.

This will be where the general link for the rental application will be. This is a link for an application that isn't specific to any property. If you need a property-specific rental application link, you'll need to grab that from the property.

Property Level Applications - If you enable this setting by toggling on "Prospects can apply without selecting a specific unit," your prospects will be able to apply for the general property without needing to select a specific unit.

(For instructions on how to send a property only rental application, read: Send a Property Only Rental Application to a Prospect).

Customize what your rental application looks like by adding logos, background images, choosing a color, and a theme. You can also change what the Company Name shows as well as that the application url subdomain will be.

Once you've reviewed and configured each section, click Save Changes to finalize your rental application.