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How should a landlord handle an applicant's Social Security number?

DoorKeeping team

4 min read

Collect it only when you need it for screening, keep it off email and paper piles, store it encrypted behind a login, let as few people as possible see it, and destroy it once the screening is done. No federal law says a landlord cannot ask for an SSN, but the FTC's guidance for businesses is plain: keep only what you need, lock what you keep, and dispose of what you no longer need. A leaked SSN is the kind of data that can follow a tenant for years, and in many states it triggers a breach notice to you.

Do you need the number at all?

The FTC's guide for small businesses starts with one rule: take stock of the personal information you hold and ask whether you need it. A Social Security number is the most sensitive item on a rental application. A screening company usually needs it to find the right credit file, so asking for it on the application is common. But the number is not needed to answer most other questions you ask, such as whether the applicant can afford the rent.

Two habits keep the risk small. First, do not ask for the number until you are ready to run screening, not at the first inquiry or showing. Second, if the applicant types it straight into the screening company's own form, you never have to hold it at all. Many applicants prefer that, and it removes your copy from the picture.

Some states and cities limit what a landlord may ask or require, such as government-issued numbers for applicants who do not have one. Check your state's rules before you make an SSN mandatory.

Where Social Security numbers leak from a landlord's office

Most landlord data leaks are ordinary. They are not hackers breaking in; they are numbers sitting in places nobody locked.

  • Email: applicants send a photo of an ID or a filled form to your inbox, and it sits there for years, searchable and forwarded.
  • Paper: a stack of applications in a car, a garage or a desk drawer that a handyman can open.
  • Shared drives and text messages: a number pasted into a group chat with a helper or a partner.
  • Spreadsheets: a tenant list with a full SSN column that gets emailed to the accountant.
  • Old devices: a laptop or phone sold or recycled without wiping it.

Steps to collect and keep SSNs safely

  1. Collect it through a secure form, not by email or text. A secure link that encrypts the data in transit is the minimum.
  2. Ask only the people who need to be screened. A minor child on the lease does not need to be screened.
  3. Store it encrypted, in one place with a login, never in a spreadsheet with the rest of the tenant list. Show only the last four digits to anyone who just needs to confirm a record.
  4. Turn on two-factor sign-in for every account that can open it, and give access only to people who need it.
  5. Never put a full number in an email, a text or a work order. If a vendor needs identity proof, send them to the right form instead.
  6. Decide when the number goes away, write it down, and follow it. For approved tenants, many owners keep only the last four digits after screening ends.
  7. Destroy paper by cross-cut shredding and electronic copies by deleting them from the app, the inbox, the download folder and any backup you control.

The FTC's disposal rule for consumer report information requires reasonable measures to destroy it, such as burning, pulverizing or shredding paper and destroying or erasing electronic files so the data cannot be read or rebuilt. That rule covers information from a credit report, which is what most landlords' SSNs are paired with. See the rule text for the exact wording.

What to do if a number gets out

Most states have a breach notification law that can apply to a landlord who holds names together with Social Security numbers. If a spreadsheet, an inbox or a laptop with that data is lost or accessed by someone who should not have it, act the same day.

  1. Find out what was exposed and whose data it was. Change passwords and sign out other sessions.
  2. Write down what happened, when you found out and what you did.
  3. Check your state's breach notification law for who must be told and by when. Many states set a deadline and some require telling the state attorney general.
  4. Tell the affected people in plain words, and consider offering free credit monitoring.
  5. Call your insurer, since some policies cover breach costs, and an attorney if the number of people is large.

How DoorKeeping handles tax IDs

When you save a helper's or contractor's tax ID in DoorKeeping, it is stored only as ciphertext, and the screen shows the last four digits only. Sign-in can be protected with two-factor codes from an authenticator app, with ten one-time recovery codes. DoorKeeping is $2 per unit per month with $0 in other fees, and it gives no legal advice.

Sources

  1. FTC, Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business, read Oct 30, 2026
  2. FTC, Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know, read Oct 30, 2026
  3. eCFR, 16 CFR Part 682, Disposal of consumer report information and records, read Oct 30, 2026

Questions

Can a landlord legally ask for a Social Security number?
Federal law does not bar it, and screening companies commonly need it. A few states and cities limit what a landlord may require, so check yours, and collect it only when you are ready to screen.
Should I email a tenant's SSN to anyone?
No. Email stays in inboxes for years and can be forwarded. Use a secure form or have the applicant enter it on the screening company's own site.
How should I destroy an old application with an SSN on it?
Cross-cut shred or burn paper, and delete electronic copies from every place they were saved, including downloads and backups you control. The FTC calls for reasonable measures so the data cannot be read or rebuilt.

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