I made a quick outline for a renters application. Here it is:

Am I missing anything? Putting up unnecessary things?

I was considering making it an online application with a progress bar to show how much of it is completed. I could later develop a point system to weed out unwanted applicants.

I'm not sure about your state, but I don't think you can deny a rental for someone that does/doesn't: decorate for the holidays, gamble, psychedelic drugs (why not just ask any drugs? can you even ask that on a rental application?), or drink (often/sometimes/rarely/never) which has been legal since the end of prohibition.

And if you're going to do a background check, you better do that by the books.

Do you actually think someone is going to tell you they do psychedelic drugs?

You forgot to ask whether they wipe sitting down or standing up.

I have had multiple rental properties for years. You are making it too complicated (and some of your questions are ridiculous, not sure if serious).

You get the normal identity information with SS#, current address, mobile phone #, and get a copy of their DL. You get two years employment history with verification phone numbers, and two years landlord history with names/phone numbers. You call all of them, and with the landlords you ask if they pay the rent on time and left on good terms. Most will tell you. For income, you require a recent check stub showing year-to-date. If they are on a new job or are self-employed, get a couple bank statements instead. Get one personal reference unrelated to them, mainly for if you need to track them down later.

And optionally you also make them do a $15 online credit check at their expense, take it off the first month (or not). I use Experian. This is useful just to make sure they don't have creditors chasing them and a lot of unpaid bills. But it will also validate some of the application info. For renters don't expect to find 700+ scores, just look for really bad stuff. Also criminal background is a waste of time, and may not be legal where you live. Your lease should say that they can't operate a criminal enterprise out of the house and if caught or you just find out about it, they get evicted, that's it.

After that if they can come up with 2x the rent to sign the lease (today, not "when I get paid"), and you feel good about them, then you take your chances.

Out of over 20 tenants I've only ever evicted 2, and even those paid just fine for a while.

Couple other things to avoid mistakes I've made:

- list on the lease everyone who will be living in the house (not as co-signers, just list them as having permission to live there), and require written permission to add another, with a rent increase. Visitors limited to 3 weeks, after that they are living there.

- agree on pets up front and pet fees, make them say NO PETS on the lease if you don't want pets

OP, you should add favorite sexual position to your list while you are at it.

The key is to create rental applications with questions that don't correspond to 2 valued logic. 2 valued logic is easy to fool, because you can lie.

Instead of asking "have you ever done psychedelic drugs?," you ask, "what was your last psychedelic drug experience like?" This lulls the applicant into a false sense of security. The applicant will think that 'hey, he is asking in a non-judgmental way. Maybe this landlord isn't as square as my last one and has the man bearing down on him as much as he does on me. Maybe he's not a jive turkey. Maybe we can hang out and do psychedelic drugs together, and if I give him some homegrown magic mushrooms he will trim off some of the rent!'

Instead of asking raw data questions like "height" you can ask "if you could be any height, what height would you be?" If he answers tall, and he is short, you know he doesn't accept himself and you will probably run into existential problems with him in the future--sitting in his trailer drinking an endless bottle of Southern Comfort watching Seinfeld reruns and asking the 'why' questions about life is not gonna get you paid, you know what I'm saying?

If he answers something akin to self-acceptance, and you meet him and he more resembles a storybook hobbit-like creature than a man, you will know you have found someone who will probably pay his rent on time, a side benefit is he will also come in handy if you lose something down a tight enclosure.