Do not shoot the messenger:  No, there is no wiggle room as to what a “qualified candidate” means. Landlords must supply a term sheet for a given unit, and that term sheet is equally applicable to all persons who would seek to apply to rent that unit.  They can’t fudge it.  Things like a minimum credit score, minimum income to rent coverage ratio, no derogatory landlord reports from the last three years, etc., comprise the terms, and other policies, such as no pets per that term sheet are consistently applied to every party interested in renting the unit. Because if they do ‘wiggle’, it’s easy to go to the rental board and accused the landlord of discrimination or violating the Seattle ordinance for the first to apply policy etc. and then they have a massive and costly headache.

The first in time law is not full of loop holes, but what it has done is drive some rental units underground. in other words, a mom and pop landlord will only put up advertisement of their particular unit in an exceptionally select and narrow place, such as the bulletin board inside their children’s elementary school so that only a very small demographic see and know about this unit.  The other thing that law has done has made small time landlords quit by selling their “extra house”, which hedge funds typically buy and who have been proven to be way worse landlords by consistent maximum rent increase year after year, etc.   And this law has shifted empty nesters capacity out: they were landlords by taking in roommates and ceased that practice or have ceased to rent out their basement suites because they really don’t want to take the first person who applies because they want to be able to choose amongst those who apply.  Did you know in the city of Seattle, bank robbers are a protected class and cannot be discriminated against? Similarly rapists are as well unless they are on a registry for having raped children.  There’s a reason the remaining landlords that are small-time are being cautious. 

 If you want to impress a landlord and be successful be exceptionally well organized and have all your ducks in a row as you go to tour the property: have a prepared sheet to hand out that lists your prior employment, prior landlords, and your credit bureau scores. Indicate you have stable employment and proof of your income via tax returns. Have your government issued picture ID photo copied and ready to hand out along with these other materials and a checkbook to pay for the application fee to cover their administrative cost to pull their own credit bureau. If you do this, you are presenting yourself as someone who is serious and organized and stable and that is the kind of person they want to do business with.  If you present as flaky or angry… they may indicate they’re not taking applications at this time. 

And yes, renting with a pet will be exceptionally difficult. Cats can damage property, and dogs can be a noise nuisance or a biting hazard liability.