A rental application is one of the densest bundles of personal data an agency handles: identity documents, payslips, tax notices, bank details. Two neighbouring countries regulate it in different ways, and both point towards sending less.
In France the documents a landlord or agency may request from a rental candidate and from the guarantor are fixed by décret n° 2015-1437 of 5 November 2015, later amended. The list is closed: anything outside it may not be requested, and loi n° 89-462 of 6 July 1989, article 22-2, provides for an administrative fine when it is.
A practical consequence: a copy of a bank statement is not on the list. For the documents that are allowed, such as a tax notice or payslips, an agency that forwards the file to the owner can pass on a copy where the details the owner does not need are covered, while the agency keeps the complete original.
Source: service-public.gouv.fr, fiche F1169, Location : quels documents le propriétaire peut-il demander ?
The German data protection authorities (Datenschutzkonferenz, DSK) publish guidance on collecting self-disclosure from prospective tenants. Version 2.0 of January 2026 says that income may be proven shortly before the contract is signed with a copy of a payslip, a bank statement or an income tax assessment, in each case with the details that are not needed blacked out.
On a payslip that typically means the tax ID, social insurance number, religious affiliation for church tax, and bank details stay covered, while the net income remains readable.
Source: DSK, Orientierungshilfe: Einholung von Selbstauskünften bei Mietinteressent:innen, Version 2.0
| Document | Usually needed | Usually not needed by the owner |
|---|---|---|
| Payslip | Employer, net pay, period | Tax ID, social security number, bank account, church tax data |
| Tax notice | Reference income, year | Tax number, other household members' details |
| Identity document | Name, validity | Document number where not required, photo when the copy is only for the file |
| Bank details | Only at signing, for rent payment | Balances and transactions |
The table is a working guide, not legal advice: check what your national rules and your own legal basis require.
Covering details by hand works for one file and breaks down at fifty a week, especially with scanned documents. Agencies that handle this volume use a tool that finds the identifiers automatically and burns real redactions into the copy, such as Redactic, which runs in the EU and keeps no documents after the job. The checks in why black boxes fail apply to any method.