Application & Screening Fee Laws by State
What a landlord may charge someone applying for a rental — application fees, tenant-screening charges, receipts, refunds, disclosure duties, reusable screening reports, and holding deposits — with every state verified against official statutes. Each row shows its own verified date, and each state links to its own page with the full citations.
Tenant screening laws are covered here too: each state's record includes the screening-charge rules, reusable screening report laws, and the denial-notice duties that apply when an application is rejected.
State law on rental application fees ranges from no cap at all to an outright ban: this comparison covers all 50 states, each verified against its official statutes.
| State | Application fee rule | Actual-cost limit | Receipt | Refund | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Alaska verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Arizona verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Arkansas verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| California verified August 25, 2026 | Two limits apply at once: the fee may not exceed the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost of gathering the applicant's information, and in no case may it exceed a base of $30 per applicant, which the landlord may raise annually in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index running from January 1, 1998. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Colorado verified August 25, 2026 | No dollar cap, but a rental application fee may not exceed the landlord's cost of processing the application, and no application fee at all may be charged when the applicant supplies a portable tenant screening report. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Connecticut verified August 26, 2026 | No fee may be charged for processing, reviewing or accepting a rental application. | No | Yes | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Delaware verified August 25, 2026 | The greater of 10% of one month's rent or $50, and in no case more than the specific cost of the credit or other investigation, so the lower of the two figures controls. | Yes | Yes | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Florida verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Georgia verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Hawaii verified August 26, 2026 | No dollar cap, but the fee may cover only the costs of obtaining information about the applicant. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Idaho verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Illinois verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Indiana verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Iowa verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Kansas verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Kentucky verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Louisiana verified August 26, 2026 | No dollar cap, but a lessor may not require payment of an application fee unless, before accepting the payment, the lessor gives the applicant written notice of the fee amount and of the screening factors the lessor considers. | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Maine verified August 26, 2026 | Application fees are banned. | Yes | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Maryland verified August 25, 2026 | No dollar ceiling on the amount charged, but a $25 threshold makes the money refundable. | Yes | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Massachusetts verified August 25, 2026 | No application fee is permitted. | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Michigan verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Minnesota verified August 25, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Mississippi verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Missouri verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Montana verified August 26, 2026 | No dollar cap on the amount charged, but Montana limits what may be kept: a property manager of four or more dwelling units who charges an application fee must refund it if the applicant does not end up party to a rental agreement, and may retain only pre-disclosed out-of-pocket costs for services actually performed. | Yes | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Nebraska verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Nevada verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| New Hampshire verified August 26, 2026 | No dollar cap, but the amount must be disclosed in writing before it is collected, and where the applicant is not rented the unit the landlord may keep only the documented actual cost of the background check, credit check, and reasonable administrative costs. | Yes | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| New Jersey verified August 26, 2026 | $50 is the most a landlord or their agent may charge to apply for a residential rental, counting every fee charged for the same application. | No | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| New Mexico verified August 26, 2026 | $50 maximum screening fee, and that fee is the only charge an owner may impose to process a rental application. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| New York verified August 25, 2026 | No application or processing fee is permitted. | Yes | Yes | Not required | Full law & citations |
| North Carolina verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| North Dakota verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Ohio verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Oklahoma verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Oregon verified August 25, 2026 | Cost-based ceiling rather than a dollar cap. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Pennsylvania verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Rhode Island verified August 26, 2026 | Rental application fees are banned. | Yes | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| South Carolina verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| South Dakota verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Tennessee verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Texas verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Utah verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Vermont verified August 25, 2026 | Banned: a landlord or a landlord's agent may not charge an application fee to anyone applying to enter into a rental agreement for a residential dwelling unit. | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
| Virginia verified August 25, 2026 | $50, plus the landlord's actual out-of-pocket cost for third-party background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks; the ceiling is $32 where the unit is a public housing unit or is otherwise regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. | Yes | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Washington verified August 25, 2026 | No flat dollar cap, but a landlord may charge a prospective tenant only the costs incurred in obtaining a tenant screening report, and a landlord who screens in-house may charge only actual costs, which may not exceed the customary costs charged by a screening service in the general area. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| West Virginia verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Wisconsin verified August 25, 2026 | No separate dollar cap on an application fee as such, but a charge for a nationwide consumer credit report is limited to the landlord's actual cost, up to $25, and a background check charge is limited the same way but may be imposed only on an applicant who is not a Wisconsin resident. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full law & citations |
| Wyoming verified August 26, 2026 | No statutory cap | No | Not required | Not required | Full law & citations |
The application-fee column shows each state's lead rule in one sentence — several states pair a cap with separate screening-charge rules, and the linked state page carries the full rule, every condition, and the citations.
No figure appears here unless it was verified against official state sources on the date shown — see how we verify.