How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in Alaska?

No statutory cap on application fees.

Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Alaska?

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does Alaska have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Alaska?

No statute on holding deposits.

What can a landlord charge for a rental application in Alaska?

Verified August 26, 2026 All Alaska topics →

What did not become law. None of the following is law; failed bills are sometimes still described as if enacted:

HB 115 (34th Legislature, 2025-2026) — Would add AS 34.03.020(f): a landlord could not raise rent more than once per calendar year and would have to give written notice at least 90 days before the increase takes effect; if a tenancy ends without that notice having been given, the unit could not be re-rented above the old rent until 90 days after termination (anti-evasion clause). Applies to rental agreements entered into on or after the effective date. Would convert Alaska from a derivation state (no express rent-increase notice statute) to an express 90-day state. Status: Introduced 2025 (Rep. Gray); referred to House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce 2025-02-26 and never heard. The 34th Legislature's second regular session adjourned sine die on May 20, 2026, which ended the bill — the special sessions that followed were limited to their call and did not include it, and it is absent from the legislature's passed-legislation list for the 34th Legislature. (checked August 26, 2026).
SB 241 (34th Legislature, 2026) — Would have added a new unlawful practice to the Unfair Trade Practices Act at AS 45.50.471(b)(58): advertising, displaying or offering a consumer a price for goods or services that does not include all mandatory fees or charges, other than taxes imposed by a government entity. The text carried an effective date of July 1, 2026. Status: Introduced February 11, 2026 and referred to Senate Judiciary and then Labor & Commerce. Senate Judiciary heard the bill on March 16, 2026 and held it. It was never reported out of that committee, and the second regular session of the 34th Legislature adjourned on May 20, 2026 without further action, so the bill did not become law and its stated effective date never arrived. (checked August 26, 2026).

Alaska does not regulate what a landlord may charge someone applying for a home: there is no cap on an application fee, no limit tying it to the cost of screening, no receipt or refund duty, no disclosure or denial-notice duty, and no reusable screening report law.

Cited to AS 34.03.070 (a) and 22 more cited sources · Verified August 26, 2026

The one statutory limit on money a landlord may demand is the ceiling in AS 34.03.070(a) on prepaid rent and security deposits, however denominated, of two months' rent, and that ceiling does not apply where the rent is more than $2,000 a month. Because it catches money whatever it is called, that ceiling is also the closest thing Alaska has to a rule on money taken to hold a unit, though the act does not say how far it reaches money paid before a rental agreement exists. The Alaska Department of Law's published guide to the act tells landlords and tenants that an application fee covering the landlord's actual, reasonable costs for services performed is probably lawful, while a fee that becomes the security deposit if the applicant moves in but is forfeited if the applicant walks away is not; that guide is the state's own explanation of the law rather than a separate rule. Federal law, not Alaska law, supplies the notice an applicant gets when a decision rests on a credit or background report.

Alaska application & screening fees at a glance

Application fee cap	No statutory cap on application fees
Fee limited to actual screening cost	No statute ties the fee to screening cost
Screening charge rules	No statute governs screening charges separately
Receipt required	No statutory receipt duty for application money
Refund required in some circumstances	No statutory refund duty
Refund rules	No statutory refund duty
Disclosure before collecting	No statutory disclosure duty
Denial-notice duties (state law)	No state statute — federal fair-credit duties still apply
Reusable screening reports	No statute on reusable screening reports
Holding deposits	No statute on holding deposits
Rental fee-transparency rules	No rental fee-transparency statute
Penalty for violation	No specific statutory penalty

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Alaska Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/alaska/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

The two-month ceiling has a rent cut-off — AS 34.03.070(a) caps prepaid rent and security deposits at two months' periodic rent, but says the section does not apply to rental units where the rent is more than $2,000 a month. Above that rent, the act sets no ceiling on this money at all. The figure is written into the statute and is not adjusted for inflation or published annually by any agency.
What the act means by prepaid rent — AS 34.03.360(16) defines prepaid rent as money the landlord demands at the start of the tenancy to ensure rent will be paid. It does not include the first month's rent and does not include money taken as security for damage. The narrowness of that definition is why an application fee falls outside the act's money limits.
What the state's consumer agency publishes — The Alaska Department of Law's guide, The Alaska Landlord & Tenant Act: what it means to you, is the only state publication that addresses application fees. It says a fee covering the landlord's actual, reasonable costs for services performed, such as checking an applicant's credit history, is probably lawful, and that it is not lawful to charge a fee that becomes the security deposit if the applicant moves in but is forfeited if the applicant decides not to take the unit. This is the agency's explanation of the act, not a separate statute or regulation.
Denial notices come from federal law — Alaska adds nothing to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. A landlord who turns down an applicant because of a credit, background or eviction report follows the federal notice duties; the Alaska statutes impose none of their own. The one written-rejection duty in the act, at AS 34.03.060(d), applies when a landlord refuses to let a sitting tenant sublet or assign, not when a new applicant is turned down.
The consumer statute reaches car rentals, not homes — The Unfair Trade Practices Act's only all-in-pricing provision, AS 45.50.471(b)(57), points to the rental car fee sections, and AS 45.45.459(4) limits those to businesses that rent cars. The Department of Law's advertising regulations at 9 AAC 05 cover the advertising of retail goods and services and set no rule requiring an advertised price to include mandatory fees.
Mobile home park lots are governed separately — Alaska keeps mobile home park lot tenancies inside the same chapter, and AS 34.03.040(c) has its own fee rules for parks, including a bar on vendor, transfer and entry fees except a reasonable fee for services actually performed where the amount is given to the tenant in writing beforehand. Those rules belong to the manufactured-home topic and do not govern ordinary apartment or house rentals.
A 2026 all-in pricing bill did not pass — SB 241 of the 34th Legislature would have made it an unfair or deceptive practice to advertise a price for goods or services that leaves out mandatory fees other than government taxes. It was heard and held in Senate Judiciary in March 2026 and never reported out before the session ended in May 2026, so it is not law.
About the application fee rule — No Alaska statute sets, caps or otherwise regulates a fee to apply for a residential tenancy. The landlord-tenant act's only limit on money a landlord may demand is AS 34.03.070(a), which bars a landlord from demanding or receiving prepaid rent or a security deposit, however denominated, worth more than two months' periodic rent, and which does not apply at all where the rent is more than $2,000 a month. That ceiling reaches money that serves as prepaid rent or as security, and prepaid rent is defined at AS 34.03.360(16) as money demanded at the start of the tenancy to ensure rent will be paid. An application fee is neither, so nothing in the act fixes its amount; AS 34.03.020(a) leaves such terms to the rental agreement. The Alaska Department of Law's published guide to the act tells landlords and tenants that an application fee covering the landlord's actual, reasonable costs for services performed, such as checking an applicant's credit history, is probably lawful. That is guidance from the state's consumer protection agency, not a statutory limit.
How the cost limit works — No Alaska statute ties an application or screening charge to the actual cost of running a credit, background or eviction report. AS 34.03.070 is the only section limiting how much money a landlord may demand, and it measures the limit against two months' rent rather than against any cost. The actual-cost idea appears in Alaska only in the Department of Law's published guide to the act, which treats a fee covering the landlord's actual, reasonable costs for services performed as probably lawful; that is agency guidance rather than a statutory standard, and it sets no ceiling a landlord must respect.
Screening charges — Alaska places no conditions on charging an applicant for tenant screening. The act says nothing about who may charge, whether a household may be charged once or several times, whether a landlord must actually obtain a report after charging for one, or whether a unit must be vacant first. The only place the act deals with vetting a prospective occupant is AS 34.03.060, which governs a landlord's consent to a sublease or assignment: subsection (c) lists the information the prospective occupant must supply, including two credit references or people who will confirm the person's financial responsibility, and subsection (d) lists the grounds on which consent may be refused. That section authorizes no charge and attaches no condition to one.
What the receipt duty covers — No Alaska statute requires a landlord to give a receipt for application or screening money. The act's only related duty runs to different money: AS 34.03.070(c) requires prepaid rent and security deposits to be placed promptly in a trust account and requires the landlord to give the tenant the terms and conditions under which that money may be withheld. Nothing corresponding applies to a fee paid to apply.
When money must come back — No Alaska statute forces the return of an application or screening fee in any circumstance. The act's return duties are all keyed to prepaid rent and security deposits and to the end of a tenancy: AS 34.03.070(b) and (g) govern the itemized accounting and refund after the tenancy ends, and AS 34.03.160(d), 34.03.170(a), 34.03.200(b) and 34.03.210 require the return of prepaid rent and security deposits when a rental agreement is terminated for the reasons those sections describe. Whether an application fee is returned is left to the agreement between the parties.
Refunds — Alaska sets no deadline, amount or mechanics for returning application or screening money, because it requires no return. The act's refund timetable belongs to deposits: under AS 34.03.070(g) a landlord must mail the written accounting and the refund of prepaid rent or a security deposit within 14 days after a tenancy that ended on notice complying with AS 34.03.290, and within 30 days in the other cases the subsection describes, including where costs are deducted for damage. There is no application-stage equivalent.
What must be disclosed up front — Alaska requires nothing to be told an applicant before money changes hands: no screening criteria, no breakdown of what a fee pays for, no statement of applicant rights, and no duty to give notice when criteria change. The act's disclosure section, AS 34.03.080(a), requires only that the landlord disclose in writing, at or before the tenancy begins, the name and address of the person authorized to manage the premises and of an owner or a person authorized to act for the owner for service of process and for receiving notices and demands. That duty concerns identity, not fees or screening.
Denial notices — Alaska imposes no state duty on a landlord who turns down an applicant for a new tenancy: no notice, no statement of reasons, no copy of any report. The nearest rule in the act belongs to a different transaction. Under AS 34.03.060(d), a landlord who refuses consent to a sublease or assignment must deliver a signed written rejection to the sitting tenant within 14 days giving one or more of the listed reasonable grounds, the first of which is insufficient credit standing or financial responsibility; under AS 34.03.060(f), consent is treated as given if no written rejection is delivered in time. That duty runs to the tenant on a sublease, not to a person applying for a tenancy of their own. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act's notice duties still apply when a decision rests on a consumer report, but those are federal duties and Alaska adds none of its own.
Reusable screening reports — Alaska has no reusable or portable tenant screening report law. No statute or state regulation requires a landlord to accept a screening report an applicant already paid for, bars a fee where such a report is used, or fixes how long one stays valid. The landlord-tenant act never mentions screening reports at all; its only provision about information from a prospective occupant, AS 34.03.060(c), asks for credit references supplied by the person rather than a report.
Money to hold a unit — Alaska sets no rule for money taken to hold a unit while an application is decided or a lease is prepared: no cap of its own, no written statement duty, and no rule for what happens if the applicant signs, withdraws or is turned down. Two provisions bear on such money. AS 34.03.070(a) bars a landlord from demanding or receiving prepaid rent or a security deposit, however denominated, worth more than two months' periodic rent, so money that in substance is either counts toward that ceiling whatever it is called; the ceiling does not apply where rent is more than $2,000 a month. AS 34.03.360(16) defines prepaid rent as money demanded at the start of the tenancy to ensure rent will be paid, and AS 34.03.330(a) frames the act around rights and obligations under a rental agreement, so how far the ceiling reaches money taken before any agreement exists is not settled by the text. The Department of Law's published guide states that a fee which becomes the security deposit if the applicant moves in but is forfeited if the applicant decides not to take the unit is not lawful; that is agency guidance rather than a statutory rule.
Advertising and fee transparency — Alaska has no fee-transparency law reaching residential rental advertising or application-stage charges. The Unfair Trade Practices Act lists 57 unlawful methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts at AS 45.50.471(b); its only all-in-pricing entry is paragraph (57), which incorporates the rental car fee sections, and AS 45.45.459(4) confines those to a business that rents cars. The Department of Law's advertising regulations at 9 AAC 05 reach, by their own statement of purpose at 9 AAC 05.010, the public advertisement and in-store presentation of retail goods and services; they govern price-reduction claims, price comparisons, availability of advertised merchandise and group price reductions, and none of them requires an advertised price to include mandatory fees, requires mandatory fees to be itemized, or names dwellings offered for rent. A 2026 bill would have added an all-in advertised price requirement covering goods and services generally; it did not pass.
Penalties — No Alaska statute attaches damages, a penalty or a forfeiture to anything a landlord does with application or screening money, because no statute imposes a duty about that money. The act's money remedies belong to other duties: under AS 34.03.070(d) a tenant may recover up to twice the amount withheld where a landlord willfully fails to give the itemized deposit accounting; under AS 34.03.040(b) a party who willfully uses a rental agreement containing a prohibited provision is liable for actual damages; under AS 34.03.160(b) a tenant may recover damages and obtain injunctive relief for the landlord noncompliance that section describes; and under AS 34.03.350 attorney fees go to the prevailing party in any proceeding arising out of the act or a rental agreement.

Common questions: Alaska application & screening fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in Alaska?: No statutory cap on application fees.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in Alaska?: No statutory refund duty.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Alaska?: No statutory receipt duty for application money.
Does Alaska have a reusable tenant screening report law?: No statute on reusable screening reports.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Alaska?: No statute on holding deposits.

Citations

AS 34.03.070 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.360 · (16) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.020 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
Alaska Department of Law, The Alaska Landlord & Tenant Act: what it means to you · p. 7 (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.060 · (c), (d) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.070 · (c) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.070 · (b), (g) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.160 · (d) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.170 · (a)(1) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.070 · (g) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.080 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.060 · (d), (f) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.060 · (c) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.330 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 45.50.471 · (b)(57) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 45.45.459 · (4) (verified 2026) Official source
9 AAC 05.010 (verified 2026) Official source
9 AAC 05.900 · (3), (7) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.070 · (d) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.040 · (b) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.160 · (b) (verified 2026) Official source
AS 34.03.350 (verified 2026) Official source
AS 45.50.471 · (b) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the Alaska Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, AS 34.03.010 through 34.03.380, as published by the Alaska Legislature, section by section from beginning to end, with particular attention to AS 34.03.020 (terms of the rental agreement), AS 34.03.040 (prohibited provisions), AS 34.03.060 (sublease and assignment), AS 34.03.070 (security deposits and prepaid rent), AS 34.03.080 (disclosure), AS 34.03.330 (application and exclusions) and AS 34.03.360 (definitions). Also read: the Unfair Trade Practices Act section listing unlawful acts and practices, AS 45.50.471; the rental car fee sections it incorporates, AS 45.45.450 through 45.45.459; the Department of Law advertising regulations at 9 AAC 05; the Real Estate Commission trust account and property management regulations at 12 AAC 64; and the duties of a real estate licensee at AS 08.88.615. The Alaska Statutes, the Alaska Administrative Code and every bill of the 34th Legislature were then searched for application fees, tenant screening, screening fees, screening reports, holding deposits, reusable and portable screening reports, junk fees, mandatory fees, advertised prices, adverse action, consumer reports and credit reports, and the subject indexes for landlord and tenant, housing and consumer affairs were read in full for the 2025 and 2026 sessions.