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

No dollar cap, but the fee may cover only the costs of obtaining information about the applicant. A landlord or the landlord's agent may charge it at the time the application is processed, and only from an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older or an emancipated minor.

Does an application fee have to be refunded in Hawaii?

Yes — in Hawaii at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. The unused part of the fee must be returned. Any amount not used for the screening purposes the statute authorizes goes back to the applicant within thirty days after the landlord has submitted the screening requests.

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

Yes — Hawaii requires a receipt for application-stage money.

Does Hawaii have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Hawaii?

Hawaii has no separate holding deposit statute, but it does limit the money that may change hands: a landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant, at the beginning of a rental agreement, any money other than the first month's rent and a security deposit as provided by the security deposit section.

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

Verified August 26, 2026 All Hawaii topics →

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

HB 2188 HD1 (2026) — Would require a landlord or the landlord's agent to accept a comprehensive reusable tenant screening report when an applicant makes one available, bar an application fee in that case, and create remedies for refusing to accept such a report. Status: Passed second reading in the House as amended and referred to the Finance Committee on February 20, 2026; no further action before the session ended. (checked August 26, 2026).
SB 2959 (2026) — Senate companion to HB 2188. Would have required landlords to accept comprehensive reusable tenant screening reports made available by an applicant and barred an application fee in that case, beginning November 1, 2026. Status: Referred to the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on January 30, 2026; no further action before the session ended. (checked August 26, 2026).
SB 2958 (2026) — Would have barred an application fee for a criminal background check or credit report where the applicant supplies a certified copy of a recent one, barred an application fee where a recent comprehensive reusable tenant screening report is available, and required the landlord to supply a certified copy of an applicant's check or report on request. Status: Referred to the Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary Committees on January 30, 2026; no further action before the session ended. (checked August 26, 2026).
HB 2221 (2026) — House companion to SB 2958, with the same terms on certified copies of background and credit reports and on reusable screening reports. Status: Referred to the Consumer Protection and Commerce and Finance Committees on January 30, 2026; no further action before the session ended. (checked August 26, 2026).
SB 1662 SD1 (2025, carried over to 2026) — The 2025 forerunner of SB 2958, with the same limits on charging for background and credit reports where the applicant supplies certified copies or a reusable screening report is available. Status: Passed the Senate and was referred to House committees on March 6, 2025, then carried over to the 2026 Regular Session on December 8, 2025 with no further action. (checked August 26, 2026).

Hawaii regulates rental application fees directly: a landlord or the landlord's agent may charge an application screening fee, but only to cover the cost of obtaining information about the applicant, and only from an applicant who is eighteen or older or an emancipated minor.

Cited to HRS 521-46 (a) and 15 more cited sources · Verified August 26, 2026

There is no dollar cap, and the fee may be charged only at the time the application is processed. Any part of the fee not used for those costs must be returned within thirty days after the landlord submits the screening requests, and on the applicant's request the landlord must give a receipt and a breakdown of the costs the fee covers. Hawaii does not require a landlord to disclose screening criteria or the basis for the fee before taking the money, does not add a state denial notice to the federal one, does not require a landlord to accept a screening report an applicant already paid for, and sets no fine or damages for charging more than the law allows.

Hawaii application & screening fees at a glance

Application fee cap	No dollar cap, but the fee may cover only the costs of obtaining information about the applicant. A landlord or the landlord's agent may charge it at the time the application is processed, and only from an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older or an emancipated minor. Section 521-46 authorizes the fee once the landlord or the landlord's agent receives a request from an applicant to rent a dwelling unit. The statute sets no maximum figure; the ceiling is what it actually costs to obtain information about the applicant, and anything above that must go back to the applicant. The section was added by Act 200, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, and has applied since May 1, 2024. Section 521-44 separately limits money taken at the start of the rental agreement itself, which is a different moment from the application.
Fee limited to actual screening cost	Yes
Screening charge rules	The fee may be charged only after the landlord or the landlord's agent receives a request from an applicant to rent a dwelling unit, only at the time the application is processed, and only from an applicant who is eighteen or older or an emancipated minor. The information the fee may pay for is personal reference checks, tenant reports, criminal background checks, and credit reports produced by a consumer credit reporting agency. The terms consumer credit reporting agency and credit report carry the meanings given in section 489P-2. The statute does not limit a landlord to one fee per applicant, does not require the landlord to actually order the reports, does not require a vacancy before the fee is taken, and does not require a written agreement before payment.
Receipt required	Yes
Refund required in some circumstances	Yes
Refund rules	The unused part of the fee must be returned. Any amount not used for the screening purposes the statute authorizes goes back to the applicant within thirty days after the landlord has submitted the screening requests. The thirty-day clock runs from the moment the landlord submits the screening requests, not from the date of the application or the leasing decision. The statute names no other refund trigger, so it does not by its terms address an applicant who withdraws, a unit rented to someone else, or a landlord who never orders the reports, and it specifies no method for making the refund.
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	Hawaii has no separate holding deposit statute, but it does limit the money that may change hands: a landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant, at the beginning of a rental agreement, any money other than the first month's rent and a security deposit as provided by the security deposit section. That limit in section 521-44 is what bounds any payment taken to hold a unit as the tenancy begins. The code sets no cap, written statement duty, or disposition rule of its own for money collected to reserve a unit before the rental agreement starts, and it does not use the term holding deposit. Section 521-46 separately permits an application screening fee at the application stage, so the screening fee and the money limit in section 521-44 operate at different points.
Rental fee-transparency rules	No rental fee-transparency statute
Penalty for violation	No specific statutory penalty

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Hawaii Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/hawaii/" — 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

When the fee law took effect — The application screening fee section, HRS 521-46, was added by Act 200, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, and has applied since May 1, 2024. It has not been amended since.
No dollar figure to look up — Hawaii publishes no maximum application fee and no annually adjusted figure. The ceiling is the actual cost of obtaining information about the applicant, which will differ between landlords and between applicants.
The receipt comes when asked for — The receipt and the breakdown of costs are owed upon the applicant's request. An applicant who wants either should ask for it.
Who may be charged — The fee may be charged only for an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older or an emancipated minor. The statute does not say whether a separate fee may be charged to each adult co-applicant.
Money at the start of the tenancy — Separately from the application, HRS 521-44 provides that a landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant, at the beginning of a rental agreement, any money other than the first month's rent and a security deposit. The code sets no separate terms for a payment taken to reserve a unit before the agreement begins.
Housing the code does not cover — The Residential Landlord-Tenant Code does not apply to several arrangements listed in HRS 521-7, including day-to-day transient occupancy in a hotel or motel, housing controlled by a university or a qualifying private dorm operator, units owned or managed by the Hawaii public housing authority, and leases of improved residential land for fifteen years or more. Outside the code, HRS 521-46 does not reach the transaction.
Where to take a complaint — The Office of Consumer Protection at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs publishes information about application screening fees and may receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve disputes arising under the code. It also runs a residential landlord-tenant information line.
Denial notices are a federal matter here — Hawaii adds no denial notice duty of its own. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act can require notice when an application is turned down because of a consumer report.
How the cost limit works — The fee is authorized only to cover the costs of obtaining information about the applicant, and any amount of the fee not used for those authorized purposes must be returned to the applicant. The Office of Consumer Protection at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs states the same limit in its public information about the law: a landlord may not charge more than the actual cost of obtaining information about the applicant.
What the receipt duty covers — Upon request by the applicant, the landlord or the landlord's agent must provide a receipt for payment of the application screening fee and a breakdown of the costs the fee covers. The duty is owed when the applicant asks for it rather than automatically with every payment.
When money must come back — Any amount of the application screening fee that is not used for the purposes the statute authorizes must be returned to the applicant within thirty days after the landlord has submitted the screening requests.
What must be disclosed up front — Hawaii law does not require a landlord to tell an applicant the screening criteria, the basis for the fee, or the applicant's rights before taking the money. The only informational duty in the application screening fee section runs after payment and only when the applicant asks for it. The code's disclosure section, section 521-43, covers the identity of the manager and owner, a copy of the lease, rent receipts, an agent for off-island owners, and the general excise tax number, and those are owed to a tenant at or before the start of the tenancy rather than to an applicant. What an applicant is told before paying is therefore set by the listing and the application documents, with the general consumer statute in section 480-2 in the background.
Denial notices — Hawaii sets no state duty to give a rejected applicant a denial notice, a reason, or a copy of a report. The application screening fee section is silent on what happens after the screening, and the rest of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code addresses disputes inside an existing tenancy. Chapter 489P, from which the fee section borrows its definitions, governs security freezes on consumer credit reports and places no duty on landlords. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act can require a notice when an application is turned down because of a consumer report, but that is federal law rather than a Hawaii requirement.
Reusable screening reports — No Hawaii statute requires a landlord to accept a portable or reusable tenant screening report that an applicant already paid for, waives the application screening fee when one is offered, or sets how long such a report stays valid. The application screening fee section instead contemplates the landlord obtaining its own tenant reports and credit reports. Several measures in the 2026 Regular Session would have created a duty to accept these reports and barred a fee when one was supplied; none passed.
Advertising and fee transparency — Hawaii has no statute requiring an all-in advertised rent, an itemized list of mandatory fees, or a ban on hidden fees in residential rental advertising or at the application stage. The rent section of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code sets notice periods for rent increases and an eight per cent ceiling on late charges but says nothing about how rent or fees must be displayed. Section 480-2 and the deceptive trade practices list in section 481A-3 are general consumer statutes that are not directed at rental fee display. The service charge disclosure rule in section 481B-14 applies to hotels and restaurants, not to dwellings offered for rent.
Penalties — The application screening fee section carries no damages, fine, or forfeiture of its own; returning the unused part of the fee is the only consequence it names. Elsewhere in the same chapter the Legislature attached a consumer protection remedy expressly, so its absence here is meaningful: a landlord who shuts off essential services to recover possession is deemed to have committed an unfair or deceptive practice under section 480-2 and faces minimum damages of three times the monthly rent or one thousand dollars, whichever is greater. The treble damages in the security deposit section reach wrongful retention of a security deposit, not application money. The Office of Consumer Protection may receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve any dispute arising under the code.

Common questions: Hawaii 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 Hawaii?: No dollar cap, but the fee may cover only the costs of obtaining information about the applicant. A landlord or the landlord's agent may charge it at the time the application is processed, and only from an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older or an emancipated minor.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in Hawaii?: Yes — in Hawaii at least one circumstance requires application-stage money to be returned. The unused part of the fee must be returned. Any amount not used for the screening purposes the statute authorizes goes back to the applicant within thirty days after the landlord has submitted the screening requests.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Hawaii?: Yes — Hawaii requires a receipt for application-stage money.
Does Hawaii have a reusable tenant screening report law?: No statute on reusable screening reports.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Hawaii?: Hawaii has no separate holding deposit statute, but it does limit the money that may change hands: a landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant, at the beginning of a rental agreement, any money other than the first month's rent and a security deposit as provided by the security deposit section.

Citations

HRS 521-46 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
Act 200, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023 (SB 930 CD1) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-46 · (a), (c) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-46 · (a), (d) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 489P-2 (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-46 · (b) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-46 · (c) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-43 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-46 (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-44 · (b) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-21 · (d), (f) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 480-2 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 481B-14 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-77 (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-74.5 (verified 2026) Official source
HRS 521-43 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of chapter 521 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, section by section as published by the Hawaii State Legislature, including section 521-46 on application screening fees, section 521-44 on security deposits, and section 521-43 on rental agreement disclosure; together with the definitions in section 489P-2 that section 521-46 adopts, the general consumer statutes in sections 480-2 and 481A-3, and the hotel and restaurant service charge rule in section 481B-14; plus a review of the Legislature's own measure records for the 2025 and 2026 Regular Sessions of the 33rd Legislature and of the enacting measure, Act 200, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023.