Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Arkansas
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | Ark. Code tit. 18, ch. 17 and §§ 14-16-601, 14-54-1409 govern ordinary private rentals/local amount control; 15 CAR pt. 86 adds an LIHTC-only fee rule |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Ordinary private market: no general application/screening-fee ban. LIHTC: application fee may cover income, credit-history, and landlord-reference checks (15 CAR § 86-304(e)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | Ordinary private market: no statewide cap, and local amount caps are preempted. LIHTC: actual out-of-pocket costs only; no indexed ceiling (15 CAR § 86-304(e)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No ordinary-market cost or collection-timing rule. LIHTC: only named checks; applicant may pay the rental-history provider directly (15 CAR § 86-304(e)) |
| Before-screening disclosures | No applicant-facing fee, availability, criteria, or report-source precharge disclosure; licensed property managers disclose application/screening compensation in the owner management agreement (17 CAR § 220-1017) |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No statewide ordinary-market or LIHTC applicant receipt, screening-report-copy, unused-fee refund, or unconsidered-application refund procedure |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied or reusable screening-report acceptance or no-fee procedure |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, screening-criteria, or state denial-reason notice process |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No applicant fee-specific damages formula; LIHTC owners/managers must support the fee amount. Local governments may not control the amount, but Act 459 states no broader process-rule preemption |
Ordinary private-market applications
The Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act defines covered dwellings, landlords, rent, and rental agreements in §§ 18-17-301(3), (5), (10)-(11), and § 18-17-401(a) permits rental- agreement terms that are not prohibited by the chapter or another rule of law. The current audited Title 18 scheme does not create a general private-market application-fee ceiling or a separate process for credit, background, or tenant- screening charges.
That leaves the ordinary private-market charge without a statewide numeric, actual-cost, customary-cost, per-applicant, per-household, or indexed ceiling. The audited provisions also state no collection-timing, applicant-facing disclosure, receipt, report-copy, refund, reusable-report, application-order, or state denial-notice rule.
Licensed property managers have an owner-facing rule. Under 17 CAR § 220-1017(a)(2)(E), the written property-management agreement must identify application fees, screening fees, and other compensation the manager will receive, including when it is earned and paid. That is disclosure to the property owner in the management agreement, not a statutory precharge notice to the applicant.
LIHTC properties use an actual-cost rule
The result changes for a unit governed by Arkansas's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit compliance rules. Under 15 CAR § 86-304(e), an application fee may cover the actual cost of checking only:
- the prospective tenant's income;
- credit history; and
- landlord references.
The charge is limited to actual out-of-pocket costs, and the owner or manager must have supporting documentation that justifies the amount. The rule also allows the applicant to pay the third party providing the rental history directly. It does not state that the documentation must be delivered to the applicant, and it creates no separate report-copy or refund deadline.
Local governments cannot control the amount
Arkansas Code §§ 14-16-601(b)-(c) and 14-54-1409(b)-(c), as amended by 2025 Act 459, prevent a local governmental unit from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing an ordinance or resolution that controls the amount of a rental application fee for private residential or commercial property. The preemption expressly reaches landlords, owners, managers, tenants, prospective tenants, and real estate companies.
The Act preserves a local government's control over residential property in which it has a property interest. Its text addresses control of the fee amount; it does not state a broader preemption of every local disclosure, receipt, refund, or application-process rule.
What trips people up
The LIHTC limit is not the general Arkansas rule. The actual-out-of-pocket- cost ceiling comes from a program-specific compliance rule. It should not be silently applied to an ordinary private-market unit.
No statewide private-market cap does not leave cities free to set one. Act 459 specifically removes local authority to control the amount of a private rental application fee.
Common questions
May an LIHTC applicant pay a screening provider directly? The rule expressly allows direct payment to the third party that provides the applicant's rental history.
Must an LIHTC owner give the applicant its cost documentation? Section 86-304 requires supporting documentation to justify the amount but does not say the documentation must be delivered to the applicant.
Does the property-manager disclosure rule create an applicant receipt? No. Section 220-1017 places fee compensation in the owner-manager agreement; it does not create an applicant-facing receipt or report-copy procedure.
Statutes and sources
- Ark. Code §§ 18-17-301 and 18-17-401 — ordinary dwelling, landlord, rent,
rental-agreement, and contract framework.
A landlord and a tenant may include in a rental agreement terms and conditions not prohibited by this chapter or other rule of law ...
Official source: https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2007%2FPublic%2FACT1004.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21) - 15 CAR § 86-304(e) — LIHTC actual-cost application-fee rule.
The fee is limited to recovery of the actual out-of-pocket costs. ... Owners or managers must provide supporting documentation to justify the amount of application fees.
Official source: https://codeofarrules.arkansas.gov/Rules/Rule?levelType=section&titleID=15&chapterID=231&subChapterID=288&partID=412&subPartID=3939§ionID=24264 (accessed 2026-07-21) - 17 CAR § 220-1017(a)(2)(E) — application/screening compensation disclosed in the owner-manager agreement.
A property management agreement must include ... application fees, screening fees ... including when such compensation is earned and when it will be paid.
Official source: https://codeofarrules.arkansas.gov/Rules/Rule?levelType=section&titleID=17&chapterID=258&subChapterID=324&partID=1262&subPartID=7362§ionID=48091 (accessed 2026-07-21) - Ark. Code §§ 14-16-601 and 14-54-1409 (2025 Ark. Act 459) — local fee- amount preemption.
The preemption against rent, rental application fees, and rental deposit control ... applies to all: ... Prospective tenants ...
Official source: https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FACT459.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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