California: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
California permits an application screening fee only for actual information-gathering costs and reasonable processing time, subject to a $30 statutory baseline that may be adjusted annually with the Consumer Price Index. The landlord must use either a first-qualified process that charges only applicants actually considered or a process that refunds every unselected applicant, and must provide an itemized receipt, return unused amounts, and deliver any obtained consumer credit report within seven days. Acceptance of a qualifying 30-day reusable report is elective, but an accepting landlord may charge neither an access fee nor an application screening fee.
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This is the general rule in California. Ezel applies current California law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1950.6 and 1950.1; residential owners/agents, applicants, guarantors, and cosigners |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Screening fee allowed for a consumer report and application validation/review/processing; it is not security or a real-estate-license advance fee (§ 1950.6(a), (i), (k)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | Actual information costs + reasonable processing time, never above the $30-per-applicant baseline adjusted annually with CPI (§ 1950.6(b)); statute does not print the current adjusted figure |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No charge if no unit is or soon will be available; landlord must offer a qualifying first-qualified/charge-when-considered or refund-all-unselected process (§ 1950.6(c)) |
| Before-screening disclosures | First-qualified option requires written screening criteria with the application; charging is barred if the landlord knows or should know no unit is available within a reasonable time (§ 1950.6(c)) |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | Itemized receipt; unused amount returned; credit report copy within 7 days. Unconsidered fee refunded within 7 days; refund-all option uses 7 days after selection or 30 days after application, whichever is first (§ 1950.6(c)-(f)) |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | Landlord may elect to accept a qualifying report prepared within 30 days and available at no access cost; if accepted, no access or screening fee (§ 1950.1(c)-(e), (h)) |
| Application order and adverse action | Choose: order-received, first applicant meeting written criteria is approved; or refund every unselected applicant. No separate state adverse-action notice in §§ 1950.6 or 1950.1 |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No fee-specific damages formula in §§ 1950.6 or 1950.1; for reusable reports, a conflicting local policy applies if it gives applicants greater protection (§ 1950.1(g)) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Maximum charge and what it may cover
California imposes two limits at once under Civil Code § 1950.6(b). The charge
cannot exceed the actual out-of-pocket cost of gathering information plus the
reasonable value of processing time, and it cannot exceed the $30 statutory
baseline as adjusted annually with the Consumer Price Index. The official code
does not print a current adjusted dollar figure, so an older published amount
should not be treated as today's automatic ceiling.
The definitions and boundaries in § 1950.6(i)-(l) matter too. Subsection (i)
defines the fee as a nonrefundable payment used to buy a
consumer credit report and validate, review, or otherwise process a residential
application. Subsection (k) says a lawful screening fee is neither a security
deposit nor a real-estate-license advance fee.
Collection timing and application order
Under § 1950.6(c)(2), the landlord must offer one of two processes. The first
considers completed applications in received order under written criteria,
approves the first qualifying applicant, and charges no fee until an application
is actually considered. Under § 1950.6(c)(2)(A)(iv), an inadvertently collected
fee for an unconsidered application must be refunded within seven days, although
the applicant may choose to apply it to another unit.
The second process returns the entire fee to every unselected applicant,
regardless of reason, within seven days after selection or 30 days after
submission, whichever comes first. Separately, § 1950.6(c)(1) bars a fee when
the landlord knows or should know no unit is available then or within a
reasonable time.
Receipt, unused money, and report copy
Section 1950.6(d) requires a receipt itemizing the out-of-pocket expenses and
processing time. If a reference check or consumer credit report is not obtained,
subsection (e) requires return of the unused amount. When an applicant paid a
fee and the landlord obtains a consumer credit report, subsection (f) requires
a copy within seven days after the landlord receives it.
Reusable reports
Acceptance remains optional under § 1950.1. A qualifying report must have been
prepared within the previous 30 days at the applicant's request and expense,
come directly from a consumer reporting agency or a compliant third-party site,
and be available to the landlord at no cost. An accepting landlord may require
a no-material-change statement but may charge neither an access fee nor an
application screening fee.
What trips people up
The statutory $30 figure is a baseline, not today's automatic charge. It
may be adjusted annually with CPI, but actual cost plus reasonable processing
time remains a separate, lower ceiling whenever those costs are below the
adjusted maximum.
A considered applicant who fails the criteria is not always owed a refund.
Under the first-qualified option, no refund is required after consideration and
denial for failure to meet the established criteria. Under the refund-all
option, every unselected applicant gets the fee back.
Reusable-report acceptance is not mandatory under current law. Section
1950.1(h) says so expressly. AB 1963 would replace that elective model if it
passes, but it remains an active bill.
Local protections can be stronger. For reusable reports, § 1950.1(g)
applies a conflicting city or county policy when it gives applicants greater
protection. This page does not catalogue those local rules.
Common questions
May a landlord charge when there is no vacancy? No, not when the landlord
knows or should know no unit is available then or within a reasonable period.
Must a landlord accept the credit report I already have? No. Section
1950.6(a) makes acceptance of an applicant-presented consumer credit report
optional, and § 1950.1(h) keeps qualifying reusable reports elective too.
Does a guarantor count as an applicant? Yes. Section 1950.6(j) includes an
entity or person agreeing to act as a guarantor or cosigner.
Statutes and sources
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.6(a)-(c) — authorization, dual cap, availability,
and collection conditions.The amount of the application screening fee shall not be greater than the
actual out-of-pocket costs of gathering information concerning the applicant
... and the reasonable value of time spent by the landlord or their agent ...
In no case shall the amount ... be greater than thirty dollars ($30) per
applicant. The thirty dollar ($30) application screening fee may be adjusted
annually ... commensurate with an increase in the Consumer Price Index ...
Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1950.6.&lawCode=CIV (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.6(c)(2) — the two processing options.
Applicants are not charged an application screening fee unless or until
their application is actually considered. ... the landlord or their agent
returns the entire screening fee to any applicant who is not selected
for tenancy, regardless of the reason, within 7 days of selecting an
applicant for tenancy or 30 days of when the application was submitted,
whichever occurs first.
Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1950.6.&lawCode=CIV (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.6(d)-(f) — receipt, unused amount, and report copy.
The landlord or their agent shall provide ... the applicant with a receipt
for the fee paid by the applicant, which receipt shall itemize the out-of-
pocket expenses and time spent ... If an application screening fee has been
paid by the applicant, the landlord or their agent shall provide a copy of
the consumer credit report ... within seven days of the landlord or their
agent receiving the report.
Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1950.6.&lawCode=CIV (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.1(c)-(h) — elective reusable reports and stronger
local protection.
A landlord may elect to accept reusable tenant screening reports ... if an
applicant provides a reusable tenant screening report to a landlord that
accepts reusable tenant screening reports, the landlord shall not charge the
applicant either of the following: (1) A fee for the landlord to access the
report. (2) An application screening fee. ... This section does not require a landlord to
accept reusable tenant screening reports.
Official source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1950.1.&lawCode=CIV (accessed 2026-07-20)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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