Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Georgia

At a glance

Georgia has no special statewide fee process

The current reconstructed text of O.C.G.A. Chapter 44-7 contains no statute specifically capping or regulating a residential application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or tenant-screening fee. The complete real- estate licensing chapter, O.C.G.A. Chapter 43-40, was also audited. It covers property management and referring prospective tenants but creates no tenant- facing application-fee or screening process.

Accordingly, the audited statutes create no special statewide requirement for:

• a maximum dollar amount, actual-cost formula, or annual adjustment;
• proof that a unit is available or that an application will be considered;
• advance disclosure of the fee basis, screening criteria, or report source;
• an application-fee receipt, screening-report copy, or unused-fee refund;
• acceptance of an applicant-supplied or reusable report;
• first-in-order or first-qualified processing; or
• a state-format denial or conditional-approval notice.

What the state handbook says

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs' Landlord-Tenant Handbook gives the practical statewide baseline. It says application fees may be required, are usually not refundable even if the application is denied or the applicant changes their mind, and may be applied to first month's rent. The handbook also advises applicants to get a receipt for every fee or deposit.

That receipt sentence is practical advice, not a statutory receipt mandate. Neither audited chapter requires a landlord to itemize an application fee, provide the screening report, refund an unconsidered fee, accept a reusable report, process applications in a particular order, or issue a Georgia-format denial notice.

Boundaries that still matter

Section 44-7-30 separates a security deposit from a nonrefundable fee or money the rental agreement says will not be returned. The DCA handbook states more directly that application fees and deposits to hold an apartment until signing are not security deposits and usually are not refundable. The security-deposit escrow, inspection, and return rules therefore should not be assumed to govern an application fee.

Section 44-7-20 creates a different pre-lease disclosure. When the living space has been damaged by qualifying flooding at least three times in the preceding five years, the owner must give the prospective tenant written notice before a written residential lease. That is a property-history disclosure, not an application-fee or screening disclosure.

For licensed property managers, § 43-40-1 includes marketing and prospective- tenant referrals within property-management services. O.C.G.A. § 43-40-20 imposes trust-account duties on specified transaction funds. Those provisions do not state an application-fee amount, receipt, refund deadline, report-copy duty, or application-processing rule.

What trips people up

Security-deposit protections do not automatically cover an application fee. The statute and DCA handbook distinguish nonrefundable charges from money held as security for a tenancy.

“Always get a receipt” is advice to the applicant. The audited statutes do not turn that handbook recommendation into a special application-fee receipt duty for the landlord.

A background check does not create a Georgia screening procedure. The handbook says landlords may require credit and criminal-background checks, but Georgia's audited statutes do not add a state fee cap, reusable-report system, application order, report-copy rule, or denial-notice form.

Common questions

Is there a statewide maximum rental application fee? No numeric or cost- based cap appears in the current audited statutes.

Must the fee be refunded if the application is denied? The DCA handbook says application fees are usually not refundable even when an application is denied or the applicant changes their mind. A particular agreement or other law can still affect a specific charge.

Must the landlord give me the screening report? The audited statutes impose no special report-copy duty tied to a rental application charge.

Does Georgia require reusable screening reports? No statewide applicant- supplied or reusable-report acceptance procedure appears in the audited statutes.

Statutes and sources

• O.C.G.A. Chapter 44-7 — complete current landlord-tenant chapter reconstruction audited for applicant-fee and screening rules.

  CHAPTER 7 Landlord and Tenant Article 1 In General Article 2 Security Deposits Article 3 Dispossessory Proceedings Article 4 Distress Warrants Article 5 Croppers Article 6 Abandoned Mobile Home.

Official public-domain source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ga/master/transforms/ga/ocga/r86/gov.ga.ocga.title.44.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - O.C.G.A. § 44-7-30 — nonrefundable-fee and security-deposit definitions.

“Security deposit” means money or any other form of security ... held by the landlord on behalf of a tenant by virtue of a residential rental agreement ... Such term shall not include nonrefundable fees, or money or other consideration which are not to be returned to the tenant ...

Official public-domain source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ga/master/transforms/ga/ocga/r86/gov.ga.ocga.title.44.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - O.C.G.A. § 44-7-20 — separate pre-lease flood-history notice.

[P]rior to entering a written agreement for the leasehold ... the owner shall ... notify the prospective tenant in writing of the property's propensity of flooding if flooding has damaged any portion of the living space ... at least three times during the five-year period immediately preceding the date of the lease.

Official public-domain source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ga/master/transforms/ga/ocga/r86/gov.ga.ocga.title.44.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - O.C.G.A. Chapter 43-40 and §§ 43-40-1, 43-40-20 — property-management coverage and general trust-account duties.

“Property management services” means the provision, for a valuable consideration, to another of marketing, including referring prospective tenants; leasing; physical, administrative, or financial maintenance; and overall management of real property ...

Official public-domain source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ga/master/transforms/ga/ocga/r86/gov.ga.ocga.title.43.html (accessed 2026-07-21) - Georgia DCA, Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook, pages 6 and 8 — statewide agency guidance on application fees.

Application fees may be required and are usually not refundable, even if the application is denied or you change your mind. The fee may be applied to the first month's rent. Always get a receipt for any fee or deposit.

Official source: https://dca.georgia.gov/document/manuals/georgia-landlord-tenant-handbook/download (accessed 2026-07-21)