Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Indiana
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | Ind. Code art. 32-31; residential landlord-tenant statutes apply to Indiana dwelling-unit rental agreements, subject to the arrangements excluded by § 32-31-2.9-4; landlord includes owners, lessors, sublessors, managers, and rental agents (§ 32-31-3-3) |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | No application-fee-specific authorization or prohibition in art. 32-31 or the Real Estate Broker Licensing Act; a returnable amount securing rental-agreement performance may instead be a security deposit (§ 32-31-3-9) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No special statewide dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed application/screening-fee ceiling |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No special screening-cost list, vacancy condition, charge-when-considered rule, multiple-application restriction, or collection-timing rule |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special statewide application-fee amount, unit-availability, screening-criteria, report-source, dispute-right, or reusable-report disclosure before charging |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No special statewide application-fee receipt, screening-report-copy, unused-fee, excess-fee, duplicate-fee, unconsidered-application, or denial-refund procedure |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied, portable, or reusable tenant-screening-report procedure |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, refund-all, or Indiana application-denial notice procedure |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No application-fee-specific statutory damages; § 32-31-1-20(c) preempts unauthorized local regulation of screening, lease applications, disclosures, lease rights, and any landlord fees |
Indiana's statewide baseline
Indiana has no special statewide statute setting a flat-dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed limit for an ordinary residential rental-application or tenant-screening fee. A complete audit of the current Indiana landlord- tenant article and the Real Estate Broker Licensing Act also found no special process governing when that fee may be charged, what it may cover, or what an applicant must receive before or after payment.
This is a negative statutory result, not a claim that every payment called an "application fee" is automatically valid. The fee's actual purpose matters. A returnable amount held during the tenancy to secure performance under the rental agreement can fall within Ind. Code § 32-31-3-9's security-deposit definition and its separate rules.
Coverage
Ind. Code § 32-31-2.9-3 applies Indiana's residential landlord-tenant statutes to rental agreements for dwelling units located in the state. Ind. Code § 32-31-2.9-4 excludes specified arrangements unless created to evade the statutes, including institutional residence incidental to listed services, occupancy under a contract of sale, fraternal or social-organization housing, transient lodging, employment-conditioned occupancy, owner condominium or cooperative occupancy, and primarily agricultural property.
The statutory landlord definition is broad enough to include an owner, lessor, sublessor, and a person authorized to manage the premises, including a rental agent. The separate real-estate broker licensing article was audited because a broker may participate in leasing, but it does not add an applicant-fee cap or screening procedure.
No special fee-process requirements
The current statutes state no special statewide requirement to:
- limit the fee to a particular amount or to screening vendors' actual cost;
- wait until a unit is available or the application is actually considered;
- disclose the fee in the listing or supply written screening criteria;
- identify a consumer-reporting agency or state dispute rights;
- issue an application-fee receipt or give the applicant the screening report;
- refund an unused, excess, duplicate, unconsidered, or denial-based fee;
- accept an applicant-supplied or reusable screening report; or
- process applications in order or issue an Indiana denial notice.
Separate federal consumer-reporting law may require adverse-action disclosures when a consumer report contributes to denial or less favorable terms. That is not an Indiana application-fee procedure.
Local regulation is expressly preempted
Ind. Code § 32-31-1-20(c) is unusually specific. Unless authorized by an act of the General Assembly, a city, town, county, or other covered local unit may not regulate a landlord's tenant-screening process, lease applications, landlord- tenant disclosures, lease rights, or "any fees charged by a landlord." A violating ordinance or regulation is void and unenforceable. This prevents a local unit from filling the statewide application-fee gap on its own without legislative authorization.
Recent proposals did not become law
SB 415 in 2025 would have required a rental listing to disclose the application fee and, on request, required written reasons for denying an application. SB 537 in 2025 and SB 50 in 2026 would have prohibited specified hard credit inquiries and tenant-screening reports built from them. None passed before its session ended, so none changes the current 2026 Code.
Common questions
Does Indiana cap a rental application fee at actual cost? No special statewide statute in the audited landlord-tenant or broker provisions imposes that formula.
Must the landlord give a receipt or screening-report copy? The audited Indiana statutes create no special application-fee receipt or report-copy duty.
Does Indiana require reusable tenant-screening reports? No applicant- supplied or reusable-report procedure appears in the current audited statutes.
Can a city create its own application-fee rules? Generally not without an act of the General Assembly. Ind. Code § 32-31-1-20(c) expressly reaches tenant screening, lease applications, disclosures, and landlord fees.
Statutes and sources
- Ind. Code §§ 32-31-2.9-3 to -4 — statewide dwelling-unit coverage and
excluded arrangements.
The residential landlord-tenant statutes apply to rental agreements for dwelling units located in Indiana.
Official source: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_32/Article_31/Chapter_2.9.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21) - Ind. Code §§ 32-31-3-3, -7 to -9 — landlord, rental agreement, rental unit, and security-deposit definitions.
“Security deposit” means a deposit paid by a tenant to the landlord or the landlord's agent ... to secure performance of any obligation of the tenant under the rental agreement.
Official source: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_32/Article_31/Chapter_3.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21) - Ind. Code § 32-31-1-20(c) — local preemption.
A unit ... may not regulate ... the screening process ... lease applications ... [or] any fees charged by a landlord.
Official source: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_32/Article_31/Chapter_1.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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