Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in North Carolina
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | No general landlord application- or screening-fee provision in N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 42; § 66-143 separately covers rental-referral agencies |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Chapter 42 does not specifically authorize or prohibit an ordinary landlord application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or screening charge |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No statewide dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed ceiling for an ordinary landlord charge in ch. 42 |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No special permitted-cost list, vacancy condition, charge-when-considered rule, or application-fee collection timing in ch. 42 |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special statewide availability, fee, screening-criteria, report-source, or dispute-rights disclosure in ch. 42 |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No special landlord itemized-receipt, report-copy, unused-fee, unconsidered-application, or rejection-refund rule in ch. 42 |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied, portable, or reusable tenant-screening-report rule in ch. 42 |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state adverse-action procedure in ch. 42 |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No application-fee-specific remedy or local-rule clause; § 42-14.1 preempts local rent-amount and housing-assistance-source measures, not application fees by name |
What North Carolina's statewide chapter does—and does not—cover
The General Assembly's complete Chapter 42 text covers general landlord-tenant rules, agricultural liens, residential ejectment, retaliatory eviction, residential rental agreements, security deposits, and criminal-activity evictions. The Residential Rental Agreements article begins with § 42-38, which applies that article to rights, duties, and remedies under a dwelling-unit rental agreement. Its fee section begins at § 42-46(a) with late fees and then addresses eviction-case administrative fees and costs and lease-required insurance charges.
Neither that article nor any other part of the complete chapter creates a rule for an ordinary pre-lease application, processing, credit-check, background- check, or tenant-screening charge. Chapter 42 therefore supplies no special application-fee amount, cost formula, collection timing, vacancy or screening disclosure, receipt, refund, report-copy, reusable-report, review-order, adverse-action, or fee-specific remedy requirement.
What trips people up
The heading “Application” in § 42-38 is not about a rental application. It states where the Residential Rental Agreements article applies. It does not regulate an applicant or an application fee.
Rental-referral agencies follow a separate rule. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 66-143(a)-(d) covers a business that helps a prospective tenant locate housing for a fee. It generally ties the fee to obtaining housing, permits a written-contract deposit, allows at most $20 to be kept even when housing is not obtained if disclosure and availability conditions are met, and supplies refund timing. That is not a landlord application-screening-fee statute.
The local-law preemption text is narrow and specific. Section 42-14.1 names local regulation of rent amounts and refusal based on federal housing-assistance income. It does not name application fees. This survey does not decide whether a particular city or county measure is valid under other law.
Common questions
Does North Carolina set a maximum landlord application fee? Not in Chapter 42. The complete chapter states no dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed ceiling for that charge.
Must a landlord refund the fee if the application is denied? Chapter 42 creates no special denial or unconsidered-application refund deadline. Section 66-143's refund procedure belongs to a separate rental-referral agency.
Must a landlord accept a recent report supplied by the applicant? Chapter 42 contains no applicant-supplied or reusable screening-report procedure.
Statutes and sources
- N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 42 — complete official Landlord and Tenant chapter.
Article 5. Residential Rental Agreements. § 42-38. Application. ... § 42-46. Authorized fees, costs, and expenses. Article 6. Tenant Security Deposit Act. § 42-50. Deposits from the tenant. ... § 42-56. Application of Article.
Official source: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/ByChapter/Chapter_42.pdf (accessed 2026-07-20) - N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-38 — scope of the residential-rental article.
This Article determines the rights, obligations, and remedies under a rental agreement for a dwelling unit within this State.
Official source: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-38.html (accessed 2026-07-20) - N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46 — the chapter's enumerated late, eviction-case, litigation, and insurance-related fees and expenses.
§ 42-46. Authorized fees, costs, and expenses. ... (a) Late Fee. ... (e) Complaint-Filing Fee. ... (f) Court-Appearance Fee. ... (g) Second Trial Fee.
Official source: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-46.html (accessed 2026-07-20) - N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-14.1(a)-(b) — named local-regulation preemption.
No county or city ... may ... regulate[] the amount of rent ... [or] prohibit[] ... refusing to lease ... because ... income ... includes funding from a federal housing assistance program.
Official source: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-14.1.html (accessed 2026-07-20) - N.C. Gen. Stat. § 66-143 — separate rental-referral agency fee and refund rule.
A rental referral agency shall not charge or attempt to collect any fees ... except where rental housing is in fact obtained ...
Official source: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_66/GS_66-143.html (accessed 2026-07-20)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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