North Dakota: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
North Dakota has no general statewide statute that specifically caps or regulates a residential rental-application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or tenant-screening fee. The current leasing-of-real-property chapter and State Real Estate Commission chapter do not create special applicant disclosures, receipts, report copies, refunds, reusable-report acceptance, application order, or denial notices. A 2025 bill that would have required background-check proof and a fee refund failed in the Senate and is not current law.
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This is the general rule in North Dakota. Ezel applies current North Dakota law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | No general statewide application/screening-fee statute after audit of N.D.C.C. chs. 47-16 and 43-23; ch. 47-16 governs real-property leases, and ch. 43-23 regulates brokers whose defined activities include leasing |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | No statewide provision specifically authorizes or prohibits residential application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or tenant-screening fees |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No statewide numeric, actual-cost, reasonable-cost, customary-cost, per-applicant, per-household, or indexed ceiling in the audited statutes |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No statewide fee-component, unit-availability, charge-when-considered, multiple-concurrent-application, or repeat-charge restriction |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special statewide application-fee, unit-availability, screening-criteria, report-source, dispute-right, reusable-report, or application-order disclosure |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No special statewide application-fee receipt, landlord-obtained-report-copy, unused-fee refund, or unconsidered-application refund rule |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No statewide applicant-supplied or reusable screening-report acceptance or no-fee procedure |
| Application order and adverse action | No statewide first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state denial-reason notice process for rental applications |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No application-fee-specific statutory damages or enforcement provision; § 47-16-02.1 preempts local rent control but does not state an application-fee preemption rule |
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North Dakota has no special statewide fee process
The complete current North Dakota Century Code chapter on leasing real
property, chapter 47-16, contains no rule specifically addressing a residential
application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or tenant-screening
fee. The complete State Real Estate Commission chapter, chapter 43-23, was also
audited. It regulates brokers whose defined activities include listing and
negotiating leases, but does not create a 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.
This is the ordinary statewide result. A particular government-assisted or
specially regulated housing program may have separate requirements outside
these general statutes.
Lease and broker-law boundaries
N.D.C.C. § 47-16-01 defines leasing as a contract giving temporary possession
and use of real property for reward. Chapter 47-16 addresses lease terms,
security deposits, habitability, unconscionability, remedies, termination, and
other tenancy subjects. Its complete current text contains none of the topic's
applicant-fee or screening terms.
N.D.C.C. § 43-23-06.1(9) defines a real-estate broker to include a person who,
for expected compensation, lists real estate for lease or negotiates leasing.
The complete licensing chapter does not add an applicant-fee cap, receipt,
report-copy, refund, reusable-report, application-order, or denial-notice rule.
What trips people up
The failed background-check bill is not current law. North Dakota HB 1395
(2025) would have required a landlord to furnish proof of a required criminal,
credit, or other background check within seven days. It also would have
required refunding all fees paid by the prospective tenant if proof was not
timely furnished. The House passed it, but the Senate rejected it 15-31 on
March 28, 2025.
Rent-control preemption does not say “fees.” N.D.C.C. § 47-16-02.1 bars a
political subdivision from controlling the amount of rent charged for leasing
private property. Its text does not expressly preempt a local rental-
application-fee rule.
The rental agreement still faces an unconscionability boundary. Under
N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13.3, a court may refuse to enforce a residential rental-
agreement provision that was unconscionable when made, enforce the remainder
without it, or limit its application. That general rule is not a specific fee
cap or screening procedure.
Common questions
Is there a statewide maximum rental application fee? No numeric or cost-
based cap appears in the current audited statutes.
Must the landlord refund the fee if another applicant rents the unit? The
audited statutes create no special statewide unused-fee or unconsidered-
application refund rule.
Must the landlord provide the credit or background report? Current law
creates no special report-copy duty tied to an application charge. The 2025
proposal that would have required proof failed.
Does North Dakota require reusable screening reports? No statewide
applicant-supplied or reusable-report acceptance procedure appears in the
audited statutes.
Statutes and sources
- N.D.C.C. chapter 47-16 — complete current Leasing of Real Property
chapter audited for applicant-fee and screening rules.Leasing is a contract by which one gives to another the temporary
possession and use of real property for reward ...
Official source: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t47c16.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- N.D.C.C. § 47-16-02.1 — local rent-control preemption.
A political subdivision may not enact, maintain, or enforce an ordinance
or resolution that would have the effect of controlling the amount of rent
charged for leasing private residential or commercial property.
Official source: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t47c16.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- N.D.C.C. § 47-16-13.3 — unconscionable residential rental-agreement
provisions.
[T]he court may refuse to enforce the agreement, enforce the remainder of
the agreement without the unconscionable provision, or limit the
application of any unconscionable provision to avoid an unconscionable
result.
Official source: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t47c16.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- N.D.C.C. § 43-23-06.1(9) — broker definition covering lease listings and
negotiations.
“Real estate broker” or “broker” means any person that, for another, for a
fee, commission, salary, or other consideration ... [l]ists ... real
estate ... for ... lease.
Official source: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t43c23.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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