Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in North Dakota

At a glance

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)