Pennsylvania: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
Pennsylvania's current Landlord and Tenant Act and Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act contain no statewide provision specifically regulating an ordinary residential rental-application or tenant-screening fee. Those statutes set no dollar or actual-cost cap and create no special collection-timing, disclosure, receipt, refund, report-copy, reusable-report, application-order, adverse-action, or fee-specific remedy rule. Pending SB 1216 would cap a residential application fee at the lesser of actual background-check cost or $50.
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This is the general rule in Pennsylvania. Ezel applies current Pennsylvania law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | No general application- or screening-fee provision in the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 or Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Neither audited statewide Act specifically authorizes or prohibits an ordinary rental application, processing, credit-check, background-check, or screening charge |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No statewide dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed ceiling in the audited Acts |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No special permitted-cost list, vacancy condition, charge-when-considered rule, or collection-timing rule |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special statewide availability, fee, screening-criteria, report-source, or dispute-rights disclosure in the audited Acts |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No special itemized-receipt, report-copy, unused-fee, unconsidered-application, or rejection-refund rule |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied, portable, or reusable screening-report rule |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state adverse-action procedure in the audited Acts |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No application-fee-specific damages or enforcement formula and no express application-fee local-preemption clause in the audited Acts |
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What the statewide Acts do—and do not—say
Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 begins at § 101. Its complete
official table of contents covers lease creation, rent recovery and distress,
possession, security-deposit escrow, multiple dwellings, and cable-television
rights. The current Act contains no section governing an ordinary rental
application, applicant screening, a credit or background check charge, or the
process for collecting or returning such a charge.
The Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act was audited separately because
a broker or property manager may participate in an application. Its licensee-
conduct provisions include § 604, "Prohibited acts," and related duties in
Chapter 6. They contain no applicant-fee cap, screening-cost formula, report-
copy requirement, refund deadline, reusable-report process, or application-
order rule.
The result is a statutory gap, not a statewide permission slip. These two Acts
do not supply a special application-fee checklist or remedy; other law and the
facts of a particular transaction remain outside this table's narrow question.
What trips people up
Security-deposit rules do not fill the application-fee gap. The Landlord
and Tenant Act's table of contents separately identifies escrow limits,
interest, bonds, and recovery of improperly held escrow funds. Those sections
govern security deposits, which this topic excludes.
No statewide cap does not answer every dispute about a charge. This survey
reports the absence of a special rule in the two audited statewide Acts. It
does not decide a dispute under a particular agreement, a local ordinance, or
generally applicable consumer or federal law.
SB 1216 is proposed, not current. It would create a lesser-of-actual-cost-
or-$50 ceiling and limit the charge to a criminal-history and credit check, but
its official page shows only a Senate committee referral as of July 25, 2026.
Common questions
Does Pennsylvania set a maximum rental application fee? Not in the current
Landlord and Tenant Act or Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act. Neither
states a dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed ceiling.
Must a landlord refund the charge if I am denied? These Acts create no
automatic rejection-refund or unconsidered-application refund deadline.
Must applications be reviewed first-come or first-qualified? No such order
rule appears in the two audited statewide Acts.
Statutes and sources
- Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 § 101 et seq. — official table of
contents for the statewide landlord-tenant scheme.ARTICLE II. CREATION OF LEASES; STATUTE OF FRAUDS; MORTGAGING OF
LEASEHOLDS. Section 201. Leases for Not More Than Three Years. Section 202.
Leases for More Than Three Years. Section 203. Assignment, Grant and
Surrender of Leases to be in Writing; Exception.
Official source: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/unconsolidated/law-information/view-statute?txtType=PDF&SessYr=1951&SessInd=0&ActNum=0020. (accessed 2026-07-20)
- Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act ch. 6 — licensee-conduct
subjects.
Section 601. Duty of brokers, cemetery brokers and rental listing referral
agents to maintain office. Section 602. Reciprocal licenses. Section 603.
Employment of associate brokers, salesperson. Section 604. Prohibited acts.
Official source: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/unconsolidated/law-information/view-statute?txtType=PDF&SessYr=1980&SessInd=0&ActNum=0009. (accessed 2026-07-20)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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