Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Pennsylvania

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.

State

Pennsylvania

Statute checked

July 20, 2026

Sources

3 statutes

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Pending legislation could change this.

PA SB 1216 (2025-2026 Regular Session) (Referred to the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee on March 18, 2026; the official page generated October 2 shows no later action, vote, committee meeting, chamber passage, or enactment): Add Section 207 to the Landlord and Tenant Act, cap a residential application fee at the lesser of the actual cost of a criminal-history and credit background check or $50, limit use of the fee to that check, require an individualized criminal-history assessment, void waiver, and take effect 60 days after enactment track it Status checked October 2, 2026.

At a glance

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

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, proposed § 207(a)-(b), is not current law. 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 September 9, 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.

Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 § 101 et seq. (official table of contents) · accessed 2026-07-20

Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act ch. 6 (official table of contents) · accessed 2026-07-20

PA SB 1216, Printer's No. 1517, proposed Section 207(a)-(b) · accessed 2026-08-08

This page is general legal information about Pennsylvania residential rental-application and tenant-screening charges, not legal advice about a particular application, report, denial, or property. The result can depend on who owns or manages the property, the housing program, the fee's actual purpose, the unit's availability, when and how the application is considered, what the applicant supplies, and city or county law. It does not cover security or holding deposits, broker commissions, recurring tenancy fees, or whether a landlord's substantive credit, criminal-record, eviction-record, income, or other screening criterion is lawful. Federal consumer-reporting and fair-housing duties may apply in addition to Pennsylvania law. Verified against the official statute text on the date shown; confirm the current state and local rules or consult a licensed Pennsylvania attorney before collecting, paying, or disputing a charge.

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