Tennessee: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
Tennessee has no special statewide statute that caps or prohibits an ordinary residential rental-application or tenant-screening fee. The audited landlord-tenant and real-estate licensing statutes also create no special precharge disclosure, receipt, report-copy, refund, reusable-report, application-order, or state adverse-action procedure. In counties covered by the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, however, state law preempts county landlord-tenant regulations that conflict with or add to that Act.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Tennessee. Ezel applies current Tennessee law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Tenn. Code Ann. tit. 66, ch. 28 applies in counties above 75,000 population under the 2010 census, with § 66-28-102 exclusions; tit. 66, ch. 7 supplies general lease rules elsewhere; tit. 62, ch. 13 governs licensed real-estate transactions |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | No application-fee-specific authorization or prohibition in audited tit. 66, chs. 7 and 28 or tit. 62, ch. 13; application/screening charges are distinct from statutory security deposits |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No special statewide dollar, actual-cost, customary-cost, or indexed application/screening-fee ceiling; the Real Estate Commission may not set fees or commissions for real-estate contracts or transactions (§ 62-13-204) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No special screening-cost list, vacancy condition, charge-when-considered rule, multiple-application restriction, or collection-timing rule in the audited statutes |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special statewide unit-availability, fee-basis, screening-criteria, report-source, dispute-right, or reusable-report disclosure before an ordinary residential application charge |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No special statewide application-fee receipt, screening-report-copy, unused-fee, excess-fee, duplicate-fee, unconsidered-application, or denial-refund procedure |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied, portable, or reusable tenant-screening-report procedure in the audited statutes |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, refund-all, or state application-denial notice procedure in the audited statutes |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No application-fee-specific statutory damages; in URLTA counties, § 66-28-102 occupies and preempts the landlord-tenant field and bars county regulations that conflict with or add to ch. 28 (2021 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 182) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Tennessee's statewide rule
Tennessee does not have a special statewide statute setting a dollar or
actual-cost ceiling for an ordinary residential rental-application or
tenant-screening fee. The current residential statutes also do not prescribe
when such a charge may be collected, what screening expenses it may include,
what must be disclosed first, or whether the applicant must receive a receipt,
report copy, refund, or reusable-report option.
That conclusion follows from a section-by-section audit, not from treating
silence in one section as permission. Title 66, Chapter 28 contains the Uniform
Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA); Title 66, Chapter 7 contains the
general lease provisions used outside URLTA's county coverage. Neither chapter
contains an application-fee or tenant-screening process. The real-estate
licensing scheme in Title 62, Chapter 13 likewise supplies no special applicant
fee rule. Its § 62-13-204 says the Real Estate Commission may not set fees or
commissions for real-estate contracts or transactions.
Coverage and the county split
URLTA coverage is fixed to counties with more than 75,000 people under the
2010 federal census. Public Chapter 182 deleted the former words "or any
subsequent federal census" from § 66-28-102(a), so a later population increase
does not newly bring a county into the Act.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102(c)-(d) also excludes specified arrangements, including institutional
residence incidental to services, occupancy under a contract of sale,
transient hotel or motel occupancy, owner occupancy of a condominium or
proprietary cooperative lease, and primarily agricultural premises. Regulated
public or nonprofit housing is excluded only to the extent federal housing
regulation conflicts with state law.
What the statutes do—and do not—cover
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-104 defines a security deposit as an escrow payment under the
rental agreement securing the landlord against specified financial loss. That
security-deposit regime should not be turned into an unstated application-fee
cap or refund rule. Conversely, the absence of a special application-fee
statute does not decide whether a differently purposed payment is really a
security or holding deposit.
The audited statutes state no special statewide requirement to:
- limit an application or screening charge to a flat amount or actual cost;
- wait until the application is considered or a unit is available;
- disclose screening criteria, report sources, or processing order;
- provide an itemized receipt or a copy of a screening report;
- refund an unused, duplicate, unconsidered, or denied-applicant fee;
- accept an applicant-supplied or reusable screening report; or
- follow first-in-order processing or issue a Tennessee application-denial
notice.
Separate federal consumer-reporting law may require an adverse-action notice
when a consumer report contributes to a denial or less favorable terms. That is
not a Tennessee application-fee procedure and is outside this state-law cell.
Local regulation in URLTA counties
Public Chapter 182 added a broad field-preemption rule to § 66-28-102. In each
county where URLTA applies, Chapter 28 "occupies and preempts the entire field
of legislation concerning the regulation of landlords and tenants," and the
county governing body may not add regulations or enforce conflicting ones.
This is broader than an application-fee-specific clause, but it matters before
assuming a covered county may create an additional applicant-fee process.
The 2026 companion bills HB 955 and SB 961 would have expressly allowed local
governments to regulate maximum rents and rental application fees. Neither
passed before the 114th General Assembly adjourned sine die, so they did not
change current law.
Common questions
Is there a statewide $25, $50, or actual-cost cap? No special Tennessee
statute in the audited landlord-tenant and real-estate licensing schemes sets
one.
Must a landlord return the fee after denying the application? The audited
Tennessee statutes create no denial-based application-fee refund rule.
Must a landlord accept my recent screening report? No Tennessee
applicant-supplied or reusable-report procedure appears in the audited
statutes.
Can a covered county add its own applicant protections? Section 66-28-102
bars a county subject to URLTA from adding to or conflicting with Chapter 28's
landlord-tenant regulation. Local application requires careful review because
the preemption language is broad rather than fee-specific.
Statutes and sources
- 2021 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 182, §§ 1-2 — current county-coverage amendment
and URLTA field preemption.In the counties in which this chapter applies, this chapter occupies and
preempts the entire field of legislation concerning the regulation of
landlords and tenants.
Official source: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/112/pub/pc0182.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-28-102, 66-28-104 — exclusions, coverage concepts,
and residential definitions.
“Rental agreement” means all agreements, written or oral ... embodying the
terms and conditions concerning the use and occupancy of a dwelling unit
and premises.
Code source: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r75/gov.tn.tca.title.66.html (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-13-204 — Real Estate Commission cannot set
transaction fees or commissions.
Nothing in this chapter shall allow the commission to set fees or
commissions for real estate contracts or transactions.
Code source: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r75/gov.tn.tca.title.62.html (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Tennessee handles this in general. Ezel applies current Tennessee law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.