Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Utah
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | Utah Code §§ 57-22-2, 57-22-4, and 57-22-7; owners, lessors, sublessors, and specified agents dealing with prospective renters of principal-residence units, excluding boarding/rooming facilities, mobile-home lots, and occasional recreational rentals |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Statute contemplates an application fee and any other applicant payment after disclosures; no separate statewide rule for credit-check, background-check, consumer-report, or tenant-screening fee labels (§ 57-22-4(3)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No statewide numeric, actual-cost, reasonable-cost, customary-cost, per-applicant, per-household, or indexed application/screening-fee ceiling in the audited provisions |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No fee-component restriction; owner may not accept application fee or other payment until the written § 57-22-4(3) disclosures are made |
| Before-screening disclosures | Before payment: good-faith rent and fixed-expense estimates; use-based-expense types; scheduled availability date; criminal, credit, income, employment, rental-history and other eligibility criteria; conditional refund requirements/process (§ 57-22-4(3)) |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No fee receipt or screening-report-copy duty. All money returned if timely written demand follows changed disclosed amount or undisclosed use-based expense; demand within 5 business days after agreement receipt, before signing/possession; owner refund within 5 business days (§ 57-22-4(4)) |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied or reusable screening-report acceptance/no-fee procedure |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state denial-reason notice process; written eligibility criteria required before payment |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | Conditional all-money refund; no fee-specific damages. A renter may not sue based on noncompliance with subsections (3)-(4); § 57-22-7 bars inconsistent local ordinances |
No fee cap, but disclosures come first
Under Utah Code § 57-22-2(1), an owner includes the owner, lessor, or sublessor, with specified managing, leasing, and resident agents treated as owners for statutory communications. Section 57-22-2(3) defines a rental application as the prerequisite application for a residential rental agreement, and § 57-22-2(5) limits the covered unit to a principal residence while excluding the listed boarding, mobile-home-lot, and occasional recreational arrangements.
Utah Code § 57-22-4(3) contemplates an application fee and broadly covers "any other payment" from a prospective renter. It sets no maximum dollar amount, actual-cost formula, customary-cost ceiling, or annual adjustment for an application, credit-check, background-check, or tenant-screening charge.
Before accepting any such payment, however, the owner must disclose in writing:
- a good-faith estimate of rent and each fixed non-rent expense in the rental agreement;
- the type of each use-based non-rent expense;
- the date the unit is scheduled to be available;
- the eligibility criteria the owner will consider, including criminal history, credit, income, employment, and rental history; and
- the requirements and process for recovering money under subsection (4).
Subsection (3)(b) says the rent-and-fixed-expense disclosure described in subsection (3)(a)(i) may appear in the rental application, a deposit agreement, or a written summary. The other listed disclosures remain subject to the general written-disclosure command in subsection (3)(a).
A conditional all-money refund
The refund is not triggered merely because the application is denied, withdrawn, or never considered. Under § 57-22-4(4), it applies if the later rental agreement:
- states an amount different from an amount in the owner's good-faith estimate; or
- includes a type of use-based non-rent expense that was not disclosed.
The prospective renter must make a written demand within five business days after receiving the rental agreement and must not yet have signed the agreement or taken possession. If those conditions are met, the owner must return all money the prospective renter paid within five business days after receiving the demand. That wording reaches the application fee as well as other money paid to the owner.
Screening process not otherwise regulated
The Utah Fit Premises Act requires advance disclosure of the eligibility criteria, but it does not separately regulate the price or components of a credit check, criminal-background check, consumer report, or tenant-screening report. It does not require a fee receipt or a copy of a landlord-obtained report.
The Act also creates no applicant-supplied or reusable-report procedure, no first- in-order or first-qualified rule, and no separate state denial-reason notice. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act may impose separate duties when a consumer report is used.
Remedies and local rules
The express application-stage remedy is the conditional refund in subsection (4). Section 57-22-4(9) says a renter may not use an owner's failure to comply with subsections (3) or (4) as a basis to excuse compliance with a rental agreement or bring a cause of action. The section states no application-fee- specific damages or penalty.
Utah Code § 57-22-7(1) provides that a county or municipality may not adopt an ordinance, resolution, or regulation inconsistent with the chapter. That is not a catalogue of local rules, but it limits conflicting local regulation.
What trips people up
The statute does not cap the application fee. The detailed disclosure and refund provisions are process rules, not a numeric or actual-cost ceiling.
The refund is mismatch-based. A denial, withdrawal, or another applicant's selection does not by itself trigger § 57-22-4(4). The required mismatch or undisclosed expense, written demand, five-business-day window, and unsigned/non- possessing status all matter.
"All money" is broader than the application fee. When the refund conditions are satisfied, the owner returns all money the prospective renter paid the owner, not merely the fee bearing the application label.
Common questions
Is there a statewide maximum application fee? No dollar or cost-based ceiling appears in the current audited provisions.
Must the fee amount itself be disclosed before payment? Section 57-22-4(3) requires the listed rent, expense, availability, criteria, and refund disclosures. It does not separately say the application-fee amount must be one of those items.
Must the landlord refund the fee after denying the application? Not solely because of denial. The statutory refund requires a changed disclosed amount or an undisclosed type of use-based expense and compliance with the demand conditions.
Must the landlord provide a credit or background report? The audited Utah provisions impose no special report-copy duty tied to an application payment.
Statutes and sources
- Utah Code § 57-22-2 — owner, rental-application, and covered-unit
definitions and exclusions.
"Rental application" means an application required by an owner as a prerequisite to the owner entering into a rental agreement for a residential rental unit.
Official source: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title57/Chapter22/C57-22_1800010118000101.rtf (accessed 2026-07-21) - Utah Code § 57-22-4(3) — written disclosures required before any applicant payment.
Before an owner accepts an application fee or any other payment from a prospective renter, the owner shall disclose in writing ...
Official source: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title57/Chapter22/C57-22_1800010118000101.rtf (accessed 2026-07-21) - Utah Code § 57-22-4(4) — mismatch-based written demand and two five- business-day periods.
The owner shall return all money the prospective renter paid the owner within five business days after the day on which the owner receives the written demand.
Official source: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title57/Chapter22/C57-22_1800010118000101.rtf (accessed 2026-07-21) - Utah Code §§ 57-22-4(9) and 57-22-7 — cause-of-action limitation and inconsistent-local-rule bar.
A county or municipality may not adopt an ordinance, resolution, or regulation that is inconsistent with this chapter.
Official source: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title57/Chapter22/C57-22_1800010118000101.rtf (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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