California rental application fees: 2026 rules and limits

Disclaimer: This article is not legal advice. We encourage you to consult a local real estate attorney for advice on your interpretation of this information as it applies to your particular circumstances. 

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If you rent out property in California, you can charge an application screening fee to cover the cost of screening a prospective tenant. How much you can charge, when you can charge it, and what you owe the applicant afterward are all set by California Civil Code section 1950.6. The fee cap, which is adjusted annually, rose in 2026, and the rules for how you collect and refund fees, added by Assembly Bill 2493, took effect on  January 1, 2025.

This guide covers what you can charge in 2026, the screening and refund requirements, and how to collect fees the right way. 

What a rental application fee covers

A rental application fee, also called an application screening fee, is money you collect from an applicant to pay for screening them. That covers the cost of a credit report, a background check, an eviction history check, and the reasonable value of the time spent reviewing the file. California defines the fee as a nonrefundable payment, but several parts of the California rental application fee statute still require you to return money in specific situations, which the sections below walk through.

How much you can charge in 2026

The maximum amount you can charge for a tenant screening fee in California is $65.86 per applicant for 2026, which the California Apartment Association calculates as the thirty-dollar base plus a $35.86 Consumer Price Index adjustment. You can charge up to that amount, but only to cover your actual out-of-pocket screening costs and the reasonable value of your time. If your real costs come to less, charge less. The cap is a ceiling, not a target, and you cannot go above it even when your costs run higher.

The first-qualified-applicant and refund rules (AB 2493)

California law gives landlords and agents two ways to handle application screening fees. Both can involve refunds, so it helps to structure your application process before you begin collecting money.

A good starting point is to put your screening criteria in writing and make them available before a prospective tenant pays a fee. This gives applicants a chance to review requirements such as income, credit, rental history, occupancy limits, and required documentation before deciding whether to apply. But keep in mind your criteria need to comply with fair housing laws: they cannot discriminate based on a protected class, exclude applicants because they use rental assistance or vouchers, or evaluate ability to pay based only on employment income rather than considering other lawful sources of income, including government assistance.

When possible, consider applications one at a time, in the order received, instead of collecting screening fees from a large pool of applicants. This can reduce the number of fees you may need to return and help applicants avoid paying for a screening that is never completed.

Once you begin collecting application screening fees, you must use one of the following processes:

First qualified applicant process

Provide your written screening criteria with the application and review completed applications in the order you receive them. You must approve the first applicant who meets those criteria.

Do not charge an applicant until you are actually ready to consider their application. If you inadvertently collect fees from multiple applicants because applications arrive at the same time, return the fee within seven days to anyone whose application you do not review. You may instead allow that person to apply the fee to another available unit, but only if the applicant chooses that option.

Under this process, you do not have to refund the fee of an applicant whose application you review and deny because they do not meet your written criteria.

Full refund process

You may collect and review multiple applications, but you must return the entire screening fee to every applicant you do not select, regardless of the reason.

The refund is due within seven days after you select a tenant or within thirty days after the application was submitted, whichever comes first.

Choose your process before collecting any fees, explain it clearly to applicants, and follow it consistently. Publishing your screening criteria in advance and limiting how many applications you screen at once can make either process easier to manage.

The rest of the California section 1950.6 rules

Only charge when a unit is available

You cannot collect an application screening fee when you know, or should know, that no unit is available and none will be within a reasonable period of time.

Tie the fee to your real costs

The fee has to reflect what screening actually costs you: the tenant screening service or credit report, plus the reasonable value of your time. Charging more than your costs to turn a profit falls outside what the statute allows.

Give the applicant an itemized receipt

You have to provide a receipt, on paper or by email if the applicant agrees, that itemizes the out-of-pocket expenses and the time you spent. This is required under Civil Code section 1950.6(d).

Refund anything you did not use

If you do not run a credit report or a personal reference check, you have to return the portion of the fee you did not use for those purposes.

Send a copy of the credit report

When an applicant pays for screening and you pull a consumer credit report, you have to give that applicant a copy within seven days of receiving it.

You can accept a reusable screening report

California lets applicants bring a reusable tenant screening report under Civil Code section 1950.1. You are allowed to accept one, though you are not required to. If you do accept it, you have not paid for a new report, so a separate screening fee would not be justified.

Treat every applicant the same way

Apply your fee and your criteria consistently. Charging couples differently from single applicants, for example, can raise fair housing concerns. Keep the amount and the process identical across applicants regardless of their status.

Collecting California rental application fees with RentSpree

Collecting these fees on paper, or by chasing cashier's checks, makes the compliance details harder to keep track of. RentSpree lets you collect California rental applications and screening fees online, and it handles several of the section 1950.6 requirements for you. Here’s how it works:

1. Attach your RentSpree application link to your listing, which RentSpree syndicates to Zillow, Apartments.com, Rent.com, Zumper, and more, so applications arrive from wherever your unit is posted.
2. Screening reports covering credit, criminal, and eviction history, powered by TransUnion, connect straight to those applications and start at $39.99. Add bank-verified income verification for $10 more. Both prices sit under California's 2026 cap of $65.86.
3. Applicants pay this fee directly to RentSpree online using a credit or debit card when they submit their application, though landlords or agents can also choose to pay the fee on the applicant's behalf.
4. Bank-verified income checks (available for an additional $10 per screen) pull income data from an applicant's actual bank deposits instead of uploaded pay stubs, which are easy to fake with AI tools. That gives you a truer read on whether an applicant can likely afford the rent.
5. When RentSpree collects a fee, it automatically sends an itemized receipt for the screening reports to whoever paid the fee, typically the applicant but sometimes the landlord or property representative, which lines up with the receipt requirement in the statute.
6. From the same dashboard you review applications, screening, and income together, use built-in tools to accept or decline applicants, and manage the rest of your rentals: rent collection, bookkeeping, e-signed leases, and more.

RentSpree and the California Association of REALTORS®

RentSpree is a tenant screening partner for the California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.), and screening is free for agents. If you are a REALTOR® or work with one on your rentals, you can pull a full application package through the C.A.R. partnership: a rental application, a credit report, a background check, and eviction history, all powered by TransUnion, plus a bank-verified income report. The application is free, screening reports start at $39.99, and income verification runs up to $49.99, paid by the applicant. C.A.R. members also get RentSpree Lease Builder, which drafts California lease agreements with auto-fill and step-by-step inputs. More than 400,000 agents use RentSpree tenant screening.

What to know about rental application fees in California

Charging a California rental application fee is worth getting right. Stay within the 2026 cap of $65.86, only collect when a unit is available, run one of the two AB 2493 processes, and give every applicant their receipt and a copy of any credit report you pull. Apply your criteria the same way to everyone and keep your records, and the fee does what it should: it covers your screening costs without putting you at legal risk. RentSpree keeps that process in one place, so you can collect applications, screen within the cap, and move qualified renters in sooner.

RentSpree is free for landlords and agents to set up, is used by more than 4 million people, and is trusted by 300+ MLS and real estate associations.

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