What can a landlord charge for a rental application in Mississippi?

The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act begins at the rental agreement, and its one provision touching money paid before a lease is signed is an exclusion rather than a rule, since the security deposit section expressly does not cover a payment made to secure the execution of a rental agreement. Mississippi also has no reusable screening report law and no rental fee-advertising law, so an applicant's protections at this stage come from the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and from whatever the landlord's own written terms promise.

Mississippi application & screening fees at a glance

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Mississippi Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/mississippi/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

• The act starts at the lease — The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act governs rental agreements for a dwelling unit in Mississippi. It says nothing about the stage before an agreement is reached, which is why every question about application-stage fees has the same answer.
• Holding money is outside the deposit protections — The security deposit section expressly excludes a payment or deposit made to secure the execution of a rental agreement. Money paid to hold a unit until signing therefore does not carry the itemized written claim, the forty-five day return, or the bad-faith damages that apply to a security deposit.
• Federal law still applies — A landlord who uses a credit, background, or eviction report to decide on an application is subject to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, including its notice duties when an application is denied because of the report. Mississippi adds nothing to those duties.
• No published figure to track — Because Mississippi sets no cap, there is no annually published or indexed fee figure for this topic, and nothing here changes with inflation or a yearly notice.
• Some housing is outside the act — The act does not govern residence at an institution that is incidental to detention or to medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, or religious service; occupancy under a contract of sale; occupancy by a member of a fraternal or social organization in a part of a building run for the organization; transient occupancy in a hotel, motel, or lodgings; occupancy by a condominium owner or a holder of a cooperative proprietary lease; or premises used mainly for agriculture or rented below fair value to someone doing farm work for the owner.
• The state's consumer agency has no rental fee guidance — The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division lists the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act among Mississippi's consumer protection statutes but publishes no rule or guidance on application fees, screening fees, or advertised rents.
• State law only — This covers Mississippi state law. A city or county may have requirements of its own, and lot tenancies in manufactured home communities are treated separately.
• About the application fee rule — Mississippi law does not limit what a landlord may charge someone to apply for a home. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act reaches rental agreements for a dwelling unit in the state, and neither that act nor the general landlord and tenant chapter names an application fee, sets a dollar cap, or ties a fee to any formula. The amount is set by the landlord's own terms.
• How the cost limit works — No Mississippi statute ties an application or screening charge to what the landlord actually spends on a credit, background, or eviction report. The act's only provision about money a landlord holds is the security deposit section, which by its own terms covers money securing performance of a rental agreement.
• Screening charges — Mississippi sets no conditions on tenant screening charges. There is no rule limiting a landlord to one charge per applicant, no requirement that the landlord actually obtain a report after collecting a fee, no written notice or agreement that must come first, and no requirement that a unit be available before a fee is taken. The landlord's statutory duties in the act run during the tenancy.
• What the receipt duty covers — No Mississippi statute requires a landlord to give an applicant a receipt for application or screening money. The act's only written itemization duty about money is the notice a landlord must give when claiming part of a security deposit after a tenancy ends.
• When money must come back — No circumstance in Mississippi law forces the return of an application or screening fee, whether or not the applicant is screened, the unit is filled, or the application is withdrawn. The act's return duties apply to prepaid rent and security once a rental agreement exists.
• Refunds — Because no return duty attaches to application-stage money, Mississippi sets no deadline, no amount, and no mechanics for refunding it. The forty-five day return deadline in the act applies to a security deposit after a tenancy ends, on delivery of possession and the tenant's demand.
• What must be disclosed up front — Mississippi requires nothing to be told an applicant before money changes hands: no statement of screening criteria, no breakdown of what the fee pays for, and no notice of applicant rights. The act's notice provisions run between a landlord and a tenant during or at the end of a tenancy.
• Denial notices — Mississippi adds no state denial-notice duty when a rental application is turned down: no required content, no deadline, and no duty to hand over a copy of the report. Federal law is the only source of notice duties here, and it applies on its own terms: the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681m, requires notice from a person who takes adverse action based on a consumer report.
• Reusable screening reports — Mississippi has no reusable or portable tenant screening report law. A landlord is not required to accept a report an applicant already paid for, there is no bar on charging a fee when such a report is used, and no validity window is set.
• Money to hold a unit — Mississippi sets no cap, written-statement duty, or disposition rule for money paid to hold a unit while a lease is being signed. The security deposit section says so expressly: it governs money whose primary function is to secure performance of a rental agreement, other than a payment or deposit made to secure the execution of a rental agreement. Money paid to secure the signing therefore sits outside that section's protections, which include the tenant's priority over the landlord's creditors, the itemized written claim, the forty-five day return, and the damages for bad-faith retention. No other section supplies rules for it.
• Advertising and fee transparency — No Mississippi statute or state regulation requires an all-in advertised rent, requires mandatory fees to be itemized in rental advertising, or bans hidden rental fees. Mississippi's general consumer protection law addresses unfair and deceptive trade practices at large and is not written in terms of residential rental fees, and the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division publishes no guidance applying fee-advertising duties to rentals. The Office of the Attorney General title of the Mississippi Administrative Code contains no advertising or pricing rule.
• Penalties — No damages, penalty, or fee forfeiture attaches to application or screening charges in Mississippi, because the state imposes no duty at that stage. For comparison, the act's one money-handling penalty applies to security deposits: a landlord or transferee who retains a deposit in violation of that section and without good faith may be liable for damages up to two hundred dollars in addition to actual damages, and that section does not reach money paid to secure the signing of a lease.

Common questions: Mississippi application & screening fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much can a landlord charge for a rental application fee in Mississippi?

No statutory cap on application fees.

Does an application fee have to be refunded in Mississippi?

No statutory refund duty.

Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Mississippi?

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does Mississippi have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Mississippi?

No statute on holding deposits.

Citations

• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-3 · (1) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-7 · (1)(l) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21 · (1) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-23 · (1) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21 · (3) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13 · (4) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-11 · (1) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21 · (2)-(4) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21 · (4) (verified 2026) Official source
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-5 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the Mississippi Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Miss. Code Ann. sections 89-8-1 through 89-8-45, and of the general Landlord and Tenant chapter, sections 89-7-1 through 89-7-125, as published by the State of Mississippi's official public-access code service and current with legislation from the 2026 Regular Session; plus a review of the Mississippi Legislature's 2025 and 2026 Regular Session measures on the Legislature's own bill status system, a reading of House Concurrent Resolution 64 (2026) and its history for the session's adjournment date, and a review of the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division materials and the Office of the Attorney General title of the Mississippi Administrative Code.