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

No statutory cap on application fees.

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

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does Missouri have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Missouri?

No statute on holding deposits.

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

Verified August 26, 2026 All Missouri topics →

Measure that did not become law. The following recent proposal failed and is not law — noted here because failed bills are sometimes still described as if enacted:

HB 2856 (2026, 103rd General Assembly, Second Regular Session) — Would create a new section 441.007 capping a rental application fee at fifteen dollars, allowing the fee only where the landlord uses it to cover the cost of processing the application, requiring any unused portion to be remitted to the applicant with a good-faith effort to do so within twenty calendar days after processing, and requiring a receipt for the money, electronic unless the applicant asks for paper.Status: Filed and referred to the House Emerging Issues Committee on May 15, 2026, the last day of the second regular session; the General Assembly adjourned sine die at 6 p.m. that day without a hearing, which ended the bill. (checked 2026-08-26).

Missouri does not regulate rental application or tenant-screening fees at all: no cap, no limit to what screening actually costs, no receipt, no refund, and nothing that must be disclosed before the money is taken.

Cited to RSMo 535.300 1 and 8 and 21 more Missouri statutes · Verified August 26, 2026

The only money a landlord may collect for a residential tenancy that state law limits is the security deposit, which may not exceed two months' rent and must be returned or itemized within thirty days after the tenancy ends. A law effective August 28, 2025 bars counties and cities from limiting security deposits or restricting how landlords use credit reports, eviction history, and criminal history, but says nothing about application fees. Missouri also has no state denial-notice duty for rejected applicants, no reusable-screening-report law, and no fee-transparency rule for rental advertising.

Missouri application fees at a glance

Application fee cap	No statutory cap on application fees
Fee limited to actual screening cost	No statute ties the fee to screening cost
Screening charge rules	No statute governs screening charges separately
Receipt required	No statutory receipt duty for application money
Refund required in some circumstances	No statutory refund duty
Refund rules	No statutory refund duty
Disclosure before collecting	No statutory disclosure duty
Denial-notice duties (state law)	No state statute — federal fair-credit duties still apply
Reusable screening reports	No statute on reusable screening reports
Holding deposits	No statute on holding deposits
Rental fee-transparency rules	No rental fee-transparency statute
Penalty for violation	No specific statutory penalty

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

Notes and caveats

Silence is not permission — Missouri's landlord-tenant chapters simply do not address application or screening charges. That means state law neither caps them nor blesses them; what a landlord may charge, and whether it comes back, is a matter of the application terms and the lease.
What the security deposit cap does and does not cover — The two months' rent limit applies to money furnished to secure performance of the rental agreement. It does not reach a fee paid to apply, and it expressly excludes money labelled as a pet deposit.
Local rules after the 2025 preemption law — Since August 28, 2025 counties and cities may not limit security deposit amounts or restrict a landlord's use of income-qualifying methods, credit scores, credit reports, eviction or property damage history, or criminal history. Application fees are not on that list.
Denial notices come from federal law — A landlord who turns down an applicant because of a consumer report follows the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Missouri adds no notice duty of its own, so there is no state content or timing standard to point to.
General consumer law still applies to renting — The Merchandising Practices Act defines merchandise to include real estate and sale to include a lease, so misleading statements about the cost of applying for or renting a home can be pursued under it. It sets no advertised-price format or fee-itemization requirement.
Brokers holding money — A licensed real estate broker who holds money belonging to another must keep it in a designated escrow or trust account. That is a duty of the broker's license rather than a rule about what a landlord may take from an applicant.
A fifteen-dollar cap has been proposed but is not law — A bill introduced in the 2026 session would cap rental application fees at fifteen dollars, tie the fee to processing cost, require the unused portion back, and require a receipt. It was referred to committee and has not passed.
About the application fee rule — Missouri statute does not cap, condition, or otherwise address what a landlord may charge someone to apply for a home. The amount is set by the landlord's own terms. The only money a landlord may take for a residential tenancy that Missouri limits is the security deposit, capped at two months' rent, and that section reaches only money furnished to secure performance of the rental agreement.
How the cost limit works — No Missouri statute ties an application-stage charge to what a credit, background, or eviction report actually costs. The provision that would carry such a limit, the security deposit section, works from a multiple of rent rather than from cost.
Screening charges — Missouri sets no conditions on charging an applicant for screening: no limit of one charge per applicant, no requirement that the landlord actually obtain a report, and no written notice or vacancy prerequisite. What governs is the lease and the landlord's own practice. A 2025 law confirms that a landlord may use credit scores, credit reports, eviction or property damage history, and criminal history under the landlord's own customary criteria, but it addresses the use of those records, not charges for them.
What the receipt duty covers — No Missouri statute requires a receipt for application or screening money. The receipt and itemization duties in the residential chapters arrive at the end of a tenancy and concern the security deposit and actual carpet-cleaning costs.
When money must come back — No Missouri statute forces the return of any part of an application or screening charge in any circumstance. Whether such money comes back depends on what the landlord's application terms say. The one return-of-money duty in the residential chapters runs to the security deposit after the tenancy ends.
Refunds — Because no refund duty exists, Missouri sets no deadline, no mechanics, and no triggering event such as the applicant withdrawing, the unit being filled, or the landlord never running a report.
What must be disclosed up front — Missouri requires nothing to be told an applicant before application money is collected: not the screening criteria, not what the fee pays for, not the applicant's rights. The one written disclosure the residential chapters require is the name and address of the person managing the property and of the owner or the owner's agent for notices, and it is due at or before the tenancy begins rather than at application.
Denial notices — Missouri has no state denial-notice duty for rental applicants and no state counterpart to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act reaching landlords. A landlord who denies an application based on a consumer report is subject to the federal notice duties, which are federal law rather than Missouri law. The Missouri statutes that govern consumer reporting reach credit service organizations, insurance underwriting, and state agency contracting, not rental applicants.
Reusable screening reports — Missouri has no portable or reusable tenant-screening-report law. A landlord is not required to accept a report an applicant already paid for, no validity window is set, and nothing bars charging a fee when such a report is used.
Money to hold a unit — Missouri does not regulate money taken to hold a unit between an accepted application and a signed lease: no cap, no written-statement duty, and no rule on what happens to the money if the tenancy does not go ahead. The security deposit section reaches only money furnished to secure performance of a rental agreement, so it does not answer for money paid before there is one.
Advertising and fee transparency — Missouri has no fee-transparency law for residential rental advertising: no all-in advertised price, no itemization of mandatory charges, no hidden-fee rule. The state's price-advertising and surcharge-disclosure statute applies to car rental companies and does not reach dwellings. What governs instead is the general Merchandising Practices Act, which makes it unlawful to conceal, suppress, or omit a material fact in connection with the sale or advertisement of merchandise and which defines merchandise to include real estate and sale to include a lease. The Attorney General's advertising, unfair-practice, and deception rules contain no rental fee provision.
Penalties — Missouri attaches no penalty to application or screening charges because it imposes no duty on them. The money penalty in the residential chapters runs to security deposits: a landlord who wrongfully withholds one owes the tenant twice the amount withheld. Separately, deception in advertising or leasing a home can be pursued under the Merchandising Practices Act, which gives a person who leases for personal, family, or household purposes a private action with discretionary punitive damages and attorney's fees, and gives the Attorney General restitution plus a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars per violation.

Common questions: Missouri application 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 Missouri?: No statutory cap on application fees.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in Missouri?: No statutory refund duty.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Missouri?: No statutory receipt duty for application money.
Does Missouri have a reusable tenant screening report law?: No statute on reusable screening reports.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Missouri?: No statute on holding deposits.

Statute citations

RSMo 535.300 1 and 8 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.005 (5) (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.300 1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.043 2(2) (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.300 8 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.300 3(2) and 4(2) (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.300 3 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.185 1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.635 (1) and (2) (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.005 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.732 5 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.020 1 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.010 (4) and (6) (verified 2026) Official source
15 CSR 60-7.010 (1)(K) (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.300 6 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.025 1(1) and 2 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.100 6 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.300 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 441.043 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.020 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 407.010 (verified 2026) Official source
RSMo 535.185 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of RSMo 441.005, 441.043, 441.920, 535.185, 535.300 and 339.105 on revisor.mo.gov; direct read of the Merchandising Practices Act at RSMo 407.010, 407.020, 407.025 and 407.100 and of the car-rental advertising provisions at RSMo 407.730 and 407.732; heading-by-heading read of the chapter 441 and chapter 535 tables of contents; read of the Attorney General's Code of State Regulations divisions 15 CSR 60-7, 60-8 and 60-9 on sos.mo.gov; twenty proximity searches of the Revisor's full statute index, which carries both current and already-published future versions; and a filtered read of the 2025 and 2026 House and Senate bill lists on house.mo.gov and senate.mo.gov, with the enacted 2025 change confirmed on its own House bill page.