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

No statutory cap on application fees.

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

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does North Carolina have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in North Carolina?

No statute on holding deposits.

What can a landlord charge for a rental application in North Carolina?

Verified August 26, 2026 All North Carolina topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measures would change North Carolina's landlord-tenant law:

H990 (2025-2026 session) — Would rewrite G.S. 42-46 to require landlords to give tenants written notice (hand delivery, mail, or electronic per the lease) before collecting a late fee, stating the amount and date imposed, no earlier than five days after the due date. Caps unchanged. Status: Introduced 2025-04-10; referred to House Rules, Calendar, and Operations 2025-04-14; no further action — not enacted. CAUTION: at least one landlord-facing website reports this notice requirement as effective 2025-10-01; that is wrong (the 2025-10-01 effective date belongs to SL 2025-52's separate amendment of 42-46(i)). (checked July 8, 2026).
H955 (2025-2026 Session) — NC Junk Fee Prevention Act — Would create a new Article in Chapter 66 requiring covered businesses to show the total price, including any mandatory fees, in every advertisement and whenever a price is first shown, and barring mandatory fees that are excessive or deceptive. The Attorney General could make rules, order a business to stop, and impose civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, and a violation would be an unfair or deceptive trade practice. The businesses covered are providers of short-term lodging, defined as lodging offered for an occupancy of less than six months, and certain internet, phone, and video services. Standard residential tenancies fall outside that definition, so the bill as filed would not reach an ordinary rental application fee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations on April 14, 2025, and still there. The General Assembly adjourned on August 6, 2026 to a series of dates certain on which only listed matters may be taken up, and none of those categories covers a general bill sitting in committee; the 2025 Regular Session adjourns for good on December 18, 2026. (checked August 26, 2026).

What did not become law. None of the following is law; failed bills are sometimes still described as if enacted:

House Bill 377 (2025-2026), 2026 Court Changes — Would rewrite N.C.G.S. § 42-34.1, on rent owed while a possession judgment is executed and on the bond required to stay execution pending appeal. A tenant who already filed an undertaking on appeal from the magistrate, and who keeps making the periodic rent payments that undertaking requires after the district court judgment, would satisfy the bond requirement by those continued payments and keep the stay, both during the thirty days for taking an appeal and during the appeal itself. It would apply to actions pending on and filed after the date it became law. No notice period, court deadline or writ figure on this page would change. Status: Ratified August 6, 2026; presented to the Governor August 7, 2026; vetoed August 17, 2026. The House placed the veto message on its calendar for September 2, 2026, and as of September 5, 2026 the bill's official history records no override vote in either chamber. It is not law. (checked September 5, 2026).

North Carolina puts no cap on residential rental application or tenant-screening fees and requires no receipt, no refund, and no disclosure of screening standards before an applicant pays.

Cited to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46 (h)(3) and 17 more cited sources · Verified August 26, 2026

The fees state law does address for a residential tenancy are listed in one section and are about the tenancy itself: late rent, fees tied to an eviction filing, actual court costs and attorneys' fees, and a charge for lease-required renters insurance. Two rules sit near the application stage. A business that helps a person find a rental for a fee paid by that person may not charge unless housing is actually obtained through it, may keep at most $20 from a deposit if it is not, must hold deposits in a trust account or post a bond, and must refund on request within 10 days; that law covers rental locator services, not a landlord or managing agent renting their own units. And where a licensed real estate broker holds a deposit taken to hold a unit before the lease is signed, Real Estate Commission rules require it be placed in a trust or escrow account within three banking days and kept there while any dispute over it is unresolved. Federal law, not state law, supplies the applicant's rights around the credit and background reports themselves.

North Carolina application & screening 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, North Carolina Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/north-carolina/" — 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

Rental locator services are capped, landlords are not — A business that offers to help someone find residential rental property in return for payment from that person may not charge a fee unless housing is in fact obtained through its help, and may keep no more than $20 from a deposit otherwise, and only if its advertising clearly names it as a rental referral agency and says it charges a fee. It must use a written contract, keep deposits in a trust account or post a bond of at least $5,000, verify that an advertised unit is still available before taking money, and refund a deposit within 10 days of a request when the housing was not obtained within 30 days. A violation is an unfair act or practice, which carries treble damages. None of this applies to a landlord, or to a company managing the owner's units, charging an applicant to apply for one of those units.
What the state's fee list actually covers — The one section listing fees a landlord may charge under a residential rental agreement covers a late fee (the greater of $15 or five percent of monthly rent, chargeable only once per late payment and only from the fifth day), a complaint-filing fee, a court-appearance fee, a second-trial fee, actual court filing and service costs and capped attorneys' fees in an eviction, and a charge for insurance the landlord buys when a tenant does not show proof of required coverage, with a $50 yearly administrative limit. Nothing in the list concerns applying for a home.
Security deposits are a separate, capped question — Money held as a security deposit is limited to two weeks' rent for a week-to-week tenancy, one and a half months' rent month to month, and two months' rent for longer terms, and must be held in a trust account or covered by a bond. Those limits attach once money is held as a security deposit; they do not govern a fee charged to apply.
Cities and counties are not blocked here — State law forbids a county or city from regulating the amount of rent charged for privately owned rental property, and from barring a landlord's refusal to rent to someone whose income includes federal housing assistance. It says nothing about application or screening fees, so North Carolina has not preempted local rules on those.
Vacation rentals follow a different chapter — The Residential Rental Agreements Article does not apply to vacation rentals, which have their own chapter allowing administrative fees reasonably calculated to cover the cost of processing a reservation, transfer, or cancellation, plus a cleaning fee. Transient occupancies are outside Chapter 42 altogether, and lot tenancies in manufactured-home communities are covered elsewhere.
A security freeze does not stop tenant screening — North Carolina's security-freeze law lists tenant screening among the uses for which a consumer reporting agency may release a report even while a freeze is in place, so freezing a credit file does not by itself block a rental screening request.
No duty to screen — State law says a landlord or a landlord's agent has no duty to screen for a prospective renter's criminal record, and that a prospective renter's criminal record does not by itself make later injury or damage foreseeable. A landlord remains free to run a criminal background check and to refuse to rent on the strength of it.
Fee transparency covers tickets, not rent — The state's all-in pricing statute applies to tickets for entertainment events, requiring the total price including mandatory fees to be displayed. There is no equivalent requirement for advertised rent or for mandatory rental fees, and a bill that would create one for short-term lodging remains in committee.
About the application fee rule — North Carolina sets no limit on what a landlord or a landlord's managing agent may charge someone to apply for a home. G.S. 42-46, the section that lists the fees a landlord may charge under a residential rental agreement, reaches only late rent, fees tied to an eviction filing, actual court costs and attorneys' fees, and a charge for lease-required renters insurance; its public-policy limitation is written for fees claimed for filing a complaint for summary ejectment or money owed. The Tenant Security Deposit Act governs money held as a security deposit during and after a tenancy, not money paid to apply. The amount is therefore set by the landlord and the market. A separate law does cap what a business may charge a prospective tenant to help that person locate a rental, and is described in the notes below.
How the cost limit works — No North Carolina statute ties an application or screening charge to what the credit, background, or eviction report actually costs. The authorized-fees section uses an actual-cost standard only for out-of-pocket court expenses in an eviction and for insurance a landlord buys when a tenant fails to show proof of required coverage.
Screening charges — No North Carolina statute says who may charge for tenant screening, limits the charge to one per applicant, or requires that a report actually be obtained. The one screening provision in Chapter 42 runs the other way: it states that a landlord or a landlord's agent has no duty to screen for a prospective renter's criminal record, while leaving the landlord free to use a criminal background check as grounds for refusing to rent. The reports themselves are governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.
What the receipt duty covers — No statute requires a receipt for application or screening money. The one comparable duty in Chapter 42 applies to security deposits and begins after the lease term starts: the landlord or the landlord's agent must tell the tenant within 30 days where the deposit is held or who provides the bond.
When money must come back — No statutory circumstance forces the return of an application or screening fee in North Carolina, whether or not the applicant is screened, the unit is filled, or the applicant withdraws. The refund duties in the Tenant Security Deposit Act attach to security deposits at the end of a tenancy. Whether an application fee comes back is a matter of the landlord's own policy or the written application.
Refunds — Because no refund is required, no statute sets a trigger, an amount, or a deadline for returning application-stage money. The 30-day and 60-day accounting deadlines in Chapter 42 apply to security deposits after a tenancy ends.
What must be disclosed up front — Nothing must be disclosed to an applicant before an application or screening fee is collected. North Carolina's Residential Rental Agreements Article sets the rights and obligations under a rental agreement for a dwelling unit, and reaches no further back than that agreement. The Real Estate Commission's rules for licensed brokers likewise impose no pre-collection disclosure about screening standards or how a fee is calculated.
Denial notices — North Carolina places no state denial-notice duty on a landlord who turns down an applicant. Chapter 42's Residential Rental Agreements Article governs the rental agreement and carries no application-denial provision, and no other chapter supplies one. An applicant turned down on the strength of a consumer report is covered by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which is federal law rather than a North Carolina rule.
Reusable screening reports — North Carolina has no portable or reusable tenant screening report law. No statute requires a landlord to accept a report an applicant already paid for, bars a fee when such a report is used, or sets a validity window. Whether a landlord accepts an applicant-supplied report is left to the landlord.
Money to hold a unit — No North Carolina statute governs holding deposits or holding fees as such: nothing caps the amount, requires a written statement of the deposit’s terms, or says who keeps the money on each outcome. One occupational rule applies only where a licensed real estate broker holds the money: the Real Estate Commission’s trust-money rule requires a deposit taken to hold a unit before the lease is signed to go into a trust or escrow account within three banking days, and where the landlord and the would-be tenant disagree over returning or forfeiting it, the broker must keep it in the account until both sides release it in writing or a court orders it paid out. That rule disciplines the broker’s handling of the money rather than regulating the deposit itself, and an owner who takes the money directly, without a broker, is outside it. Once money is held as a security deposit, the Tenant Security Deposit Act’s separate limits apply.
Advertising and fee transparency — North Carolina has no all-in pricing or hidden-fee law for rental housing. Its only fee-transparency statute covers tickets to entertainment events, requiring the total price including mandatory fees to be shown by ticket issuers, resellers, and secondary exchanges; it does not reach homes offered for rent. The state's general unfair-and-deceptive-practices provision is written for commerce at large, and no official state material applies it to how rental prices or application fees are advertised.
Penalties — Because North Carolina imposes no application-fee or screening duty on landlords, no penalty attaches to one. The general remedy provision makes any right or obligation declared by Chapter 42 enforceable by civil action, and the Tenant Security Deposit Act voids a landlord's right to keep any part of a security deposit after a willful failure to meet that Article's deposit, bond, or notice requirements, but both reach duties other than application-stage fees.

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

Citations

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46 · (h)(3) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-51 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46 · (i) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-14.5 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-50 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-52 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-38 (verified 2026) Official source
21 NCAC 58A .0116 (Handling of Trust Money; effective April 1, 2013, amended effective July 1, 2015, carried forward effective May 1, 2018) · (a), (d) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-44 · (a)(1), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-44 · (a) (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-55 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-51 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-14.1 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 66-143 (verified 2026) Official source
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-44 (verified 2026) Official source
21 NCAC 58A .0116 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the North Carolina General Statutes as published by the North Carolina General Assembly: Chapter 42 in full (including the Residential Rental Agreements Article and the Tenant Security Deposit Act), Chapter 42A, the Rental Referral Agencies Article of Chapter 66, and the consumer-protection sections of Chapter 75. The Real Estate Commission's trust-money and record rules in Title 21, Chapter 58 of the North Carolina Administrative Code were read as published by the Office of Administrative Hearings, together with the Commission's own published License Law and Rules. The 2025 and 2026 session laws amending the authorized-fees section were read on the General Assembly's site, as were the 2025-2026 bills mentioning application fees, tenant screening, holding deposits, and hidden fees, and the adjournment resolution setting the session calendar.