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

No statutory cap on application fees.

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

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does North Dakota have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in North Dakota?

No statute on holding deposits.

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

Verified August 26, 2026 All North Dakota topics →

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

HB 1395 (69th Legislative Assembly, 2025) — Would have added a section to the leasing chapter allowing a prospective tenant who was required to undergo a criminal, credit, or other background check to request proof that the check was completed, requiring the landlord to furnish that proof within fourteen days of receiving the completed check, and requiring a refund of all fees the applicant paid for the check if the proof was not furnished on time.Status: Did not become law. The bill passed the House 87 to 0 on February 20, 2025, and then failed on second reading in the Senate on March 28, 2025, by 15 yeas to 31 nays. (checked 2026-08-26).
HB 1272 (69th Legislative Assembly, 2025) — Would have added move-in and post move-out inspection requirements to the leasing chapter and amended the security deposit section. It did not reach application or screening fees, and is recorded here because it is the other 2025 measure that would have changed the chapter that houses this topic.Status: Did not become law. The bill failed on final passage by 41 yeas to 47 nays. (checked 2026-08-26).

North Dakota does not regulate residential rental application or tenant-screening fees at all: no statute caps the amount, ties it to the cost of a report, requires a receipt or a refund, or sets disclosure or denial-notice duties before or after money changes hands.

Cited to N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-16 ch. 47-16 in full (47-16-01 through 47-16-42) and 25 more North Dakota statutes · Verified August 26, 2026

The state's leasing chapter regulates security deposits, the move-in condition statement, landlord entry, and lease termination, and it says nothing about the application stage. Since 2025 a landlord may not charge a tenant a fee simply to accept cash, a check, or a money order for rent, but that rule reaches payments under a lease and not application fees. There is also no portable-screening-report law, no holding-deposit statute, and no rental fee-transparency rule in either the statutes or the Attorney General's regulations. North Dakota came close to a first application-stage rule in 2025: a bill requiring proof that a background check was actually completed, with a refund if proof was not delivered, passed the House without a single vote against it and then failed in the Senate.

North Dakota 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, North Dakota Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/north-dakota/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the North Dakota statute in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

What actually governs the fee — Because no statute speaks to application fees, the amount and the terms come from the application agreement and market practice. The general consumer-protection act still applies to how a fee is described: it defines merchandise to include real estate and forbids deceptive acts in connection with the advertisement of merchandise.
Federal law fills the denial-notice gap — A North Dakota applicant turned down because of a credit or background report receives notice under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, not under state law. North Dakota has enacted no state counterpart and no additional denial-notice duty.
The 2025 payment-method fee ban is not an application fee rule — A 2025 law bars a landlord from charging a tenant a fee to accept cash, a check, or a money order for rent or any other payment required under a lease. It applies to payments made under an existing lease and does not reach money collected from an applicant.
Security deposits are capped, application fees are not — North Dakota caps security deposits at one month's rent, with exceptions allowing up to two months in two defined situations, and requires the deposit be held in a federally insured interest-bearing account. None of that machinery extends to application or screening money.
No portable screening report regime — A North Dakota landlord is under no obligation to accept a screening report an applicant already paid for, and nothing bars charging again when one is offered.
Local rules — This entry covers state law. North Dakota bars political subdivisions from controlling the amount of rent charged for private residential property, but that restriction addresses rent control and does not speak to application fees one way or the other.
The near miss in 2025 — House Bill 1395 would have let an applicant require proof that a background check was completed and would have required the landlord to refund the applicant's fees if that proof was not provided within fourteen days. It passed the House 87 to 0 and then failed in the Senate 15 to 31 in March 2025.
Nothing new in the January 2026 special session — The special session dealt with rural health funding, school meals, property tax measures, and appropriations. It made no change to landlord-tenant, fee, screening, or consumer-protection law.
About the application fee rule — No North Dakota statute caps, bans, or otherwise sets the amount of a fee charged to someone applying for a residential tenancy. The state's leasing chapter regulates security deposits, the move-in condition statement, landlord entry, and a landlord's acceptance of rent payments, but contains no application-stage fee provision. What the landlord may charge an applicant is set by the parties and by market practice, subject only to the general consumer-protection law that forbids deceptive statements about a charge.
How the cost limit works — No statute ties a North Dakota application or screening charge to what a credit, criminal, or background report actually costs the landlord. A 2025 bill would have required a landlord to furnish proof of the completed background check on request and to refund the fee if that proof was not delivered in time, but it did not become law.
Screening charges — North Dakota statute sets no conditions on charging an applicant for a credit, criminal, or rental-history report. There is no rule on who may charge, no limit of one charge per applicant, no requirement that the report actually be obtained or relied on, and no written-notice, written-agreement, or vacancy prerequisite. The leasing chapter's single applicant-facing provision is unrelated: it forbids denying a dwelling to someone because a tenant or applicant exercised the right to end a lease after domestic violence.
What the receipt duty covers — No North Dakota statute requires a landlord to give a receipt for application or screening money. The only itemization duty in the leasing chapter arises at the other end of a tenancy: a landlord who keeps part of a security deposit must itemize the amounts kept and mail or deliver that itemization with a written notice within thirty days after the lease ends.
When money must come back — No North Dakota statute forces the return of any part of an application or screening fee in any circumstance. The leasing chapter's return duties reach security deposits only: the deposit and its interest go back to the tenant when the lease ends, and a person fraudulently induced into a lease may end it and recover the deposit with interest.
Refunds — Because no return duty exists, North Dakota sets no deadlines or mechanics for one. There is no rule covering an applicant who was never screened, a unit that was filled or withdrawn, an amount collected above the actual cost of a report, or an applicant who withdraws. Whether any part of the fee comes back is a matter of the landlord's own policy or the application agreement.
What must be disclosed up front — North Dakota requires nothing to be disclosed to an applicant before money is collected. There is no duty to publish screening criteria, to break down what the fee pays for, or to state the applicant's rights. The leasing chapter's only mandated pre-tenancy document comes later, at signing: the landlord must give the tenant a statement describing the condition of the facilities, signed by both parties.
Denial notices — North Dakota has no state denial-notice statute for rental applicants and no state counterpart to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The state's only consumer-credit-report chapter governs security freezes and places its duties on consumer reporting agencies; its single provision about a landlord or other requesting party is permissive, allowing an application to be treated as incomplete when a freeze blocks access to the report. Denial notices in North Dakota are governed by federal law.
Reusable screening reports — North Dakota has no portable or reusable tenant-screening-report law. A landlord is not required to accept a report an applicant already paid for, no statute bars a further charge when such a report is used, and no validity window is set. The leasing chapter contains no provision on the subject, and no chapter elsewhere in the code addresses tenant screening.
Money to hold a unit — No North Dakota statute governs money taken to hold a unit while an applicant decides or while a lease is prepared. The leasing chapter reaches security money taken in connection with a lease, describing it as security required by a lessor however it is named, capping it at one month's rent with two named exceptions, and requiring it be held in a federally insured interest-bearing account for the tenant. Its duties run to a lessee and are triggered when a lease ends, so they do not set caps, written-statement duties, or disposition rules for money taken before a lease exists.
Advertising and fee transparency — North Dakota has no all-in advertised price rule, no mandatory-fee itemization rule, and no hidden-fee ban for residential rentals, in either its statutes or its regulations. The state consumer-protection act does reach rentals in principle, because it defines merchandise to include real estate and services and forbids deceptive acts in connection with the sale or advertisement of merchandise, and the false-advertising chapter separately reaches untrue or misleading statements made to dispose of real property. Both are general truthfulness standards rather than pricing-format requirements. The Attorney General's deceptive-practices regulations, effective January 1, 1994, govern only price-comparison claims such as former price, list price, competitor price, free offers, and use of the words sale and wholesale.
Penalties — North Dakota attaches no statutory damages, penalty, or fee forfeiture to any application or screening fee duty, because the state imposes no such duty. The general consumer-protection act supplies the only route: a person damaged by a deceptive act may sue, and a court that finds the conduct was knowing may award up to three times actual damages plus costs and attorney's fees, while a court may assess a civil penalty of up to five thousand dollars per violation for the state and the Attorney General may impose up to one thousand dollars per violation of a cease and desist order. For comparison, the leasing chapter does carry a penalty for security deposits, making a landlord liable for treble damages for deposit money withheld without reasonable justification.

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

Statute citations

N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-16 ch. 47-16 in full (47-16-01 through 47-16-42) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 (1) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-20.1 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-16 ch. 47-16 in full (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-17.1 (10) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 (3) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 (1), (3) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.4 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.2 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-33-05 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-33-01 (1), (4) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code Title 51 chapter index (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-15-01 (3) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-15-02 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-12-08 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Admin. Code ch. 10-15-01 §§ 10-15-01-01 through 10-15-01-11, effective January 1, 1994 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-15-09 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-15-11 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 51-15-07 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 (4) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-16 (Leasing of Real Property) 47-16-01 through 47-16-42 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-07.1 (1), (3), (4) (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 51-15 (Unlawful Sales or Advertising Practices) 51-15-01(3), 51-15-02, 51-15-09, 51-15-11 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 51-33 (Consumer Credit Report Security Freezes) 51-33-01, 51-33-05 (verified 2026) Official source
N.D. Admin. Code ch. 10-15-01 (Deceptive Pricing) effective January 1, 1994 (verified 2026) Official source
2025 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 423 (HB 1610) ch. 423 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the complete text of N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-16 (Leasing of Real Property), sections 47-16-01 through 47-16-42, on ndlegis.gov, together with ch. 51-15 (Unlawful Sales or Advertising Practices), ch. 51-12 (False Advertising), ch. 51-33 (Consumer Credit Report Security Freezes), and ch. 51-07; a read of N.D. Admin. Code article 10-15 (Deceptive Acts or Practices), chapter 10-15-01, effective January 1, 1994, to test whether a rental fee-transparency rule lives in regulation rather than statute; a review of the Title 47 and Title 51 chapter indexes to confirm no other chapter could house an application-stage rule; and a sweep of the 2025 regular session Century Code sections affected table, the 2025 session law Property volume, and the list of bills submitted to the January 2026 special session, with each enacted-law and failed-bill claim read on the Legislative Assembly's own bill and session-law pages.