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

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does Rhode Island have a reusable tenant screening report law?

Where the applicant supplies an official state criminal background check or a credit report issued within ninety days of the application, no fee for that check or report may be charged. The statute sets the ninety-day window and the no-charge consequence; it does not in terms oblige the landlord to rely on the applicant's report, and the landlord may still obtain an independent report at their own expense.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Rhode Island?

No statute on holding deposits.

What can a landlord charge for a rental application in Rhode Island?

Verified August 26, 2026 All Rhode Island topics →

Rhode Island bans rental application fees outright and lets a landlord recover only the actual cost of an official state criminal background check or a credit report, and only where the applicant has not already supplied one issued within the previous ninety days.

Cited to R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (a), (b), (b)(2) and 23 more Rhode Island statutes · Verified August 26, 2026

The ban binds lessors, sub-lessors, real estate brokers, property management companies and designees as well as landlords, so the charge cannot be moved to an agent. An applicant who is charged must be given a copy of the background check or credit report, and a landlord who would rather run an independent check may do so at their own expense. Separately, every fee beyond the rent must be disclosed in the lease in the same section as the rent, or listed in writing where there is no written lease, with thirty days' notice of any change, and a tenant may recover fees that were never disclosed. What the state does not do is require a receipt for application-stage money, name any circumstance in which a permitted charge must be returned, require anything to be disclosed before that charge is made, add a denial-notice duty beyond federal law, regulate a deposit taken to hold a unit before a tenancy begins, or require advertised rent to be an all-in figure.

Rhode Island application fees at a glance

Application fee cap	Rental application fees are banned. The only money that may be taken from an applicant is a charge for an official state criminal background check or a credit report, and only where the applicant has not supplied a qualifying one, limited to the actual cost of obtaining it. The prohibition is written broadly as to who is bound: a landlord, lessor, sub-lessor, real estate broker, property management company or designee may not require or demand that any prospective tenant pay a rental application fee. What survives the ban is narrow. A landlord may still require an official state criminal background check from the bureau of criminal identification, the department of attorney general, the state police or the local police department where the prospective tenant resides, or a credit check, and may charge for one only when the applicant has not provided a qualifying report issued within the previous ninety days. That charge may be no more than the actual cost of obtaining the check or report, so there is no fixed dollar figure and no indexed amount to publish. A landlord who prefers to run a check regardless may do so at their own expense.
Fee limited to actual screening cost	Yes
Screening charge rules	Only two kinds of check may be required, and a charge for either is allowed only when the applicant has not supplied a qualifying report. The charge is limited to actual cost, and whoever charges it must give the applicant a copy of the check or report. A landlord may instead obtain an independent report at their own expense. The two permitted checks are an official state criminal background check from the bureau of criminal identification, the department of attorney general, the state police or the local police department where the prospective tenant resides, and a credit check. Where the applicant hands over a qualifying report issued within ninety days of the application, no charge may be made for that check or report. Where the applicant does not, the charge is capped at actual cost, and any prospective tenant who is charged must be provided with a copy of the background check or credit report. The same limits bind a lessor, sub-lessor, real estate broker, property management company or designee, so routing the charge through an agent does not change the answer. The statute sets no one-charge-per-household rule, no vacancy prerequisite and no written agreement prerequisite.
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	Where the applicant supplies an official state criminal background check or a credit report issued within ninety days of the application, no fee for that check or report may be charged. The statute sets the ninety-day window and the no-charge consequence; it does not in terms oblige the landlord to rely on the applicant's report, and the landlord may still obtain an independent report at their own expense. This is the pivot of the Rhode Island scheme. Because a separate application fee is banned outright, the applicant who arrives with a recent official state criminal background check or credit report can be asked for nothing at all. The window is measured from the date the report was issued to the date of the application and is ninety days. Nothing in the section sets a format for the applicant's report beyond its being one of the checks the landlord may require, and nothing bars the landlord from running its own check so long as the landlord pays for it. Where the applicant has no qualifying report, the landlord may charge actual cost and must hand over a copy of what the charge produced.
Holding deposits	No statute on holding deposits
Rental fee-transparency rules	Rhode Island regulates rental fees through the lease rather than through the advertisement. Every fee beyond the rent must be disclosed in the lease in the same section as the rent, or listed in writing where there is no written lease, with thirty days' notice of any change, and a tenant may recover fees that were not disclosed. There is no requirement that advertised rent be an all-in figure. The lease must also indicate that additional fees may apply, state which utility costs are included in the rent and which are the tenant's, and state any requirement that the tenant carry renters insurance. The duty does not apply where the tenant or the unit receives state or federal subsidies requiring a different lease format. Rhode Island's all-in pricing rule sits in the deceptive trade practices chapter and reaches live-event tickets and short-term lodging only, measured against the federal rule on unfair or deceptive fees; residential tenancies are neither, and transient occupancy in a hotel, motel or other lodging is excluded from the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. That chapter's definition of trade and commerce covers the advertising, offering for sale, sale or distribution of property including real property, and does not name renting or leasing. A separate rental fee ban does sit in the tenancy chapter: a landlord may not charge a convenience fee on a tenant's rent payment unless the landlord accepts a form of payment that carries no such fee.
Penalty for violation	The application fee ban carries no penalty figure of its own and is enforced through the chapter's general remedy, under which an aggrieved party may recover appropriate damages and injunctive relief and any right or obligation declared by the chapter is enforceable by action. The lease fee disclosure duty carries its own remedy: the tenant may recover any fees paid for the unit that were not disclosed. Deliberate use of a prohibited lease provision carries up to three months' periodic rent plus reasonable attorney's fees. The general remedy provision is the one that matters for the application fee ban and the ninety-day no-charge rule, since neither states a damages figure. It directs that the chapter's remedies be administered so an aggrieved party may recover appropriate damages and injunctive relief, including temporary restraining orders, subject to a duty to mitigate, and makes every right or obligation the chapter declares enforceable by action unless the provision declaring it specifies a different and limited effect. The fee disclosure remedy is the exception that specifies its own effect, letting the tenant recover undisclosed fees paid for the unit. The three months' rent figure attaches only to deliberate use of a rental agreement containing provisions the chapter prohibits, not to a fee charged in breach of the application fee ban.

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

Notes and caveats

A ban, not a cap — There is no dollar figure to look up. A fee to apply may not be charged at all, and the only permitted charge is the actual cost of a background check or credit report where the applicant has not supplied a recent one.
The ninety-day window — An applicant who brings an official state criminal background check or a credit report issued within ninety days of the application cannot be charged for that check or report. The window runs from the date the report was issued.
What the statute does not say about a supplied report — The rule is that no fee may be charged when a qualifying report is supplied. The section does not state that the landlord must rely on that report, and it expressly leaves the landlord free to obtain an independent check at the landlord's own expense.
Which criminal checks count — The statute names the bureau of criminal identification, the department of attorney general, the state police, and the local police department where the prospective tenant resides. It does not address commercial multi-state criminal reports from private screening companies.
Agents are covered — Lessors, sub-lessors, real estate brokers, property management companies and designees are named alongside landlords, so the same limits apply however the application is handled.
Fee disclosure happens at the lease — Fees beyond the rent must appear in the lease in the same section as the rent, or in a written list where there is no lease, and a change needs thirty days' written notice. A tenant may recover fees that were not disclosed. The duty does not apply where the tenant or unit receives subsidies requiring a different lease format.
The all-in pricing rule stops short of tenancies — Rhode Island's advertised-price rule under the deceptive trade practices chapter covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging, effective January 1, 2026. It does not reach residential tenancies, and transient lodging is outside the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in any event.
What the chapter covers — These rules apply to rental agreements for dwelling units located in Rhode Island. Institutional residences, transient hotel and motel occupancy, employee-occupied units in larger buildings, cooperatives, commercial lettings and transitional housing facilities are outside the chapter.
How the cost limit works — Where a charge is permitted at all, the statute sets it at not more than the actual cost of obtaining the official state background check or credit report. The ceiling is the price the landlord pays a source rather than a set figure, so it varies with what the check costs and there is nothing to index or republish.
What the receipt duty covers — The subsection that permits a charge names exactly one thing that must be handed over, a copy of the background check or credit report, and says nothing about a receipt for the money. Nothing else in the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act imposes a receipt duty at the application stage. The security deposit section is a return-and-itemization provision for money held during a tenancy and runs to a tenant rather than to an applicant.
When money must come back — The section bans the application fee, limits the permitted check charge to actual cost and requires a copy of the report, and then stops. No subsection obliges anyone to give money back in any circumstance, including where no check is run, where the unit is filled or withdrawn, or where the applicant pulls out. The actual-cost rule caps what may be taken rather than requiring repayment of an amount already collected.
Refunds — There is no return trigger, no deadline and no mechanics anywhere in the application fee section, and nothing elsewhere in the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act supplies them for application-stage money. Whether a permitted check charge comes back is left to what the parties agree.
What must be disclosed up front — Nothing must be told an applicant before a permitted check charge is made, whether about the screening criteria, the basis or amount of the charge, or the applicant's rights. The only hand-over duty runs after the charge and delivers the report itself. Rhode Island does have a fee disclosure duty, but it sits at the lease stage and runs to a tenant: fees beyond the rent must be disclosed in the lease in the same section as the rent, or listed in writing where there is no written lease, with thirty days' written notice of any change. The chapter's own disclosure section covers the manager's and owner's name, address and number at or before the commencement of the tenancy, and says nothing about fees.
Denial notices — The provision that says what an applicant receives when charged for a check requires a copy of the background check or credit report and nothing more. It calls for no statement of reasons, no denial notice and no timing. No other section of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act imposes such a duty. A landlord who turns down an applicant on the strength of a consumer report is working from the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which is background here rather than a Rhode Island rule.
Money to hold a unit — The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act addresses one pre-tenancy sum, the security deposit, which it caps at one month's periodic rent and defines as money given by a tenant at the outset of the tenancy or shortly thereafter as a deposit against physical damages. A payment by a prospective tenant to hold a unit before any tenancy begins falls outside that definition, and the application fee section bans application fees without addressing unit-reservation money. No cap, written statement duty or rule on what happens to the money in each outcome exists for such a payment.

Common questions: Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island?: Rental application fees are banned. The only money that may be taken from an applicant is a charge for an official state criminal background check or a credit report, and only where the applicant has not supplied a qualifying one, limited to the actual cost of obtaining it.
Does an application fee have to be refunded in Rhode Island?: No statutory refund duty.
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for an application fee in Rhode Island?: No statutory receipt duty for application money.
Does Rhode Island have a reusable tenant screening report law?: Where the applicant supplies an official state criminal background check or a credit report issued within ninety days of the application, no fee for that check or report may be charged. The statute sets the ninety-day window and the no-charge consequence; it does not in terms oblige the landlord to rely on the applicant's report, and the landlord may still obtain an independent report at their own expense.
Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Rhode Island?: No statute on holding deposits.

Statute citations

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (a), (b), (b)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (b)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (b), (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(3) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-19 (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (a), (b)(1), (b)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 34-18 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-15 (a)(1), (a)(2) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-20 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (b)(1), (b)(3) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-19 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-11 (16) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-15 (a)(1) to (a)(5) (verified 2026) Official source
P.L. 2025, ch. 372, Sec. 1 (adding R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 6-13.1-1(6)(xxi)) Sec. 1 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 6-13.1-1 (5) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-61 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-5 (a), (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-15 (a)(5) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-17 (b) (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-5 (verified 2026) Official source
R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-19 (verified 2026) Official source
P.L. 2025, ch. 372 (adding R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 6-13.1-1(6)(xxi)) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-59 in full on the General Assembly's General Laws site, together with Sections 34-18-5, 34-18-7, 34-18-8, 34-18-11, 34-18-15, 34-18-16.1, 34-18-17, 34-18-19, 34-18-20, 34-18-58, 34-18-61 and 34-18-62, and the complete section list of chapter 34-18. Chapter 6-13.1 Sections 6-13.1-1 and 6-13.1-5.2 were read for the state deceptive trade practices definitions and private remedy. The 2025 and 2026 enacted public laws were swept on the General Assembly's subject-sorted Public Laws lists for both years, and every landlord-tenant entry they named was then read on its own public law page: P.L. 2025 ch. 372, P.L. 2026 ch. 166 and P.L. 2026 ch. 148. The Attorney General rules page and the Department of State rules site were checked for a state regulation on advertised prices or mandatory-fee disclosure reaching dwellings offered for rent.