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

No statutory cap on application fees.

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

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does South Carolina have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in South Carolina?

No statute on holding deposits.

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

Verified August 26, 2026 All South Carolina 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:

H. 3462 (126th General Assembly, 2025-2026) — Would add section 27-33-60 requiring a landlord of residential and multi-family property to give an itemized invoice and receipt showing how an application screening fee was used and to refund any unused part; would allow the fee to cover reference checks, tenant reports and credit reports up to seventy-five dollars for each applicant; would require the same rental application fee for every prospective tenant; would limit consideration to the seven years of rental and credit history before the application; and would require written notice of a denial stating the reasons within twenty days, with treble the application fee plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees for a violation.Status: Prefiled on December 5, 2024, introduced and read a first time on January 14, 2025, and referred to the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry, where it never received a hearing; the 126th General Assembly's second regular session adjourned sine die in May 2026, which ended the bill. (checked 2026-08-26).

South Carolina regulates nothing about rental application and screening fees: there is no cap, no tie to what a report costs, no receipt, no refund, no disclosure before payment, no state denial-notice duty, no reusable screening report law, no holding-deposit rule, and no rental fee-transparency law.

Cited to S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-310 (a) and 16 more South Carolina statutes · Verified August 26, 2026

The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act begins at the rental agreement, defines a tenant as someone entitled under one to occupy a dwelling, and its only money provision is the security deposit a tenant pays to secure performance of the lease. That leaves the amount of any application charge and what happens to it to the landlord's own written application. Because no duty exists, no penalty attaches; a landlord who wrongly withholds a security deposit owes three times the amount plus attorney's fees, and deceptive conduct in general can be reached under the Unfair Trade Practices Act. A 2025 bill would add a seventy-five dollar screening-fee limit, a refund and receipt duty, and a twenty-day written denial notice, and it has not moved out of committee.

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

Notes and caveats

The act starts at the lease — The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act has no definition of applicant or prospective tenant. Its duties attach once someone is entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling, which is why the application stage sits outside it.
Silence is not permission — That no statute limits an application or screening charge does not make any particular charge lawful. It means the question is answered by the written application and by general law rather than by the landlord and tenant act.
The one deposit rule runs the other way — The act's itemization and thirty-day written notice duty applies to deductions from a security or rental deposit after the tenancy ends. It says nothing about money collected before a tenancy begins.
Local rules — South Carolina bars counties and municipalities from regulating the amount of rent charged for privately owned residential or commercial rental property. That limit is about rent, not about application fees, so it neither authorizes nor forbids a local fee ordinance.
Community associations are not capped either — Unlike some states, South Carolina places no dollar limit on what a homeowners association or a horizontal property regime may charge in connection with approving a lease or transfer.
Broker money handling is a separate track — A licensed broker or property manager who takes money belonging to others must hold it in a trust or escrow account, and a check taken for a rental is deposited within forty-eight hours after the lease is signed. That is a licensing duty about banking, not a rule about application or holding money.
Watch the pending bill — H. 3462 of the 2025-2026 assembly would create the state's first application-fee regime, with a seventy-five dollar ceiling for each applicant, an itemized invoice and refund of the unused part, equal fees for all applicants, a seven-year look-back on rental and credit history, and a written denial notice with reasons within twenty days. It remains in committee.
About the application fee rule — The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act sets no limit on what a landlord may charge a person to apply for a home. The act's vocabulary starts at the rental agreement: it defines a tenant as someone entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit, defines no applicant or prospective tenant, and its only money provision covers a deposit from the tenant held to secure performance of the lease. What governs instead is the landlord's own terms, which the act allows the parties to set so long as they are not prohibited by the chapter or another rule of law.
How the cost limit works — No South Carolina statute ties an application or screening charge to what a landlord actually spends on credit, background or eviction reports. The only section of the landlord and tenant act that addresses money the landlord holds is the security deposit section, and it is confined to a deposit from a tenant under a lease agreement.
Screening charges — The landlord and tenant act does not use the word screening and carries no conditions on charging for one. There is no rule on who may charge, on charging once per applicant, on actually obtaining a report, or on giving written notice or reaching a written agreement before taking the money. Neighboring chapters do not fill the gap: the general landlord and tenant chapter, the rent chapter, the homeowners association act and the horizontal property act were all read and none limits a charge tied to reviewing a prospective tenant.
What the receipt duty covers — No statute requires a receipt for application or screening money. The act's one itemization and written-notice duty arrives at the other end of the tenancy: deductions from a security or rental deposit must be itemized in a written notice to the tenant within thirty days after the tenancy ends.
When money must come back — The act names no circumstance in which an application or screening charge must be given back, whether the applicant is turned down, the home goes to someone else, or no report is ever obtained. What happens to the money is left to the written application.
Refunds — With no refund duty in the statutes, there are no deadlines, no amounts and no mechanics for returning an application or screening charge.
What must be disclosed up front — Nothing must be told to an applicant before money changes hands: not the screening criteria, not what the charge pays for, not the applicant's rights. The act's single disclosure duty is the owner's or agent's name and address, owed in writing to the tenant at or before the tenancy begins, which is after the application stage and to someone who already has an agreement.
Denial notices — South Carolina places no denial-notice duty on a landlord: no reason for the denial, no deadline for giving one, no copy of the report. The landlord and tenant act contains no section on approving or refusing an application at all. Federal credit-reporting law supplies the only notice a rejected applicant may receive, and that federal layer is context rather than the state rule.
Reusable screening reports — There is no portable or reusable tenant screening report law. A landlord is neither required to accept a report an applicant brings along nor barred from charging when one is used, and no validity window is set. Every rental-related chapter of the property title was read and none creates such a regime.
Money to hold a unit — No statute governs money taken to hold a home while a lease is prepared. The act's deposit section is keyed to a deposit from the tenant securing the terms and conditions of the lease agreement, which presupposes an agreement already exists. The closest related text is a licensing rule rather than a tenancy rule: a broker or property manager holding money belonging to others must keep it in an account titled as trust or escrow, and a check taken for a rental must be deposited within forty-eight hours after the lease or rental agreement is signed. That governs how a licensee banks the money, not whether a holding deposit may be taken, how large it may be, or what happens to it if the rental does not go ahead.
Advertising and fee transparency — South Carolina has no all-in advertised rent rule, no itemization duty for mandatory rental fees, and no hidden-fee ban reaching residential rental advertising. The state's consumer agency is the Department of Consumer Affairs, and its chapter of the code of regulations covers licensing and notification filings, rent-to-own goods, maximum rate schedules, renewable energy facility sales and leases, discount medical plans and physical fitness services, and contains no residential rental advertising or fee rule. What governs instead is the general standard in the Unfair Trade Practices Act, which declares unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce unlawful and defines trade and commerce to include advertising and the distribution of real property. That is a deception standard, not a pricing-display rule.
Penalties — No penalty attaches to application or screening charges, because no statute regulates them. For context, penalties in this area exist for other conduct: a landlord who wrongly withholds a deposit or prepaid rent owes three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees, and a tenant has remedies for a landlord's failure to comply with the rental agreement or the act. Outside the act, the Unfair Trade Practices Act allows a private plaintiff actual damages, trebled where the violation was willful or knowing, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs, with civil penalties of up to $5,000 for a willful violation and up to $15,000 for violating an injunction.

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

Statute citations

S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-310 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-410 (a) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-210 (general definitions) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. tit. 27, ch. 40 (section index) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. tit. 27, ch. 33 (Landlord and Tenant Generally) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. tit. 27, ch. 30 (Homeowners Associations) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-420 (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. tit. 27 (chapter list) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 40-57-136 (A)(1), (C)(1)(a) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 39-5-20 (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 39-5-10 (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Regs. ch. 28 (Department of Consumer Affairs; official chapter text) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-610 (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 39-5-140 (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. § 39-5-110 (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Ann. tit. 27, ch. 40 (Residential Landlord and Tenant Act) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code Regs. ch. 28 (Department of Consumer Affairs) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, S.C. Code Ann. tit. 27, ch. 40, end to end from its section index on scstatehouse.gov (with full reads of §§ 27-40-120, 27-40-210, 27-40-310, 27-40-330, 27-40-410, 27-40-420 and 27-40-610 and their printed history lines), plus reads of Title 27 chapters 30, 31, 33 and 39, of Title 40 chapter 57 including § 40-57-136, and of the Unfair Trade Practices Act, §§ 39-5-10, 39-5-20, 39-5-110 and 39-5-140; a full read of chapter 28 of the South Carolina Code of Regulations (Department of Consumer Affairs) from the official copy for any advertised-price or fee-disclosure rule reaching dwellings offered for rent; and a sweep of the 126th General Assembly bill pages for the 2025 and 2026 sessions. The Legislature's own Code search endpoint returned nothing usable, including for control phrases, so no finding here rests on it.