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

No statutory cap on application fees.

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

No statutory receipt duty for application money.

Does Tennessee have a reusable tenant screening report law?

No statute on reusable screening reports.

Can a landlord charge a holding deposit in Tennessee?

No statute on holding deposits.

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

Verified August 26, 2026 All Tennessee topics →

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

SB 961 / HB 955 (114th General Assembly) — 'Affordable Housing and Tenant Protection Act' — Would repeal the residential half of the rent-control preemption in T.C.A. § 66-35-102, allowing local rent control adopted by a two-thirds vote with a local rent agency, plus a THDA gap-financing program. Would end the statewide preemption of local residential rent regulation if ever enacted. Status: Not enacted. HB 955 was deferred in the House Cities & Counties Subcommittee to the 'January 2027 calendar' on 2026-03-18 — with the 114th GA adjourned sine die, this is effectively a soft kill; watch for a 115th GA refile. (checked July 9, 2026).
SB 1991 (114th General Assembly) — The Junk Fee Prevention Act would have barred selling or leasing goods or services to a consumer using listed deceptive pricing practices, including advertising a price without clearly and conspicuously showing the total price with all mandatory fees, and failing to disclose the mandatory-fee share of the price before taking payment. A violation would have been a violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act of 1977. It would have taken effect July 1, 2027. Status: Failed in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on February 17, 2026, by 1 aye to 8 noes; the 114th General Assembly has since adjourned sine die. (checked August 26, 2026).
HB 2233 (114th General Assembly) — House companion to SB 1991, the Junk Fee Prevention Act, with the same all-in pricing and mandatory-fee disclosure requirements enforced through the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act of 1977. Status: Assigned to the Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee on February 5, 2026, with no further action; its Senate companion failed in committee and the 114th General Assembly has adjourned sine die. (checked August 26, 2026).

Tennessee does not regulate what a landlord charges someone to apply for a home: there is no cap on an application fee, no limit tying it to the cost of a credit or background report, no receipt or refund duty, no disclosure an applicant must be given before paying, and no state denial-notice duty beyond federal law.

Cited to Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-201 § 66-28-201(a) and 17 more cited sources · Verified August 26, 2026

Two structural facts shape the picture. First, the state's landlord-tenant act applies only in counties with more than 75,000 residents according to the 2010 federal census, so in smaller counties the lease and general contract law govern instead; on application charges the answer is the same either way, because neither body of law reaches them. Second, the act's security deposit rules cover only escrow money paid under a rental agreement to cover damage, so they do not reach money paid before a lease exists, including a deposit to hold a home. The one Tennessee rule that touches rental pricing transparency binds licensed rental location agents, the paid listing services sold to renters, requiring them to disclose deposits, clean-up fees, rent prepayments, and similar charges above the monthly rent when they present a home as available; it does not reach landlords advertising their own homes. A Junk Fee Prevention Act that would have required all-in pricing for goods and services, including leases, failed in a Senate committee in February 2026 and is not law.

Tennessee 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, Tennessee Application & Screening Fee Laws (verified August 26, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/application-fees/tennessee/" — 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

The act does not cover the whole state — The Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies only in counties having more than 75,000 residents according to the 2010 federal census. In counties below that line the act does not apply at all, and the lease plus general contract law govern. Neither regime addresses application or screening charges.
Local rules on this are limited — In the counties where the landlord-tenant act applies, the act states that it occupies and preempts the entire field of legislation on the regulation of landlords and tenants, and that the county's governing body may not enact or enforce regulations that conflict with or add to it. A separate chapter bars local governments statewide from controlling the amount of rent charged; that preemption is written to rent amounts and does not name application fees or deposits.
Security deposit rules stop at the lease — Tennessee defines a security deposit as an escrow payment made under a rental agreement to secure the landlord against damage beyond ordinary wear and tear and against loss from the tenant's breach. Money handed over before any rental agreement exists is outside that definition, so the escrow-account, inspection, and refund duties do not apply to application money or to a deposit paid to hold a home.
Federal law still applies — When a landlord turns down an applicant because of something in a credit or background report, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act's adverse-action duties apply in Tennessee. That is federal law rather than a Tennessee rule, and Tennessee adds nothing to it.
Rental location agents are a separate licensed group — Tennessee licenses rental location agents, paid listing services that supply renters with compiled information about available homes. Real Estate Commission rules require a written contract or receipt for money paid to one, a refund of all but ten dollars if the customer follows the stated contact steps and still finds no home through the service, and disclosure of charges above the monthly rent when a home is presented as available. These duties belong to the listing service and do not reach a landlord's own application charge.
The junk-fee bill did not become law — Companion bills in 2026 would have required total-price advertising including all mandatory fees for anyone selling or leasing to a consumer, with violations treated under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. The Senate bill failed in committee on February 17, 2026, the House companion never left subcommittee, and the General Assembly has since adjourned. Nothing in those bills is in force.
Consumer protection law is general, not rental-specific — The Tennessee Consumer Protection Act lists specific deceptive acts, including advertising with intent not to sell as advertised and false statements about price reductions, plus a general catch-all. No item in the list names residential rental advertising, application fees, or screening fees, and the Attorney General's published list of consumer laws names no rental fee-transparency law.
About the application fee rule — Tennessee law sets no cap, formula, or actual-cost limit on what a landlord may charge a person to apply for a home, and no statute bans or enumerates the charges an applicant may be asked to pay. The landlord-tenant act's open terms provision lets a landlord and tenant agree to terms not prohibited by the act or other law, and the act's only money-handling section covers security deposits held during a tenancy. What an applicant pays is set by the market and by the terms the landlord offers.
How the cost limit works — No Tennessee statute ties an application or screening charge to the actual cost of obtaining a credit, background, or eviction-history report. The landlord-tenant act's terms provision, which is where such a limit would sit, leaves the charge to the parties' agreement.
Screening charges — Tennessee places no conditions on tenant-screening charges: no rule on who may charge, no one-charge-per-applicant limit, no requirement that the landlord actually order or use a report, and no written notice or agreement prerequisite. Screening and credit reporting are not mentioned anywhere in the landlord-tenant act or the leases chapter; the act's only references to a prospective tenant concern service-animal requests and access to show a home near the end of a tenancy.
What the receipt duty covers — No statute requires a landlord to give an applicant a receipt for application or screening money. The act's disclosure section runs at or before the start of a tenancy and covers the manager's and owner's names and addresses and a maintenance contact route, not money taken beforehand. A Real Estate Commission rule does require a receipt or contract for money paid to a licensed rental location agent, but that is a paid listing service sold to renters rather than a landlord's application charge.
When money must come back — No circumstance in Tennessee law forces the return of any part of an application or screening fee. The security deposit provisions do not reach application money: the act defines a security deposit as an escrow payment made under a rental agreement to secure the landlord against damage and against loss from the tenant's breach, and its mechanics all assume a tenancy has begun. The act's one refund duty returns prepaid rent and security deposits when a tenancy ends because of the landlord's noncompliance.
Refunds — Because no refund is required, Tennessee law sets no timing, amount, or method for returning application or screening money, whether the applicant is turned down, withdraws, is never screened, or finds the home already taken. The deadlines that do exist in the act concern security deposits at the end of a tenancy, including a 60-day window after the landlord sends notice of a refund due.
What must be disclosed up front — Nothing must be told an applicant before money changes hands: no screening criteria, no breakdown of what the charge pays for, no statement of applicant rights. The act's disclosure section applies at or before the start of a tenancy and covers the manager's and owner's names and addresses plus a maintenance telephone number, e-mail address, or online portal. Its one other written advisory, that the landlord does not insure the tenant's personal property, is a rental-agreement term.
Denial notices — Tennessee imposes no state denial-notice duty on landlords: no required content, no deadline, and no obligation to hand over a copy of a report relied on. The landlord-tenant act has no adverse-action provision; its only use of denial concerns turning down a service-animal request, with no notice mechanics attached. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act's adverse-action duties apply in Tennessee as federal law and are not a state rule.
Reusable screening reports — Tennessee has no portable or reusable tenant-screening report regime. No statute requires a landlord to accept a report an applicant already paid for, bars a further charge when one is used, or sets how long such a report stays current. Screening reports are not mentioned in the landlord-tenant act or the leases chapter.
Money to hold a unit — Money paid to hold a home while a lease is prepared is unregulated in Tennessee: no cap, no written-statement duty, and no rule on what happens to it if the lease is signed, if the applicant backs out, or if the landlord rents to someone else. The act addresses when possession must be delivered at the start of the term but says nothing about money taken to reserve a home before signing, and its security deposit definition covers only escrow money paid under a rental agreement.
Advertising and fee transparency — No Tennessee law requires rental advertising to show an all-in price, itemize mandatory charges, or avoid hidden fees, and no statute imposes a fee-transparency duty on landlords. One narrow occupational rule sits nearby without reaching landlords: a Real Estate Commission rule binds licensed rental location agents, the paid listing services sold to renters, to disclose fully, accurately, and clearly the existence and, where known, the amount of any damage deposit, security deposit, clean-up fee, rent prepayment, or similar charge above the monthly rent whenever they represent a home as available, to state in advertising the date the home becomes available, the monthly rent, and its location, and not to represent a home as available unless availability was confirmed within the previous 72 hours. A landlord advertising their own home is not covered by that rule, which is why it does not make this a regulated subject; it sits in the Secretary of State’s Official Compilation of Rules and Regulations at chapter 1260-03, filed in 1978 and last revised in November 2001. The Tennessee Consumer Protection Act’s list of specific deceptive acts covers false advertising, misleading claims about price reductions, and a general catch-all, but no item in it names rental housing, application charges, or screening charges, so it is background consumer law rather than a rental pricing rule.
Penalties — No damages award, civil penalty, or fee forfeiture attaches to application or screening charges, because Tennessee law creates no duty at that stage to break. The landlord-tenant act's general remedies let an aggrieved party recover lawful damages and make any right the act declares enforceable by legal action, and a tenant may recover damages, injunctive relief, and reasonable attorney's fees for a landlord's noncompliance after 14 days' written notice, but each reaches only duties the act itself creates. The act's one forfeiture rule, barring a landlord from keeping a security deposit when the escrow-account and damage-listing steps were missed, belongs to the end of a tenancy.

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

Citations

Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-201 · § 66-28-201(a) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-301 · § 66-28-301 (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-406 · § 66-28-406 (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-302 · § 66-28-302(a) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-03-.04 · 1260-03-.04 (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-104 · § 66-28-104(14)(A) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-301 · § 66-28-301(f) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-406 · § 66-28-406(e) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-302 · § 66-28-302 (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-303 · § 66-28-303 (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-03-.06 · 1260-03-.06(4)(b), (c) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-03-.06 · 1260-03-.06(1)-(3) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-104 · § 47-18-104(b) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-515 · § 66-28-515(b) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-501 · § 66-28-501(a) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-301 · § 66-28-301(c) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102 · § 66-28-102(a), (e) (verified 2026) Official source
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1260-03-.06 · 1260-03-.06(4) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of the Tennessee Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-28-101 to 66-28-523), the leases chapter (§§ 66-7-101 to 66-7-113), and the rent-control chapter (§§ 66-35-101 to 66-35-103) as published by the State of Tennessee's official public-access code service, current through the 2026 Regular Session and the 2026 2nd Extraordinary Session; plus the Real Estate Commission rules in the Secretary of State's Official Compilation of Rules and Regulations, the Attorney General's published list of specific deceptive acts under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, and the 2025-2026 bill record of the 114th General Assembly.