Updated August 2026 | Scott Engle, Broker DRE #01332676, Corp DRE #02075336 | Realty Management Group | Managing San Diego County rentals since 2005
Since January 1, 2025, a California landlord charging an application screening fee has to pick one of two processes and follow it consistently. Pick neither and the fee is not lawfully collected — regardless of how much you charged or how carefully you screened.
AB 2493 (Pellerin) amended California Civil Code §1950.6. It was approved September 29, 2024 and took effect January 1, 2025. The change is procedural rather than a fee reduction, which is why it catches out owners who assumed a compliant fee amount meant a compliant process.
This page covers both processes, what the fee may actually include, the two exceptions most guides omit, and the specific documents you need in the file before your next vacancy.
Quick Answer
How much can a California landlord charge for a rental application? Not more than the actual out-of-pocket cost of gathering information about the applicant, under Civil Code §1950.6(b). That is the binding limit. There is also a statutory ceiling that began at $30 and adjusts annually with CPI — industry sources report the 2026 figure at roughly $66 per applicant — but the ceiling is not permission to charge it. If the screening report costs you $38, you may charge $38.
What does AB 2493 require? A landlord charging a screening fee must use one of two processes: (A) process applications in the order received, approve the first applicant who meets written screening criteria, and charge no fee to applicants never considered; or (B) refund the entire fee to every applicant not selected, within 7 days of selecting a tenant or 30 days of the application, whichever comes first.
Do I have to refund an applicant I denied? Under Option A, no. §1950.6(c)(2)(A)(iv) states a landlord is not required to refund an applicant whose application was denied after consideration because they did not meet the established screening criteria. Under Option B, yes — the refund applies to every unselected applicant regardless of reason.
Do I have to send the credit report? Yes, and this changed. Applicants no longer have to ask. Under §1950.6(f), if a screening fee was paid, you must provide a copy of the consumer credit report by personal delivery, mail, or email within 7 days of receiving it.
Can I charge a fee when nothing is available? No. A fee cannot be charged when the landlord knows, or should reasonably know, that no unit is available or will become available within a reasonable period.
All requirements below are drawn from the text of AB 2493 and California Civil Code §1950.6. The 2026 CPI-adjusted ceiling figure comes from industry legal sources; the authoritative current figure is published by the State of California. General information, not legal advice.
A warning about other sources: at least one live property management page attributes AB 2493 to Government Code §12955.9 with an effective date of January 1, 2024. Both are wrong. AB 2493 amends Civil Code §1950.6 and took effect January 1, 2025. If you are working from a summary, check that it cites the right statute.
TL;DR
- AB 2493 amends Civil Code §1950.6, effective January 1, 2025
- Choose one of two screening processes and apply it consistently
- Fee capped at actual out-of-pocket cost — the CPI ceiling is a maximum, not a target
- The fee may include the reasonable value of your time, not just the report cost
- Written screening criteria must be provided before a fee is collected
- Itemized receipt required, showing both expenses and time
- Credit report copy must be sent within 7 days — unprompted
- No fee when no unit is available or coming available
- Accept a reusable screening report and you may charge no fee at all
The Two Processes — Pick One
| Option A — First qualified applicant | Option B — Refund the unselected | |
|---|---|---|
| How you process | In the order received. Stop at the first applicant who meets your written criteria. | Any order you like. Choose among all applicants. |
| Who you may charge | Only applicants you actually consider. No fee from anyone never reached. | Anyone who applies. |
| Refund a denied applicant? | No — if you considered them and they failed your stated criteria, §1950.6(c)(2)(A)(iv) does not require a refund | Yes — every unselected applicant, regardless of reason |
| Refund deadline | N/A for considered-and-denied applicants | 7 days after selecting a tenant, or 30 days after the application — whichever comes first |
| Administrative load | Lower — no refund tracking | Higher — you must track and issue refunds on a deadline |
| Best for | Owners who want simplicity and can commit to a firm criteria document | Owners who want to compare applicants side by side |
The nuance almost every summary omits: under Option A you are not required to refund an applicant you genuinely considered and denied for failing your published criteria. Many guides describe AB 2493 as a blanket refund rule. It is not — but the exception only exists if you actually have written criteria and actually applied them in order. The paperwork is what earns the exception.
Which process is your manager using?
Most owners have no idea.
The exposure under §1950.6 sits with the owner as well as the agent. Send us your address and we'll tell you what to ask your current manager, and what should already be in your file. Free, and you keep the answers whether you hire us or not.
Check My Compliance Call (619) 456-0000What You May Actually Charge
There are two limits, and they work in a specific order. Most owners know about the wrong one.
The binding limit — actual out-of-pocket cost. §1950.6(b) provides that the fee shall not be greater than the actual out-of-pocket costs of gathering information about the applicant. That is the operative constraint. If your screening service charges you $38, your fee is $38.
The statutory ceiling — a maximum, not a rate. The ceiling began at $30 and adjusts annually with CPI. Industry legal sources report roughly $66 per applicant for 2026. Charging the ceiling because it is the ceiling is the violation, not the compliance.
What most owners undercharge for. §1950.6(b) expressly permits including the reasonable value of time spent by the landlord or their agent, alongside the cost of the screening service or credit reporting service. Verification calls, employment checks, reference checks — that time is includable. Owners routinely charge only the report cost and absorb the rest.
If no report is obtained, the fee or any unspent portion must be refunded. You cannot keep money for screening you did not perform.
A practical consequence of the actual-cost rule: your fee should be a number you can defend from an invoice, not a round figure. "$50" invites the question of what it consists of. "$38 — $31 screening report, $7 for 15 minutes of employment verification" answers it before it is asked, and that is exactly what the itemized receipt requirement below is for.
Four Documents the Statute Requires
1. Written screening criteria, provided before the fee. The standards you will apply — income relative to rent, minimum credit score, rental history, and what disqualifies an applicant. It has to exist as a document, be given to applicants before they pay, and be applied in the same order to everyone. This is also your primary defence against a fair housing claim, so it does double duty.
2. An itemized receipt. Required by §1950.6(d), provided personally or by mail, itemizing both the out-of-pocket expenses and the time spent obtaining and processing the information. By agreement with the applicant it may be emailed instead. Note that it must itemize — a total is not a receipt for this purpose.
3. A copy of the consumer credit report, within 7 days. Under §1950.6(f), where a screening fee was paid, you must provide the report by personal delivery, mail, or email within 7 days of receiving it. AB 2493 removed the requirement that the applicant ask. If your process waits for a request, it is out of date.
4. Refund records, if you chose Option B. Date the application arrived, date a tenant was selected, refund due date, date issued, method. The deadline is whichever comes first of 7 days from selection or 30 days from application — and the 30-day clock runs even if you have not decided.
The Reusable Screening Report Trap
Under Civil Code §1950.1, an applicant may present a reusable tenant screening report they obtained themselves. AB 2493 confirms that nothing in §1950.6 prevents a landlord from accepting one.
Here is the part that costs owners money: a landlord who accepts a reusable screening report may not charge an application screening fee at all — not a reduced fee, and not a fee for verifying additional information separately. You are not required to accept one, and that decision is yours to make in advance rather than at the counter.
Decide your policy on reusable reports before your next vacancy and put it in your written criteria. Accepting one from an applicant you like, then charging a fee to another applicant the same week, is the kind of inconsistency that turns a procedural question into a fair housing question.
No Available Unit, No Fee
A screening fee cannot be charged when the landlord or their agent knows, or should reasonably know, that no rental unit is available or will be available within a reasonable period of time.
This was aimed at the practice of collecting fees from a waiting list against a unit that had already been leased. In practice the risk for an ordinary owner is narrower but real: leaving a listing active after you have accepted an application, and taking a fee from someone who applies to it. Pull the listing when the unit is committed.
What to Have in Place Before the Next Vacancy
- ☐ Choose Option A or Option B in writing and note which one your process follows. If you cannot say which, you are running a hybrid.
- ☐ Written screening criteria document — income ratio, credit minimum, rental history standards, disqualifying factors. Attached to every application, given before any fee.
- ☐ Fee set to your actual cost, documented from the screening service invoice, with the reasonable value of your time separately identified.
- ☐ Itemized receipt template that separates expenses from time, and a note of whether the applicant agreed to email delivery.
- ☐ Credit report delivery within 7 days, automatic, without waiting for a request.
- ☐ Refund tracking if you chose Option B — and remember the 30-day clock runs from application, not from your decision.
- ☐ A written policy on reusable screening reports, decided in advance and applied to everyone.
- ☐ Pull the listing when the unit is committed, so no fee is taken against a unit that is gone.
Why This Sits With the Owner, Not Just the Manager
§1950.6 applies to a landlord or their agent. A management company running a non-compliant screening process is creating exposure on the owner's property, and the owner is the one who holds the asset.
There is a second effect worth understanding. Screening is where fair housing claims begin, and the written criteria document required here is the same document that defends against one. An owner whose manager cannot produce written criteria applied consistently has two problems, not one — and they surface together, because an applicant who feels unfairly treated raises both.
A fair question for any management company: which of the two processes under §1950.6(c)(2) do you use, and can you send me your written screening criteria? A company doing this properly answers in one email. It is worth asking before you sign, and worth asking now if you have already signed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can a landlord charge for a rental application in California?
No more than the actual out-of-pocket cost of gathering information about the applicant, under Civil Code §1950.6(b). That may include the cost of a screening or credit reporting service plus the reasonable value of time spent. There is also a CPI-adjusted statutory ceiling that began at $30, reported by industry legal sources at roughly $66 per applicant for 2026 — but the ceiling is a maximum, not an entitlement. If your cost is $38, your fee is $38.
What is AB 2493 and when did it take effect?
AB 2493 (Pellerin) amended California Civil Code §1950.6, governing rental application screening fees. It was approved September 29, 2024 and took effect January 1, 2025. Its core requirement is that a landlord charging a screening fee must use one of two specified processes and apply it consistently.
Do I have to refund an application fee to someone I denied?
It depends which process you use. Under Option A — processing in order and approving the first qualified applicant — §1950.6(c)(2)(A)(iv) provides that no refund is required for an applicant denied after consideration for failing your established screening criteria. Under Option B, the entire fee must be refunded to every applicant not selected, regardless of reason, within 7 days of selecting a tenant or 30 days of the application, whichever comes first.
Do I have to give the applicant a copy of their credit report?
Yes, and you must do it without being asked. Under §1950.6(f), where a screening fee was paid, the landlord or agent must provide a copy of the consumer credit report by personal delivery, mail, or email within 7 days of receiving it. AB 2493 specifically removed the earlier requirement that the applicant request it, so any process that waits for a request is non-compliant.
Can I charge a screening fee if the unit is already rented?
No. A fee cannot be charged when the landlord or agent knows, or should reasonably know, that no unit is available or will become available within a reasonable period. Practically, this means pulling the listing once a unit is committed rather than continuing to take applications and fees against it.
What is a reusable tenant screening report, and do I have to accept one?
A screening report the applicant obtained themselves from a third party, under Civil Code §1950.1. You are not required to accept it. But a landlord who does accept one may not charge an application screening fee at all — so decide your policy in advance, put it in your written criteria, and apply it to every applicant the same way.
Does Realty Management Group handle screening compliance?
Yes. We maintain written screening criteria applied uniformly across every managed property, issue itemized receipts, deliver credit report copies within the 7-day window without waiting for a request, and document the process for the property file. It is included in the flat $199/month management fee — $179 per unit per month for 4–16 unit properties — with no separate charge for compliance work.
Sources
The bill: AB 2493 (Pellerin), an act to amend Section 1950.6 of the Civil Code, relating to tenancy. Approved by the Governor September 29, 2024. Effective January 1, 2025.
The statute: California Civil Code §1950.6, including subdivision (b) on the actual-cost limit, (c)(2)(A) and (B) on the two processes, (c)(2)(A)(iv) on the denied-applicant exception, (d) on itemized receipts, (f) on credit report delivery, and (g) on reusable screening reports.
Reusable screening reports: California Civil Code §1950.1.
The CPI-adjusted ceiling began at $30 under §1950.6 and adjusts annually. The 2026 figure of roughly $66 per applicant is as reported by California landlord-tenant legal sources; the authoritative current figure is published by the State of California and should be confirmed before relying on it. The binding limit in every case is actual out-of-pocket cost, not the ceiling.
This guide reflects California law as of August 2026. AB 2493 amended Civil Code §1950.6 effective January 1, 2025. Statutory ceilings adjust annually and local ordinances may impose additional requirements — verify current figures before setting a fee. Screening practices also implicate the federal Fair Housing Act and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, which are outside the scope of this page. This is general information, not legal advice; consult a qualified California attorney for your specific situation.
Three months free · Flat $199 after that
Can your manager name which process they use?
There are two, they have different refund rules, and the exposure under §1950.6 lands on you as the owner. Ask for their written screening criteria — if it takes more than one email to produce, that is the answer. Send us your address and we'll tell you exactly what should be in your file. Free either way.
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