What Is the Rental Application Screening Fee Cap in California for 2026?

Published July 15, 2026

California caps rental application screening fees at $65.86 per applicant in 2026, and AB 2493 now dictates how you have to process applications.

California landlords can charge up to $65.86 per rental applicant for screening in 2026, the state's CPI adjusted cap under Civil Code section 1950.6. You can only recover your actual out of pocket cost for the credit check and background report, any unused portion has to be refunded, and since AB 2493 took effect you also have to process applications in the order you received them and offer the unit to the first applicant who meets your published criteria.

Where the $65.86 number comes from

Civil Code section 1950.6 has capped screening fees since the 1990s, and the number is not fixed. The statute directs an annual adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index, applied each December, so the ceiling creeps up a little every year. For 2026 that ceiling is $65.86 per applicant, the amount the California Apartment Association reports after the December 2025 CPI adjustment: a base of 30 dollars plus a 35.86 dollar CPI increase. If you are still quoting an older number to applicants, fix your paperwork now. This is one of the few landlord tenant rules that changes on autopilot, so it is worth a calendar reminder rather than a one time lookup.

The fee is meant to cover your actual cost of pulling a credit report and a background or eviction history check, plus the time it takes your staff to process the application. It is not a profit center. If your actual cost is lower than the cap, you can only charge what you actually spent, and any amount collected beyond that has to go back to the applicant.

The rules around when you can even charge it

Section 1950.6 also limits when a screening fee is fair game at all. You cannot collect one unless the unit is currently vacant or you reasonably expect it to become vacant within a normal time frame. We see owners get into trouble here when they start collecting applications while a current tenant is still deciding whether to renew, or before a notice to vacate has actually gone out. If the unit never actually opens up, collecting fees on it can look like you took money for nothing, and that invites a complaint.

The statute also has a documentation requirement that a lot of owners miss. If you collect a screening fee, the applicant can request an itemized receipt showing what you spent it on. Keep your invoices from your screening vendor on file so you can produce one on request.

AB 2493 changed how you have to run the line

Separately from the fee cap, Assembly Bill 2493 took effect January 1, 2025, and it rewrote how landlords are supposed to handle a stack of applications for one unit. If you are going to charge an application screening fee, the law pushes you toward what is often called the first qualified applicant method: you publish your screening criteria up front (minimum credit score, income to rent ratio, eviction and criminal history standards, whatever you actually use), you review applications in the order they arrived, and the first applicant who meets those published standards gets the offer. You are not supposed to collect a fee to hold someone's place in line, only to actually review a completed application.

AB 2493 also requires a fast refund. If multiple people apply for the same unit around the same time and you only need to consider one of them because it is already spoken for, you generally have to refund the screening fee to the applicants whose files you did not actually review, and the law requires that refund within 7 days after you select a tenant, or within 30 days after the application is submitted if you do not select anyone, whichever comes first.

Taken together, section 1950.6 and AB 2493 mean two separate things have to be true at once in 2026: the dollar amount you charge has to sit at or under $65.86 and reflect your real cost, and the process you run has to be first come, first qualified, with published criteria and prompt refunds for anyone you did not actually screen.

What this means for you

If you own rentals in the South Bay, this is one of the easiest compliance items to get wrong by accident, usually because someone is still using an old application template with last year's fee printed on it, or because a leasing agent is holding a spot for a favorite applicant instead of working the list in order. Both are the kind of thing that turns into a fair housing or Civil Code complaint that costs a lot more than $65.86 to resolve. Update your application forms, write down your actual screening criteria before you post a listing, and keep your refund process fast and documented.

If you would rather not track the CPI adjustment every December yourself, that is exactly the kind of detail we manage for owners at Schofield.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.

Sources

Last verified: July 2026.

Topics: compliance, tenant screening, application fees, AB 2493, South Bay landlords

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Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.