| Entities | California (38) |
| Topics and Issues |
In 2024, the California legislature passed A.B. 2493, a bill by Assembly Member Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz) and Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). The newly passed bill amends Civil Code Section 1950.6.
In general,
the amount of the application screening fee shall not be greater than the actual out-of-pocket costs of gathering information concerning the applicant, including, but not limited to, the cost of using a tenant screening service or a consumer credit reporting service, and the reasonable value of time spent by the landlord or their agent in obtaining information on the applicant. In no case shall the amount of the application screening fee charged by the landlord or their agent be greater than thirty dollars ($30) per applicant. The thirty dollar ($30) application screening fee may be adjusted annually by the landlord or their agent commensurate with an increase in the Consumer Price Index, beginning on January 1, 1998.
Below is an official summary of the passed bill:
Existing law authorizes a landlord or their agent, when they receive a request to rent a residential property, to charge an application screening fee to cover the cost of obtaining information about the applicant. Existing law also prohibits a landlord or their agent from charging an applicant an application screening fee when they know or should have known that no rental unit is available at that time or will be available within a reasonable period of time, unless the applicant agrees in writing. Existing law also requires a landlord or their agent, if an applicant that has paid an application screening fee makes a request, to provide a copy of the consumer credit report to the applicant who is the subject of that report.
This bill would instead authorize a landlord or their agent to charge an application screening fee only if the landlord or their agent, at the time the application screening fee is collected, offers an application screening process, as specified. This bill would also prohibit a landlord or their agent from charging an applicant an application screening fee when they know or should have known that no rental unit is available at that time or will be available within a reasonable period of time. The bill would remove the requirement that an applicant request a copy of the consumer credit report in order to obtain a copy, and would, instead, require the landlord or their agent to provide a copy of the report within 7 days of the landlord or their agent receiving the report, as provided.
Existing law authorizes a landlord to elect to accept reusable tenant screening reports, as specified, and prohibits a landlord who accepts a reusable tenant screening report from charging a fee to access the report or an application screening fee.
This bill would provide that the bill’s provisions do not prevent a landlord from accepting a reusable tenant screening report.