California Tenant Screening Laws: Fees, Criteria, and Denials

California tenant screening laws cap what a landlord can charge to review an application at about $67 in 2025, require written screening criteria before any fee is collected, restrict how criminal history and source of income can affect decisions, and layer state fair housing rules on top of the federal notice requirements that apply whenever a credit report drives a denial.

How Much a Landlord Can Charge to Screen You

California Civil Code Section 1950.6 sets a base screening fee of $30 per applicant, adjusted every year by the Consumer Price Index since January 1, 1998. The adjusted maximum reached $66.92 in 2025 and continues to rise with inflation.¹

The fee has to match the landlord’s actual out-of-pocket costs for running the screening, including the price of a credit report and a reasonable value for time spent gathering information. If the true cost comes in below what was charged, the landlord owes the applicant the difference.¹

Landlords must give an itemized receipt showing what they spent and how long they spent doing it. They also must provide a copy of any credit report obtained within seven days of receiving it. The receipt can be delivered in person, by mail, or by email with the applicant’s agreement.¹

Two rules trip landlords up regularly. First, no screening fee can be collected when no unit is currently available or will become available within a reasonable time. Second, the landlord must either process applications in the order received and approve the first qualified applicant, or refund the entire fee to any applicant not selected within 7 days of choosing a tenant or 30 days after submission, whichever comes first.¹

Written Screening Criteria Come Before the Fee

Before collecting any screening fee, landlords must provide their screening criteria in writing alongside the application form.¹ You should know what the landlord is measuring — minimum credit scores, income-to-rent ratios, rental history requirements — before you pay anything.

Typical criteria include credit history, rental references, income verification, and eviction records. Those are generally permissible. California places significant limits, however, on two other factors landlords often want to weigh: criminal history and source of income. Both carry specific requirements that go well beyond what many landlords realize.

Criminal History Cannot Be an Automatic Bar

California does not allow landlords to impose blanket policies disqualifying anyone with a criminal record. The California Civil Rights Department has stated that a policy automatically barring people with criminal histories violates fair housing law regardless of the circumstances.²

Several categories of criminal justice information are completely off-limits during tenant screening:

Arrests that did not result in a conviction.
Sealed or expunged convictions.
Records from the juvenile justice system.
Participation in pre-trial or post-trial diversion programs.

Timing matters as well. Landlords should verify financial qualifications and rental history before looking at criminal history at all. When a landlord intends to deny housing based on a past conviction, the law requires an individualized assessment of the specific circumstances: how long ago the conduct occurred, whether the applicant was a minor at the time, whether the conduct was connected to a disability or domestic violence, the applicant’s tenant history since the conviction, and rehabilitation efforts. The applicant must have a chance to present that information before a final decision.²

This individualized assessment step is where most violations happen. Running a background check and issuing an automatic denial based on any hit is the practice the law targets.

Source of Income Is a Protected Class

California prohibits landlords from discriminating based on how an applicant pays rent. Under Government Code Section 12955, source of income is a protected category alongside race, religion, disability, and other attributes.³

The implementing regulations spell out what that means in practice. Landlords cannot refuse to rent to someone because they use Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, CalWORKs, or other government rental assistance. They cannot impose less favorable lease terms on tenants who use subsidies, refuse to cooperate with voucher program requirements, or advertise that vouchers are not accepted.⁴

Some landlords find the voucher inspection and payment process inconvenient. The law does not treat inconvenience as a defense. Refusing a qualified applicant because of their voucher is discrimination.

Reusable Screening Reports

California Civil Code Section 1950.1 lets tenants use a single screening report across multiple rental applications instead of paying a separate fee to every landlord. A reusable screening report must be prepared within the previous 30 days by a consumer reporting agency at the applicant’s expense and must include the applicant’s name and contact information, employment verification, last known address, and eviction history results. The report must clearly state the date through which its information is current.⁵

One important nuance: landlords are not required to accept reusable screening reports. The statute says a landlord “may elect” to accept them. If a landlord does accept a reusable report, though, they cannot charge the applicant any screening fee or any fee to access the report.⁵

Ask upfront whether a landlord accepts reusable reports before paying for one. When a landlord does participate, the savings add up quickly. An applicant who applies to five properties could save over $300 in screening fees.

What Happens When a Landlord Denies You Based on Credit

When a landlord denies a rental application based partly or entirely on information in a credit report, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act adds specific notice requirements on top of California’s rules. Under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681m, the landlord must provide the rejected applicant with:⁶

Notice that adverse action was taken.
The numerical credit score, if one factored into the decision.
The name, address, and phone number of the consumer reporting agency that supplied the report.
A statement that the reporting agency did not make the denial decision and cannot explain the reasons for it.
Notice that the applicant can obtain a free copy of the report within 60 days and dispute any inaccurate information.

A form rejection email without this information violates federal law. Applicants who don’t receive proper adverse action notices can seek damages. Many small landlords skip this step because they don’t realize the FCRA applies to them. It does, anytime a credit report or consumer report is used to make a rental decision.⁷

Fair Housing Protections That Apply Throughout Screening

California’s fair housing framework is broader than federal law. Government Code Section 12955 makes it unlawful for any housing owner to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, veteran or military status, or genetic information.³

The Unruh Civil Rights Act adds another layer, covering discrimination by all business establishments in California, housing providers included. Unruh extends protections to citizenship, primary language, and immigration status, categories not explicitly listed in Section 12955.⁸

These laws apply throughout the screening process. Landlords cannot ask about protected characteristics on applications, use screening criteria that disproportionately exclude protected groups without legitimate business justification, or steer applicants toward or away from certain units based on protected attributes. Even inquiring about a protected characteristic during the application process, such as asking about family composition to determine familial status, can constitute a violation under Section 12955.³

If you believe a landlord violated any of these rules during screening, you can file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, and denials tied to credit reports also give you dispute rights with the consumer reporting agency named in the adverse action notice.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 1950.6
2
California Civil Rights Department. Fair Housing and Criminal History Fact Sheet
3
California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12955
4
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 2 12141 – Source of Income Discrimination in Housing
5
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1950.1
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
8
California Civil Rights Department. The Unruh Civil Rights Act Fact Sheet