Amended Calif. Civil Code §1950.6
Effective date: January 1, 2025
Bill text: AB 2493
Why this matters: Tenants are not generally willing to throw money to the wind, but they need housing and landlords provide the service. However, landlords now need to actually have a unit readily available for a prospective tenant to occupy when they demand a screening fee for reviewing an application for approval or denial.
A landlord’s new application screening process
Residential landlords demanding a tenant screening fee now need to have a unit available for a prospective tenant to occupy when collecting a fee for processing an application from a tenant. The landlord may not collect an application fee knowing a unit is already rented to another tenant or not available at all.
Charging a prospective tenant an application screening fee when the landlord knows no rental unit is immediately available or will become available within the time frame which will accommodate the prospective tenant is prohibited. [Calif. Civil Code §1950.6(c)(1)]
Landlords who conduct an application screening process for prospective tenants are required to hand all prospective tenants an application form together with a writing stating the landlord’s screening criteria. [See RPI Form 553]
The criteria for a residential landlord’s application screening process include:
- applications are screened in the order received;
- the first prospective tenant who meets the landlord’s screening criteria is approved for tenancy;
- subsequent applicants in the queue after an approval are not considered and are not charged an application screening fee;
- application screening fees are refunded to unselected prospective tenants whose applications are collected concurrently within the earlier of:
- seven days after selecting another prospective tenant; or
- 30 days after the application was submitted;
- the prospective tenant may request the landlord to apply the application screening fee to another rental unit the landlord has available; and
- the landlord need not refund a prospective tenant who is denied when they do not meet the landlord’s screening criteria. [CC §1950.6(c)(2)]
Further, a landlord now must provide a prospective tenant with a copy of the tenant’s consumer credit report within seven days of the landlord’s receipt of the report.
Previous law required a prospective tenant who wanted a copy of the credit report obtained by the landlord to request a copy. Now, the prospective tenant receives a copy without the need to request it. [CC §1950.6(f)]
An alternative credit report
A landlord’s ability to accept a reusable tenant screening report from the tenant has not been altered. [CC §1950.6(g)]
The reusable tenant screening report is obtained by the tenant from third-party screening providers. The prospective tenant shares the link to the online report with the prospective landlord.
The reusable tenant screening report gives the landlord information about the tenant’s creditworthiness and displays the prospective tenant’s:
- name;
- contact information;
- verification of employment;
- last known address; and
- eviction history. [CC §1950.1(a)]
A reusable tenant screening report is:
- prepared within the previous 30 days by a consumer reporting agency at the request and expense of the prospective tenant;
- made available to the landlord or available through a third-party website; and
- available to the landlord at no cost to access or use. [CC §1950.1(e)(6)]
A reusable tenant screening report with a prominently displayed date showing the report is current bars the landlord from charging the tenant:
- a fee to access the report; or
- an application screening fee. [CC §1950.1(d)]
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