Do I have to refund a rental application fee in Texas?

Fee and Deposit Are Two Different Words

The subchapter runs on two definitions. An application fee is a nonrefundable sum given to the landlord to offset the cost of screening (Sec. 92.351(1-a)). An application deposit is a sum given in connection with the application that is refundable if the applicant is rejected (Sec. 92.351(1)). Owners who collect one number and call it both have already lost the argument: whatever part of it was a deposit comes back on rejection, full stop. Name each amount on the application, and keep the fee to what screening actually costs.

The Criteria Have to Be in the Applicant's Hands Before the Fee

At the time an applicant is given a rental application, the landlord must make available a printed notice of the tenant selection criteria and the grounds on which the application may be denied, including criminal history, previous rental history, current income, credit history, and inaccurate or incomplete information on the form (Sec. 92.3515(a)). The applicant signs an acknowledgment that the notice was available; without a signed acknowledgment the law presumes it was not (Sec. 92.3515(b)). The acknowledgment has prescribed language, telling the applicant they had the opportunity to review the criteria and that if they do not meet them or give incomplete information the application may be rejected and the fee will not be refunded (Sec. 92.3515(c)). It may be part of the application itself if the notice is underlined or in bold (Sec. 92.3515(d)). A screenshot of criteria on a listing site, sent after the fee cleared, is not the statute's sequence.

What Happens When You Reject Without It

If the landlord rejects an applicant and had not made the criteria notice available, the landlord must return the application fee and any application deposit (Sec. 92.3515(e)), by mail to the address the applicant gives if they ask for it that way (Sec. 92.3515(f)). Silence is a rejection: an applicant is deemed rejected if the landlord does not give notice of acceptance by the seventh day after a completed application on the landlord's form, or after accepting an application deposit when no form was furnished (Sec. 92.352(a)). Rejecting one co-applicant rejects all of them (Sec. 92.352(b)). Any application provision that waives these rights is void (Sec. 92.355).

What Bad Faith Costs

A landlord who in bad faith fails to refund an application fee or deposit in violation of the subchapter is liable for $100, three times the amount wrongfully retained, and the applicant's reasonable attorney fees (Sec. 92.354). On a $75 fee and a $300 deposit kept from a rejected applicant who never saw criteria, that is $100 plus $1,125 plus the lawyer, over a screening report that cost $35. The statute was added in 2007 (H.B. 3101) and has not softened.

Why the Criteria Are Also Your Fair Housing Defense

Published, written criteria do a second job the statute does not mention: they are the record that every applicant was judged by the same standard. A blanket rule written on the fly, no evictions ever, no criminal history of any kind, is the kind of policy that draws disparate-impact scrutiny under federal fair housing law, and the applicant who was denied under it is the one holding the unsigned acknowledgment. The criteria should describe the standard in terms of the tenancy: income multiple, credit thresholds, rental-history look-back, and how criminal history is considered on a case-by-case basis. They never describe the person.

How We Run It

Our tenant selection criteria are published on the website and handed with every application; the acknowledgment is signed before a fee is taken. The fee is a fee and the deposit is a deposit, named separately on the form. A rejection goes out in writing inside the seven days with the criterion that was not met, and a deposit refund goes out with it. It is a two-page document and a signature, and it is the difference between keeping a screening fee and paying three times it back.