Hawaii: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
Hawaii permits an application screening fee when an application is processed, but only to cover costs of obtaining information about an adult applicant or emancipated minor. On request, the landlord must provide a receipt and cost breakdown, and any unused amount must be returned within 30 days after screening requests are submitted. The statute sets no numeric ceiling and currently has no applicant-supplied or reusable-report rule, application-order process, or state denial notice.
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This is the general rule in Hawaii. Ezel applies current Hawaii law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-46; landlords and their agents processing applications for dwelling units, subject to chapter exclusions in § 521-7; fee only for applicants age 18+ or emancipated minors |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Application screening fee allowed to cover costs of obtaining applicant information; may include reference checks, tenant reports, criminal-background checks, and consumer-agency credit reports (§ 521-46(a)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | Limited to costs of obtaining applicant information, with unused amounts returned; no separate numeric, customary-cost, per-household, or indexed ceiling (§ 521-46(a), (c)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | Charge only when the application is processed; screening costs may include personal references, tenant reports, criminal-background checks, and credit reports; adults/emancipated minors only (§ 521-46(a)) |
| Before-screening disclosures | No special precharge unit-availability, fee-amount, screening-criteria, report-source, dispute-right, or application-order disclosure |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | On applicant request: receipt and breakdown of covered costs. Unused amount returned within 30 days after landlord submits screening requests; no landlord-obtained-report-copy duty (§ 521-46(b)-(c)) |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No current statewide applicant-supplied or comprehensive reusable tenant-screening-report acceptance or no-fee procedure |
| Application order and adverse action | No statewide first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state denial-reason notice process for rental applications |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | Office of Consumer Protection may receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve any Chapter 521 dispute (§ 521-77); no fee-specific statutory damages or local-preemption/stronger-local-law clause |
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Screening costs, processing time, and eligible applicants
Hawaii Revised Statutes § 521-46(a) allows a landlord or the landlord's agent
to charge an application screening fee when the application is processed. The
fee must cover the costs of obtaining information about the applicant. The
statute's examples include personal reference checks, tenant reports, criminal
background checks, and credit reports from a consumer credit reporting agency.
The landlord may charge the fee only for an applicant who is at least 18 years
old or is an emancipated minor. The statute does not state a separate numeric,
per-applicant, per-household, customary-cost, or annually adjusted ceiling.
Instead, the cost purpose and unused-amount refund limit what the landlord may
retain.
Receipt, cost breakdown, and unused-money refund
Under § 521-46(b), the applicant may request both a receipt for the screening
fee and a breakdown of the costs it covers. The request condition matters: the
section does not make either document automatically due without a request.
Section 521-46(c) requires the landlord or agent to return any amount not used
for an authorized purpose within 30 days after the landlord submits the
screening requests. The deadline runs from submission of those requests, not
from payment, denial, withdrawal, or selection of another applicant.
The section does not require delivery of the resulting credit, criminal-
background, tenant, or other screening report.
Coverage and enforcement
Hawaii Revised Statutes § 521-8 defines “landlord” to include the owner,
lessor, sublessor, successors, and any landlord agent. Section 521-7 excludes
specified arrangements from Chapter 521, including listed institutional and
college housing, day-to-day hotel or motel occupancy, certain homeless
facilities, and specified housing directly controlled, owned, or managed by the
Hawaii Public Housing Authority.
The fee section states no fixed civil damages, multiplier, or attorney-fee
award. Section 521-77 provides that the Office of Consumer Protection may
receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve any dispute arising under Chapter
521. The chapter states no application-fee-specific local preemption or express
preservation of stronger local rules.
What trips people up
The fee is collected when the application is processed. Section 521-46(a)
does not authorize collecting it merely because a person asks about a unit; it
ties the charge to processing the application.
The receipt and breakdown require a request. The unused-money refund does
not. Subsection (b) begins “Upon request by the applicant,” while subsection
(c) directly commands return of the unused amount.
Current law does not require reusable reports. Multiple 2025 and 2026 bills
would have required some form of applicant-supplied or comprehensive reusable
tenant screening report, but none passed before the 2026 Legislature adjourned.
Common questions
Is there a statewide dollar maximum? There is no separate numeric ceiling.
The fee must cover costs of obtaining applicant information, and unused money
must be returned.
Can a landlord charge a minor? Only if the applicant is an emancipated
minor; otherwise the applicant must be at least 18.
When is unused money due back? Within 30 days after the landlord submits
the screening requests.
Must the landlord accept my recent credit or background report? Current
Hawaii law creates no statewide applicant-supplied or reusable-report procedure.
Statutes and sources
- Hawaii Revised Statutes § 521-46 — permitted costs, charge timing, age,
requested receipt and breakdown, and unused-amount refund.[A] landlord or the landlord's agent may charge the applicant an
application screening fee at the time the application is processed ... to
cover the costs of obtaining information about the applicant ... A landlord
or the landlord's agent shall return to the applicant any amount ... not
used ... within thirty days after the landlord has submitted screening
requests.
Official source: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0046.htm (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Hawaii Revised Statutes § 521-7 — arrangements excluded from Chapter 521.
Unless created solely to avoid the application of this chapter, this
chapter shall not apply to ...
Official source: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0007.htm (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Hawaii Revised Statutes § 521-8 — dwelling-unit and landlord definitions.
“Landlord” means the owner, lessor, sublessor, assigns or successors in
interest ... and in addition means any agent of the landlord.
Official source: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0008.htm (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Hawaii Revised Statutes § 521-77 — Office of Consumer Protection dispute
resolution authority.
The office of consumer protection may receive, investigate and attempt to
resolve any dispute arising under this chapter.
Official source: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0521/HRS_0521-0077.htm (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 521 — current official chapter index.
521-46 Application screening fee ... 521-77 Investigation and resolution
of complaints by the office of consumer protection
Official source: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol12_ch0501-0588/hrs0521/hrs_0521-.htm (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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