Wisconsin: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
Wisconsin does not recognize a separate nonrefundable application or processing fee paid to a landlord for considering an application: regardless of its label, that payment is an earnest money deposit governed by receipt, unit-identification, refund, credit, and limited-withholding rules. A landlord may separately charge actual cost up to $25 for a qualifying nationwide consumer credit report, and may charge only a non-Wisconsin resident actual cost up to $25 for a background check, with advance charge notice and a copy of the report. No credit-report charge is allowed if the applicant first supplies a qualifying nationwide report less than 30 days old.
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This is the general rule in Wisconsin. Ezel applies current Wisconsin law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Wis. Stat. § 704.085 and Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.01-.05; ATCP chapter covers Wisconsin dwelling rentals but excludes 7 listed institutional, transient, employment, agricultural, and government categories |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Payment to landlord for considering application = refundable/creditable earnest money, however labeled; separate credit-report charge allowed; background-check charge allowed only for non-Wisconsin resident (§ 704.085; ATCP 134.02(3), 134.05) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | Credit report: actual cost, max $25; qualifying nonresident background check: actual cost, max $25; no numeric earnest-money ceiling, but it is not a retained application fee and withholding is limited (Wis. Stat. § 704.085; ATCP 134.05(3)-(4)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | Identify unit(s) before taking earnest money; notify applicant of credit/background charge before requesting report; after approval and refusal to sign, earnest money may cover only actual costs/damages, with rent-loss mitigation (ATCP 134.05; § 704.085) |
| Before-screening disclosures | Before earnest money, identify dwelling unit(s) under consideration; before ordering charged credit/background report, disclose charge; no special statewide criteria, vacancy, report-source, dispute-right, or processing-order disclosure |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | Immediate earnest-money receipt unless qualifying check notation (receipt still due on request); report copy for each charged credit/background check; full earnest-money refund by next business day on listed rejection/withdrawal/no-timely-approval events (ATCP 134.03(2), 134.05(2); § 704.085) |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No credit-report charge if applicant supplies nationwide-CRA report less than 30 days old before landlord requests one; landlord may obtain newer report at own expense; no comparable background or reusable-screening-report rule (§ 704.085(1)(b); ATCP 134.05(4)(b)) |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order or state denial-reason notice; earnest money generally refunded next business day after rejection, pre-acceptance withdrawal, or no approval within 3 business days (written extension allowed, max 21 calendar days) (ATCP 134.05(2)) |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | ATCP violation causing pecuniary loss: twice the loss plus costs and reasonable attorney fee (§ 100.20(5)); nonconflicting local rules survive, but § 66.0104 bars extra local earnest-money requirements, certain screening limits, and extra landlord-to-tenant communications |
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Application charges are either earnest money or report costs
Wisconsin separates payments for considering an application from charges for
obtaining reports. Under Wis. Admin. Code ATCP § 134.02(3), any payment to a
landlord for the option of a future rental agreement or for having an
application considered is an earnest money deposit, “however denominated or
described.” Calling it an application, administrative, or processing fee does
not turn it into a separate nonrefundable charge.
Wis. Stat. § 704.085 separately authorizes actual-cost charges for specified
credit and background reports. Those charges have their own $25 ceilings and
do not become earnest money.
Earnest-money rules for a general processing charge
Before taking earnest money, ATCP § 134.05(1) requires the landlord to identify
the dwelling unit or units for which the applicant is being considered. Under
ATCP § 134.03(2)(a), the landlord generally must give an immediate written
receipt stating the deposit's nature and amount. A check bearing a notation of
its purpose substitutes for a receipt unless the applicant requests one.
The landlord must send or deliver the full earnest-money refund by the end of
the next business day after:
- rejecting the application or refusing to enter a rental agreement;
- the applicant withdraws before the landlord accepts the application; or
- the landlord does not approve the application within three business days
after taking the deposit, unless the applicant agrees in writing to a later
date no more than 21 calendar days after collection.
If the parties enter a rental agreement, the landlord must apply the earnest
money as rent or a security deposit, or return it. If an approved applicant
instead fails to enter the agreement, ATCP § 134.05(3) permits withholding only
for actual resulting costs and damages; lost rent requires reasonable
mitigation.
Credit and background report charges
For a consumer credit report from a nationwide consumer reporting agency,
Wis. Stat. § 704.085(1) permits the landlord to charge actual cost up to $25.
The landlord must disclose the charge before requesting the report and give
the applicant a copy.
The applicant can avoid that charge by supplying a nationwide-agency consumer
credit report less than 30 days old before the landlord requests one. The
landlord may obtain a newer report, but the administrative-code note states
that it must then be at the landlord's expense.
The background-check rule is narrower. Under Wis. Stat. § 704.085(2), only an
applicant who is not a Wisconsin resident may be charged. The amount is actual
cost up to $25, and the same advance charge notice and report-copy duties
apply. The statute states no parallel applicant-supplied background-report or
reusable full-screening-report procedure.
Coverage and local limits
Wis. Admin. Code ATCP § 134.01 generally covers dwelling rentals in Wisconsin,
but excludes seven categories, including listed institutional housing,
fraternal or social-organization housing, contract-of-sale occupancy,
tourist/transient housing, free or employment-provided housing, commercial
agricultural occupancy, and government-owned and operated housing. Wis. Stat.
§ 704.085 states no parallel list of exclusions for its credit and background
report charges.
ATCP § 134.10 preserves local ordinances that do not directly conflict with
the chapter. But Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2) independently bars cities, villages,
towns, and counties from adding requirements concerning earnest money and from
requiring landlord-to-tenant communications beyond federal or state law. It
also preempts listed local limits on obtaining and using screening information
and on how far back specified credit, conviction, and housing information may
be considered.
Remedy for an administrative-code violation
The chapter is an order issued under Wis. Stat. § 100.20. Under § 100.20(5), a
person who suffers pecuniary loss because of an ATCP ch. 134 violation may sue
and recover twice the loss, plus costs and a reasonable attorney fee. Section
704.085 itself states no separate damages formula for its background-check
subsection.
Common questions
May a landlord keep a $25 “application fee” after rejecting me? Not merely
because of the label or amount. A landlord payment for considering the
application is earnest money, and rejection generally triggers a full refund
by the end of the next business day.
Can a Wisconsin resident be charged for a criminal-background check? Wis.
Stat. § 704.085(2) authorizes that charge only for a prospective tenant who is
not a Wisconsin resident.
Can the landlord reject my 45-day-old credit report and charge for a new
one? The no-charge rule applies only when the applicant supplies a qualifying
nationwide-agency report that is less than 30 days old before the landlord
requests one.
Does Wisconsin require first-come, first-qualified processing? No special
state order rule appears in these provisions. The earnest-money rule instead
sets approval and refund deadlines after the landlord takes that deposit.
Statutes and sources
- Wis. Stat. § 704.085 — credit and nonresident background checks.
A landlord may require a prospective tenant to pay the landlord's actual
cost, up to $25, to obtain a consumer credit report ...
Official source: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/704/085?view=section (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Wis. Admin. Code ATCP §§ 134.01-.05 — coverage, earnest-money definition,
receipts, acceptance, refunds, withholding, and credit-check fees.
“Earnest money deposit” means the total of any payments or deposits,
however denominated or described ... for having a rental agreement
considered by a landlord.
Official source: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/atcp/090/134.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Wis. Stat. § 100.20(5) — double-loss remedy, costs, and attorney fee.
Any person suffering pecuniary loss because of a violation ... shall
recover twice the amount of such pecuniary loss ...
Official source: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/100/20/5?view=section (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Wis. Admin. Code ATCP § 134.10; Wis. Stat. § 66.0104(2) — local-law
preservation and statutory preemption limits.
This chapter does not prohibit or nullify any local government ordinance
with which it is not in direct conflict ...
Official sources: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/atcp/090/134.pdf and https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/66.0104 (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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