Free Maryland Rental Application Fee Receipt
Maryland does not forbid charging more than twenty-five dollars to process a rental application. What it does is switch on a return duty the moment the fees exceed that figure — and the duty runs to the fees, not merely to the excess. Under Real Property § 8-213 you may retain only the portion actually expended on a credit check or other application expenses, and the rest must come back within fifteen days of occupancy or of written notice that no tenancy will occur. Getting it wrong makes the landlord liable for twice the fees. All of that applies to a residential lease: § 8-201 makes the subtitle § 8-213 sits in applicable only to those, and not to a seller-in-possession tenancy of 60 days or less after settlement. This generator records what was taken and what was actually spent, which is the comparison the section turns on.
Almost every published summary of Maryland’s application-fee rule describes it as a twenty-five dollar cap, and an earlier version of this page described it as a twenty-five dollar allowance you may keep on top of your costs. Both are wrong, and the second is wrong in the landlord’s favor by twenty-five dollars on every affected application. The section reads plainly once you have it in front of you. If a landlord requires fees other than a security deposit, and those fees exceed twenty-five dollars, the landlord shall return the fees — or be liable for twice their amount in damages — and may retain only that portion actually expended for a credit check or other expenses arising out of the application. The twenty-five dollars is the threshold that switches the duty on. It is not a retainer, and it is not a ceiling on what you may collect. Around that sit three things a landlord has to get right: a fifteen-day clock with two distinct starting events, a disclosure that must appear in the application document itself and covers two separate matters, and an exemption whose wording is broader than the version usually quoted. And one thing sits above all of them: § 8-213 is a section of Subtitle 2, which § 8-201 makes applicable only to residential leases and inapplicable to a seller-in-possession tenancy of not more than 60 days after the settlement of owner-occupied residential property.
Build the record
Fill in the fields below and the generator produces a dated PDF you can print, sign and give to the applicant, keeping a copy for your file. Nothing is stored and there is no charge. Fields you leave blank print as a dash so you can complete them by hand.
The section returns the fees and lets you keep what you spent — those are different sentences, and the difference is the whole rule
Start one section earlier than the fee rule, with the subtitle it lives in. § 8-213 is part of Real Property Title 8, Subtitle 2, and § 8-201 is that subtitle’s scope section: it “is applicable only to residential leases unless otherwise provided”, and it “does not apply to a tenancy arising after the sale of owner-occupied residential property where the seller and purchaser agree that the seller may remain in possession of the property for a period of not more than 60 days after the settlement”. That is a gate on this page, not a doubt about the rule below. Read (b)(1)(i) and (b)(2) as a pair, because each does a distinct job. The first creates the duty and identifies what it bites on: where a landlord requires from a prospective tenant “any fees other than a security deposit as defined by § 8-203(a) of this subtitle, and these fees exceed $25, then the landlord shall return the fees, subject to the exceptions below, or be liable for twice the amount of the fees in damages”. The object of return is “the fees”. Nothing in that sentence carves out the first twenty-five dollars; the figure appears only in the conditional that switches the duty on. The second sentence is what lets you keep anything at all. Subsection (b)(2): the landlord “may retain only that portion of the fees actually expended for a credit check or other expenses arising out of the application, and shall return that portion of the fees not actually expended on behalf of the tenant making application”. Read together they produce a single arithmetic: refund equals the fee minus what you actually spent. A forty-dollar fee against a thirty-two dollar screening bill returns eight dollars. A forty-dollar fee where the applicant withdrew before anything was ordered returns forty. The common error runs the other way and is expensive. Treating the twenty-five dollars as retainable produces a refund twenty-five dollars too small on every application above the threshold — and because the remedy is twice the fees rather than twice the shortfall, a systematic misunderstanding applied across a portfolio is not a rounding problem. The word expended is doing the other half of the work. What you may keep is money that actually left your hands for a credit check or an expense arising out of the application. A flat administrative charge, staff time or general overhead is not an expenditure of that kind, and a landlord who cannot show what a given application cost cannot show it was entitled to retain anything at all. That is why the invoice, not the fee schedule, is the operative document — and why it has to be per application rather than a monthly total, since the duty is owed to an individual applicant.
Watch: Maryland Rental Application Fee Receipt explained
Maryland application fee at a glance
Settle this first: is twenty-five dollars a cap, or something you may keep?
Neither. It is the point at which a return duty switches on. § 8-213(b)(1)(i) provides that where a landlord requires fees other than a security deposit “and these fees exceed $25, then the landlord shall return the fees … or be liable for twice the amount of the fees in damages”. Subsection (b)(2) then allows the landlord to retain “only that portion of the fees actually expended”. So charge twenty-five dollars or less and the subsection never engages; charge more and the whole fee is returnable except what you genuinely spent. The twenty-five dollars is not yours to keep — a point most published summaries get wrong. One thing comes even before that: § 8-213 sits in Subtitle 2, and § 8-201 makes that subtitle “applicable only to residential leases” and inapplicable to a tenancy where the seller of owner-occupied residential property stays in possession for not more than 60 days after settlement
What must be returned, and what you may keep
the section returns the fees, and lets you retain “only that portion … actually expended for a credit check or other expenses arising out of the application” (b)(2). On a forty-dollar fee against thirty-two dollars of screening cost, eight dollars goes back. Where nothing was spent, all of it goes back
Fifteen days, and what starts the clock
the return is due “not later than 15 days following the date of occupancy or the written communication, by either party to the other, of a decision that no tenancy shall occur” (b)(1)(ii). Note the second trigger is written, and either party may give it — the applicant’s own written withdrawal starts your clock
What the application itself must say
subsection (a) requires the application for a lease to “contain a statement which explains” both the liabilities the tenant incurs upon signing and the provisions of subsections (b) and (c). That is two items, not one, and it belongs in the application document rather than in a lease or a website
§ 8-213, subsection by subsection
§ 8-201 — the subtitle’s scope. This is the gate on everything below, because § 8-213 is a section of Subtitle 2. “(a) This subtitle is applicable only to residential leases unless otherwise provided. (b) This subtitle does not apply to a tenancy arising after the sale of owner-occupied residential property where the seller and purchaser agree that the seller may remain in possession of the property for a period of not more than 60 days after the settlement.” (a) The disclosure, and it is two items. An application for a lease “shall contain a statement which explains” (1) “the liabilities which the tenant incurs upon signing the application” and (2) “the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section”. So the application must both warn the applicant what signing commits them to and set out the refund rule and the exemption. (b)(1)(i) The duty and the remedy. Fees other than a security deposit as defined by § 8-203(a), where “these fees exceed $25”, must be returned “subject to the exceptions below, or be liable for twice the amount of the fees in damages”. (b)(1)(ii) The clock. Return “not later than 15 days following the date of occupancy or the written communication, by either party to the other, of a decision that no tenancy shall occur”. (b)(2) What may be kept. “Only that portion of the fees actually expended for a credit check or other expenses arising out of the application”; the portion not actually expended must be returned. (c) The exemption. The section “does not apply to any landlord who offers four or less dwelling units for rent on one parcel of property or at one location, or to seasonal or condominium rentals”. What this page does not cover: § 8-203, which defines the security deposit the fee is measured against, was not read for this page; no case law was researched; and no municipal ordinance was examined.
How to take a Maryland application fee correctly
Check subsection (c) before anything else
Two gates, and the subtitle’s comes first: § 8-201 makes Subtitle 2 applicable only to residential leases and inapplicable to a seller-in-possession tenancy of not more than 60 days after settlement. Then subsection (c). A landlord offering four or less dwelling units for rent on one parcel of property or at one location is outside the section entirely, as are seasonal and condominium rentals. Note the test is parcel or location, so a small holding split across sites may still qualify on the parcel limb. Whether your operation falls inside was not researched here and is worth settling first, because everything below turns on it.
Put the two-part statement in the application document itself
Subsection (a) is satisfied by the application, not by a lease, a website or a follow-up email. It has to explain the liabilities the applicant takes on by signing, and it has to explain the provisions of (b) and (c) — the refund rule and the exemption. Most applications carry neither.
Decide whether you are charging above twenty-five dollars, and price with the duty in mind
At or below the figure, the return duty never engages. Above it, the whole fee is returnable except what you actually spend, so the practical question becomes whether you will have a documented expenditure to set against it.
Keep the invoice per application, because it is the only thing that lets you retain anything
You may keep “only that portion of the fees actually expended”. A monthly bill aggregating a dozen vacancies does not show what this applicant’s fee was spent on, and the duty is owed to this applicant. Record the vendor, the date and the amount against the individual file.
Return within fifteen days, and watch which event started the clock
Either occupancy, or written communication — by either party — of a decision that no tenancy shall occur. An applicant who withdraws in writing has started your clock just as effectively as your own rejection letter. Refund the fee less what you actually spent, and keep the record: the alternative is liability for twice the fees.
About the Maryland application fee receipt
The generator above produces a dated record of the fee and the expenditure set against it — the two figures § 8-213 turns on. Maryland prescribes no form, so this is not a statutory form and is not captioned as one. It records the parties and the unit, the amount received with its date and method, the screening company used, the criteria applied, the outcome, and the refund position. One thing it does not do. It is not the subsection (a) statement: that must appear in the application document the applicant signs, must explain the liabilities signing creates as well as the provisions of (b) and (c), and no receipt issued afterwards can discharge it. And one thing it assumes. It is written for a residential lease, because § 8-201 applies Subtitle 2 only to those. Nothing is stored and there is no charge. Fields left blank print as a dash.
What § 8-213 requires you to be able to show
- That the letting is a residential lease inside Subtitle 2. § 8-201 applies the subtitle § 8-213 sits in only to residential leases, and not to a seller-in-possession tenancy of not more than 60 days after settlement.
- That the application carried the subsection (a) statement. Both limbs: the liabilities incurred on signing, and the provisions of (b) and (c).
- The amount of the fees required, and that they were not a security deposit. The section measures against “any fees other than a security deposit as defined by § 8-203(a)”.
- Whether the fees exceeded twenty-five dollars. That is the fact which engages the duty at all.
- What was actually expended, per application. The only thing you may retain, and the invoice is what evidences it.
- That what was expended was for a credit check or an expense arising out of the application. Overhead and staff time are not that.
- Which event started the fi