Hawaii Rental Application Form

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   A child in the household cannot be charged anything. Section 521-46(a) permits an application screening fee only for an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older or an emancipated minor, which is a flat limit on who the charge may reach rather than on its size. The state agency's worked case is a parent applying with children aged fourteen and sixteen: no fee may be charged for either of them. The same subsection leaves a real gap that the agency flags itself, because Section 521-46 never defines applicant, so whether two adults in one household may be charged two fees is unsettled.

2. 2

   The refund clock does not start when the landlord decides. Section 521-46(c) requires the return of any amount of the application screening fee not used for the purposes the section authorizes within thirty days after the landlord has submitted screening requests. Submission is the trigger. A landlord who collects a fee, submits the requests, and then takes six weeks to pick a tenant has already run out of refund time, and an applicant waiting for an answer does not have to wait for one before the money is due. This has been the rule since May 1, 2024 and Section 521-46 has not been amended since.

3. 3

   Both transparency duties in Hawaii are triggered by asking. Section 521-46(b) provides that upon request by the applicant the landlord or the landlord's agent shall provide a receipt for payment of the application screening fee and a breakdown of costs covered by the application screening fee. Neither is owed automatically, so an applicant who never asks may never see either document. The breakdown is the one worth asking for, because with no dollar ceiling in the statute the itemized cost is the only thing the charge can be measured against.

4. 4

   The money is tied to a named list of purchases. Section 521-46(a) says the information sought may include personal reference checks, tenant reports, criminal background checks, and credit reports produced by any consumer credit reporting agency. The fee covers the costs of obtaining information about the applicant and nothing else, so advertising, staff time on unrelated work, or holding a unit are not costs it can be spent on. The enforcing agency puts the consequence plainly: where the receipt shows the fee was used to obtain information other than the information the statute authorizes, the landlord and the agent risk violating the law.

5. 5

   Hawaii does not make a landlord take a report the applicant already bought, and the agency says so rather than leaving it open. Its published guidance states that landlords and their agents are not required by law to accept a current credit report in lieu of acquiring their own, and that a prospective landlord may charge a screening fee to obtain its own information including a credit report. The same guidance notes that a landlord may, but does not have to, provide a copy of the credit report the fee paid for. Both of those are gaps the agency identifies as matters future legislation could address.

6. 6

   The screening fee is the only money Hawaii lets a landlord collect before a tenancy, and after that the door closes. Section 521-44(b) provides that the landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant at the beginning of a rental agreement any money other than the money for the first month's rent and a security deposit as provided in that section. Section 521-46 authorizes the screening fee separately and at the application stage, which is why it sits outside that bar. A move-in charge, an administration fee or a holding deposit demanded at the start of the tenancy does not.

7. 7

   The file the fee created is protected data with its own penalty. The enforcing agency points to Hawaii Revised Statutes Sections 487N-3(a) and 487R-3(a): a business holding the personal information of a Hawaii resident, or using a consumer report for a business purpose, must protect against unauthorized access, and one that does not may be liable for a penalty of not more than $2,500 for each violation in an action brought by the State Attorney General or the Executive Director of the Office of Consumer Protection. The agency also notes what Hawaii does not require, which is destruction of the report once an applicant is turned down.

Hawaii Requirements for Rental Application Form

• The Ceiling Is the Landlord's Own Cost, and No Figure Sits Beside It

  Section 521-46(a) permits a landlord or the landlord's agent to charge an application screening fee at the time the application is processed to cover the costs of obtaining information about the applicant. In force since May 1, 2024, and never amended since. There is no dollar ceiling and the omission is deliberate: the enforcing state agency records that in 2023 the Legislature considered a bill to impose a cap on the costs of a tenant screening fee and removed the cap on costs during the session, and that imposing a cap could be addressed by future legislation. Nothing about the figure is indexed and no Hawaii office publishes one, so there is no annual number to chase.

• Only an Applicant Eighteen or Over, or an Emancipated Minor, May Be Charged

  Written into Section 521-46(a) itself: a landlord or the landlord's agent shall only charge an application screening fee for an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older or an emancipated minor. A household applying with children cannot be charged per child, and the enforcing agency's published example makes the point with children aged fourteen and sixteen. The same agency flags honestly that the section does not define applicant, so whether a second adult in one household may be charged a second fee is an open question it says future legislation could address.

• A Receipt for Payment, On Request

  Section 521-46(b)(1) provides that upon request by the applicant the landlord or the landlord's agent shall provide to the applicant a receipt for payment of the application screening fee. The duty is triggered by the request rather than owed automatically, so an applicant who wants the receipt should ask for it and keep a record of having asked. The receipt is the document that fixes what was paid and when, which is what the thirty-day return obligation is measured against.

• A Breakdown of the Costs the Fee Covered, On Request

  Section 521-46(b)(2) entitles the applicant, on request, to a breakdown of costs covered by the application screening fee. Because Hawaii sets no dollar ceiling, this breakdown is the only instrument that makes a charge testable: the statute limits the fee to the costs of obtaining information about the applicant, and the enumerated purchases are personal reference checks, tenant reports, criminal background checks, and credit reports produced by any consumer credit reporting agency. The enforcing agency states the consequence of a mismatch, which is that where the receipt shows the fee was used to obtain other information the landlord and the agent risk violating the law.

• Return of the Unused Portion, Thirty Days From Submission

  Section 521-46(c) provides that a landlord or the landlord's agent shall return to the applicant any amount of the application screening fee that is not used for the purposes authorized by the section within thirty days after the landlord has submitted screening requests. The clock starts on submission of the requests, not on the decision, the lease or the move-in, which is the detail most likely to be got wrong. The enforcing agency's worked example: fifty dollars paid against thirty five dollars of actual cost means fifteen dollars back inside that window, and a person who has not received a required refund may sue the landlord for the return of the refund.

• No Other Money at the Beginning of the Tenancy

  Section 521-44(b) provides that the landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant at the beginning of a rental agreement any money other than the money for the first month's rent and a security deposit as provided in that section. The application screening fee is authorized separately by Section 521-46 and is collected before any tenancy exists, which is why it sits outside that bar rather than inside it. A move-in fee, an administration fee or a holding deposit demanded at the start of the agreement has no equivalent authorisation.

• The Screening File Is Protected Personal Information

  The enforcing agency points to Hawaii Revised Statutes Sections 487N-3(a) and 487R-3(a): a business that possesses the personal information of a Hawaii resident, or uses a consumer report for a business purpose, must protect against unauthorized access to or use of that information, and a business that violates those requirements may be liable for a penalty of not more than $2,500 for each violation in an action brought by the State Attorney General or the Executive Director of the Office of Consumer Protection. The federal disposal rule applies alongside. The agency also records what Hawaii law does not require, which is destruction of a report once an applicant has been turned down.

• No HIV Test, and the Protected Bases Stay Out of the Decision

  Section 515-3(a) makes it a discriminatory practice for an owner or any other person engaging in a real estate transaction, or for a real estate broker or salesperson, to act because of race, sex including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, color, religion, marital status, familial status, ancestry, disability, age, or human immunodeficiency virus infection. Section 515-3(a)(7) separately makes it a discriminatory practice to solicit or require, as a condition of engaging in a real estate transaction, that the buyer, renter or lessee be tested for human immunodeficiency virus infection, so a Hawaii rental application may not ask for one. Hawaii has no statewide rule restricting when a rental applicant's criminal record may be looked at, and Section 515-3 contains no source-of-income class.