Rental Application Fees and Deposits in Texas: § 92.351–§ 92.355 and When You Get Every Dollar Back

If you applied for a rental in San Antonio, paid $50–$150 to be screened, and got denied — or worse, never heard back — you may be entitled to the entire amount back, plus statutory damages. Texas Property Code §§ 92.351 through 92.355 govern what a landlord can keep, what they must disclose up front, and what happens when they act in bad faith. Most tenants eat the loss because they don't know the statute exists. Most landlords bank on exactly that.

This is the part of Chapter 92 that works before you ever sign a lease, and it has real teeth.

Application fee vs. application deposit — the distinction that controls everything

The statute (§ 92.351) splits the money you hand over into two categories, and they are not treated the same:

• Application fee — a nonrefundable charge intended to offset the landlord's actual cost of processing the application (pulling credit, running a background check, verifying employment and rental history). This one is generally keepable by the landlord even if you're rejected, provided the landlord actually used it for screening and the fee is reasonable.
• Application deposit — money you pay that is supposed to be either (a) applied to your security deposit or first month's rent if you're approved and sign a lease, or (b) refunded if you're rejected, if you withdraw, or if the landlord fails to process your application in a reasonable time.

Landlords in San Antonio routinely blur these two. You'll see "$75 application fee" on a listing, then at signing the ledger shows "$75 holding deposit, nonrefundable." Those are not the same thing legally. If the money was collected as a deposit — meaning it was meant to hold the unit while the landlord decided — it is refundable under the statute regardless of what the receipt calls it.

Read the receipt, not the ad

When you pay, get a written receipt that says what you paid and why. If the landlord lumps everything into one "application" line, ask them to split it: this much for screening, this much held against the unit. That paperwork is what you'll need later if you have to demand a refund.

The written screening criteria rule (§ 92.3515)

This is the provision most landlords violate and most tenants never invoke. Under § 92.3515, a landlord must notify an applicant in writing of the landlord's tenant selection criteria — the standards the landlord will use to accept or reject — and the grounds for which the application may be denied. Those grounds commonly include:

• Criminal history
• Previous rental history or prior evictions
• Current income
• Credit history
• Failure to provide accurate or complete information

The applicant has to sign an acknowledgment that they received the criteria. If the landlord fails to provide that written notice and acknowledgment, and then rejects you, you have a strong argument that any fee charged for the screening was not properly disclosed in the first place.

In practice, a lot of small San Antonio operators — the kind who list a duplex on a sign in the yard off South Flores or hand out paper applications at a fourplex in Converse — skip this entirely. The large management companies on the Stone Oak / 1604 corridor generally have the form; mom-and-pop landlords often do not. Either way, if you were not given written criteria and asked to sign, document that.

The 30-day refund deadline (§ 92.353)

If the landlord rejects your application, or you withdraw before the landlord makes a decision, the landlord must refund the application deposit — in full — within a reasonable time. The statute uses the 30-day benchmark that runs through most of Chapter 92. If a landlord sits on your money past 30 days after rejection, they are out of compliance.

The refund obligation applies whether the rejection was in writing or the landlord simply stopped responding. Silence does not forfeit your money. Ghosting is not a legal defense.

Bad faith liability (§ 92.354)

This is the enforcement hammer. A landlord who, in bad faith, keeps an application deposit in violation of the statute is liable to the applicant for:

• $100, plus
• Three times the amount of the application deposit wrongfully retained, plus
• Reasonable attorney's fees.

On a $200 holding deposit, that is $700 plus fees. On $500, it is $1,600 plus fees. That math is why these cases are winnable in Bexar County JP court even without a lawyer — and why they often settle the moment the landlord receives a demand letter that cites the statute by section.

And under § 92.355, any lease or application provision that purports to waive these rights is void. A clause in the application saying "all fees nonrefundable under all circumstances" does not override the Property Code.

How to demand your refund in San Antonio

The sequence that actually works, in order:

1. Written demand. Send a dated letter — email is fine, certified mail with return receipt is better — identifying the property, the amount paid, the date paid, the date of rejection or withdrawal, and citing Texas Property Code §§ 92.351–92.354. Give the landlord 10 days to refund in full. Keep a copy.
2. Escalate to the owner, not the leasing agent. If a management company screened you, the entity that collected the money is who you serve. Under § 92.201, the owner's name and address (or the management company's) must be disclosed in the lease and on-site; if you never signed a lease, you may need to search BCAD's public property records by address to identify the owner of record.
3. File in JP court. Bexar County has four JP precincts. You file in the precinct where the property sits or where the landlord's business is located. Filing fees are modest (roughly $54 plus service, as of recent cycles — confirm current amounts with the court), and the cases are filed through eFileTexas. You do not need a lawyer to sue in small claims; the court is designed for this.
4. Ask for the full § 92.354 remedy. Plead the $100 statutory amount, three times the wrongfully retained deposit, and attorney's fees. Even pro se, you can request the statutory damages.

What most people get wrong

• Treating "nonrefundable" on the receipt as the final word. It is not. The statute controls how the money is characterized, not the landlord's label. A "nonrefundable holding deposit" that functioned as an application deposit is still refundable under § 92.353.
• Confusing application fee with application deposit. The nonrefundable screening fee (reasonable, actually used for screening) is usually keepable. The holding money is not. Separate them on paper before you fight about them.
• Waiting too long. Statutes of limitation apply, and evidence gets stale. Demand in writing within weeks of the rejection, not months.
• Paying in cash without a receipt. If you pay cash at a leasing office off Perrin Beitel or at a kitchen table in Universal City, get a signed receipt on the spot with the date, amount, property address, and a description of what the money is for. Without that paper, proving your case is harder.
• Assuming the landlord has to tell you why you were rejected. They generally don't, under state law. Federal fair housing law and the FCRA require certain disclosures when credit reports drive the denial, but the Property Code does not force a reason. The refund obligation exists either way — the reason is irrelevant to whether you get your deposit back.
• Skipping the written criteria check. If you were never handed written selection criteria and asked to sign an acknowledgment, say so in your demand. That failure under § 92.3515 strengthens your position significantly.

The practical takeaway before you apply

Before you hand anyone money in a San Antonio rental search — whether it's a 1BR off Broadway, a 3BR in Converse, or a duplex in Southtown — do three things: ask for the written selection criteria up front, get an itemized receipt that separates the screening fee from any holding deposit, and keep every email. The friction you create at the front end is the leverage you'll have at the back end if things go sideways.

To skip the gauntlet of sketchy application processes entirely, browse verified listings at RentInSA.com/rentals — as of November 2026 there are 4,786 active rentals across Bexar County and the surrounding corridor, with a median asking rent of $1,700. If you need to understand more of Chapter 92 before you sign anything, the rest of our tenant rights library lives at /resources.