North Carolina tenant screening laws

No North Carolina statute setting a dollar cap on tenant screening or application fees was found after checking Chapter 42's Landlord and Tenant provisions. This is a thinner protection than states that impose a flat screening-fee cap — North Carolina generally leaves this to the lease/application agreement and market practice, subject to general consumer-protection law.

North Carolina's State Fair Housing Act (Chapter 41A) prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicapping condition, and familial status (N.C. Gen. Stat. §41A-4) — criminal history is not a listed protected category. Separately, North Carolina has a specific statute on criminal-history screening: a tenant's, occupant's, or guest's criminal record generally does not by itself make future harm "foreseeable" for landlord-liability purposes, and a landlord generally has no duty to screen for criminal history — but the same statute explicitly states it does not prohibit a landlord from using a criminal background check as grounds to deny an applicant (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-14.5, enacted by Session Law 2021-71). In effect, North Carolina protects a landlord's ability to screen and deny for criminal history rather than restricting it — the opposite of a fair-chance ordinance. Federal Fair Housing Act disparate-impact theory around blanket criminal-history bans is grounded in Inclusive Communities and the underlying statute.

North Carolina does not include source of income as a state protected class, and — importantly — a 2024 amendment to state law goes further: it now expressly bars any North Carolina city or county from adopting an ordinance that would prohibit a landlord from refusing to rent to someone because their lawful income includes a federal housing-assistance (voucher) program (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-14.1(b), added by Session Law 2024-47, §7). This is a preemption of local voucher-protection ordinances, not merely an absence of protection, and it was enacted within the last two years — worth flagging clearly to anyone assuming a city might independently protect voucher holders.

FCRA §615 (15 U.S.C. §1681m) sets the baseline: landlords generally must send an adverse action notice — identifying the reporting agency and the applicant's dispute rights — whenever a consumer report contributes to denying an application, requiring a co-signer, or charging a higher deposit or rent. No North Carolina-specific addition to this adverse-action requirement was found.

North Carolina's Tenant Security Deposit Act caps deposits based on tenancy type: generally two weeks' rent for week-to-week tenancies, one and one-half months' rent for month-to-month tenancies, and two months' rent for tenancies longer than month-to-month (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-51(b)). Deposits generally must be held in a trust account with a licensed, federally insured institution or backed by a landlord bond, with tenants notified of where the deposit is held within 30 days of lease start (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-50). On move-out, the landlord generally must send an itemized accounting and any refund within 30 days, or — if the full extent of damages can't be determined that quickly — an interim accounting within 30 days and a final accounting within 60 days; deposits generally may not be charged for normal wear and tear (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-52).

North Carolina law expressly preempts local rent control: no city or county may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged for privately owned residential or commercial rental property (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-14.1(a)). Evictions proceed through the state's summary ejectment process, generally requiring the landlord to make a demand for possession before filing, with the underlying grounds (holding over after lease expiration, breach of lease terms, or nonpayment/desertion with rent owed) set out by statute (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-26). This page does not detail every procedural notice period; landlords should confirm current notice requirements before filing.

For other major North Carolina cities — Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem — confirm any city-specific tenant-screening, fair-chance, or source-of-income requirements against each city's current code. Given North Carolina's 2024 statewide preemption of local source-of-income ordinances (above) and its long-standing preemption of local rent control, a direct check of each city's current code is still appropriate for narrower items like locally-owned public housing policies, which state law does allow cities to set for their own properties. North Carolina does not use unincorporated "county" land differently from cities in a way that changes this analysis — state preemption under §42-14.1 applies to both cities and counties by its own terms.

Does North Carolina cap tenant screening or application fees? No North Carolina statute setting a fee cap was found after searching Chapter 42; fees are generally set by the lease or application agreement.

How much can a North Carolina landlord charge for a security deposit? Generally two weeks' rent for week-to-week tenancies, one and one-half months' rent for month-to-month tenancies, and two months' rent for longer terms (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-51).

Can a North Carolina city require landlords to accept housing vouchers? No — as of a 2024 state-law amendment, North Carolina cities and counties are generally barred from adopting an ordinance that would require landlords to accept applicants whose lawful income includes federal housing assistance (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-14.1(b)).

Can a North Carolina landlord deny an applicant for a criminal record? State law does not prohibit this, and a specific statute confirms landlords may use a criminal background check as grounds to deny an applicant, while also shielding landlords from certain liability theories tied to not screening (N.C. Gen. Stat. §42-14.5).

Checkr helps landlords and property managers across North Carolina run background checks built for FCRA compliance and North Carolina's specific security-deposit and disclosure requirements. Start screening tenants with Checkr to get started today.

The resources and information provided here are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Always consult your own counsel for up-to-date legal advice and guidance related to your practices, needs, and compliance with applicable laws.