Non-refundable application fees charged after landlord already picked a tenant

Apartment seekers pay $50-$100 per rental application, and landlords routinely continue collecting these fees even after selecting a tenant. A typical renter applies to 5-10 properties during a search, burning $500-$1,000 on fees with zero transparency into whether they ever had a real chance. This hits hardest on lower-income renters who can least afford it, effectively creating a regressive tax on housing search. The money is gone regardless of outcome, so landlords have a perverse incentive to maximize applications rather than close quickly. This persists because application fees are pure profit for landlords and property managers -- screening reports cost $10-$30 wholesale, but the fee charged is 3-5x that. Most states have no cap or disclosure requirement, and renters have no collective bargaining power since each applicant acts alone in a competitive market.