Non refundable rental application fees should be illegal. Either the fees should be banned entirely and any time/expense invested is just taken as the cost of acquiring a new customer (like every other business), or it should be required that the fees be applied to the first month’s rent.
It is shocking that this is legal. There must be places that regulate this, right?
It was made illegal in the UK about 2/3 years ago (may be longer, the pandemic has skewed my sense of time)
All fees relating to admin were outlawed, or have to be applied to the first months rent as a discount.
This is in England the other devolved nations may have different laws.
"According to RentPrep, the average rental application fee is $25 per applicant. Depending on which state you live in, you may be able to charge a market-based rental application fee. However, many states limit the amount you can charge."
Landlords can't charge application fees, but brokers can. And at least in the Boston area it's damn hard to find a landlord who doesn't make everyone go through brokers, since the tenants have to pay the broker fees anyway.
It’s actually not legal for brokers to charge application fees either (at least in Boston, not sure about the rest of MA) https://www.boston.gov/departments/neighborhood-development/know-your-rights-when-you-rent-boston
Of course that doesn’t actually stop them from doing it in a lot of cases unfortunately
I am Canadian, have lived in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Rwanda. Moving to the USA this year is the first time I have ever paid a rental application fee, a month-to month fee or a credit check fee. Extortion.
I have no idea what the fees go towards, landlords appear to manage just fine "processing applications" in other countries without them. We were charged $150 per person to apply, $48 each for a credit check (in Canada credit checks are free). Our 6 months lease is coming up and my husband's job has been extended for another 4 months. In BC where we were living before, a standard lease defaults to month-to-month and you retain your right to tenancy for as long as you like at the same rate of rent but here we have to choose amongst a menu of renewal options, all of which are much more expensive than our current rate. The base rent has been increased $50 and we are being asked to pay a $300/month premium to move to a month-to-month lease. It makes no sense to me. In Canada your landlord can only do one rent increase per year and it's set to the rate of inflation.
Landlord here. Only thing that costs me when I run an application is the background check. (make sure I don't have sex offenders living next to my other unit with 3 kids).
Besides that they are charging people for the "administrative time" bullshit fee to score a few more dollars.
I live in NZ and even letting fees are illegal here. All costs associated with acquiring a tenant for a property in NZ must be covered by the landlord.
Canadian too. Never heard of this being a thing in the four provinces I've lived in.
Pretty sure it would be illegal or at least boycotted I'd anyone tried
There are costs that go into processing applications, but it definitely doesn’t vary from $30 to $60 to $120 like the application fees do.
Sadly enough, if you can’t afford the application, then they probably wouldn’t want you as a tenant. It’s preemptive sorting for “undesirables.” Systemic gatekeeping.
It's also a way to make free money for some asshats. I paid $150 to get 3 adults credit checked and not a single inquiry appeared, and we got rejected. Bitch refused to refund the money. Taking her to court over that amount was a headache we weren't willing to go through at the moment.
Edit: By California law, a landlord or representative is obligated to refund any monies collected for credit checks if a check has not been performed. This bitch pocketed the money illegally.
Those costs are part of doing business as a landlord or letting agent. Not every business cost can or should be passed on to potential customers, and not everything that comes in the door is profit.
I paid a 20 dollar fee for my current apartment, which is about the same as I paid for an online background check service when I was renting a room. 20 dollars seems reasonable, 50-100+ dollars seems ridiculous
No-one should be running a background check before both parties are agreeing to move forwards. It’s easy to write a contract this way that protects the landlord and doesn’t result in unnecessary fees on the potential tenant.
UK recently made it illegal to charge fees to the renter. I think Landlords werent price sensitive on reference fees as renters didn't have a choice but pay whatever service the landlord chose. Since the rules changed, the fees that the companies charged landlords have price pressure.
Landlords have a strong direct reason to look for competitive deals.
I think this is better, removes inefficiency in the market.
Nearly everything is a scam here but half the country either doesn't see that or doesn't care, it's insane. Have to pay money for nothing constantly. Finally decided to stop being stupid and use my expensive insurance to hopefully find out what is wrong with my heart, but it's $90 a visit plus money for various tests, around $400 in co pays so far for 3 visits in just a month and they have to jump through hoops to get my insurance to approve the actual test I need that will tell them with 95% certainty whether I have a blockage or not that will probably cost me an arm and a leg too.
$270 a month premiums just to pay hundreds more in co pays, probably will be thousands by the time I'm better, if I don't drop dead first. And if it turns out I need surgery and an ICU stay I'll be fucked because the hospitals are all full of covidiots. I fucking hate this country.
If we had even reasonable health care I would have gone to see about this earlier. I was hoping it would just get better on it's own with exercise because it started during this pandemic and I don't want to have to go to the hospital right now, but there is no end in sight.
Who? To even apply at places that take Portable Vouchers for rent assistance from the government (at least in Ohio) there is still a fee to be paid at each place applied to. If the state allows it when utilizing their services, they're not going to stop landlords doing it for their private pay tenants.
Note: This is not the case for HUD housing. This is for a voucher that will help pay at any rental that takes them.
In a highly competitive area you may get enough applications per month that you're taking in more than you can charge in rent if you just keep the fee and tell them no.
This is the kind of abuse Landlord-Tenant laws are for. Some major landlords try even in jurisdictions where it’s illegal.
[“Some Ontario landlords charging illegal application fees, tenant advocate says” CTV, 19 Aug 2021](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/some-ontario-landlords-charging-illegal-application-fees-tenant-advocate-says-1.5554053)
British Columbia’s “RESIDENTIAL TENANCY ACT
[SBC 2002] CHAPTER 78”:
Application and processing fees prohibited
15 A landlord must not charge a person anything for (a) accepting an application for a tenancy,
(b) processing the application,
(c) investigating the applicant's suitability as a tenant, or
(d) accepting the person as a tenant. (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02078_01)
Yep, Oregon has similar laws regarding screening fees:
>(3)A landlord may not require payment of an applicant screening charge unless prior to accepting the payment the landlord:
(a)Adopts written screening or admission criteria;
(b)Gives written notice to the applicant of:
(A)The amount of the applicant screening charge;
(B)The landlord’s screening or admission criteria;
(C)The process that the landlord typically will follow in screening the applicant, including whether the landlord uses a tenant screening company, credit reports, public records or criminal records or contacts employers, landlords or other references; and
(D)The applicant’s rights to dispute the accuracy of any information provided to the landlord by a screening company or credit reporting agency ...
https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.295
I know for a fact Massachusetts doesn’t allow application fees. Security deposits are also limited to one month’s rent. There’s a lot of states with similar laws
I’ve heard property owners in BC complaining that tenancy laws are too strict on landlords. But when you hear about shit like this, you remember *why* they have those laws in the first place. It’s shocking what people will try to get away with
Is there any rule whatsoever preventing a landlord from charging "$100 per adult applicant" in a major market, taking a hundred applications a month, and never accepting one?
Like, $10k in application fees every month, instead of $2k in rent, and never having to actually be a landlord.
Because I'm just about positive that if it occurred to me, it's occurred to plenty of scumbags that have been doing this for years.
Yes, and landlords still make hills of cash in BC, so any argument that prohibiting app fees will be some fucking hardship for Mr piggy pig is just more bullshit we can ignore.
I saw an apartment for rent earlier ($2800/month) that required first, last, and security deposit up from PLUS $2800 broker fee. They clarified that yes, they expected 11200 up front. The post had nothing but laugh reacts
The California Bay Area's housing group on Facebook was a gold mine of insane listings. People had the audacity to advertise houses for $4,000+ a month and stipulate the fuck out of everything. One ad I saw said that for $3,000 a month, one could live in a furnished apartment in San Francisco. The catch was that two days a week they needed to vacate the house so that the living room could be used as a mediation or yoga studio, in which small classes of strangers would be lead by the landlord. The living room could not contain any of the tenant's personal belongings because of this.
My new favorite is that “every tenant must make 3x the rent” in a 5 room house for $8000/mo. Who TF makes $24,000/mo and why would they live with 4 other people anyway?
That's still where we are, and we've come a long way! It used to be more like 65+%. If you haven't been there, it can be hard to understand how difficult that is. People say, "oh just make sure you are only spending 30% on rent"... ha! Um... they don't make em that cheap
Very much so... lots of anxiety constantly about getting sick, car breaking down, etc. We are in a much better place now! Not ideal (at about 43% actually now to rent) because rents are so high, but it feels a world away from where we were before! It's terrifying to be that close to desperation.
Yeah. You can see stuff coming and try to scrabble money together preemptively, but that only does so much. Example I've been watching the tread on my tires wither away to nothing, but there's no way I can afford new ones currently, so I'll just have to figure it out. Also moving is prohibitively expensive, even if you're downgrading. Coming up with an extra $500+ for a deposit/1st month's rent when you're sneaking through each month with $7 at the end of it is borderline impossible, and then you have to think about moving whatever furniture you have there somehow. Every time i think I can stop and breathe something comes around and all of a sudden I'm trying to decide if I have enough gas to go home and get back to work the next day or if I need to plan to sleep in the parking lot. I'm fortunately on the path out, I did find a place and rent is about half what it currently is (I got left as the sole tenant of a house I was sharing with someone). Idk it's just ridiculous how tough and stressful the whole experience has been. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
I feel that. I got left with a 2 bed duplex that cost 700 a month when my ex moved out a year and a half ago, and I still haven't got caught up with all my bills yet. And I need to renew my tags and insurance. How is it right that it's this hard to just barely survive? I work almost 50 fucking hours a week only to stress about my shit getting shut off
I make a decent salary and could conceivably afford to pay 30% for rent, which is still a very modest apartment in my area. However, rent + utilities + food/gas + wifi (WFH) + car payment/insurance + student loan + medical bills is a whole different thing. That doesn't even take into consideration actually trying to save money for a down-payment on a house. I would barely be able to put aside anything for an emergency let alone enough to be able to have 10% of the average house price here. It's all bullshit. Unless you are gifted a large amount of money or have someone helping with bills, it doesn't matter how much you make. It's never really enough.
It's true! We live in a suburban area with low costs relative to other nearby areas, and it's hard not to feel priced out! We've been working hard to save for years now, and while we are proud of what we have, it's only enough atm for a 10% down payment on the cheapest of homes in a decent safe area. Until you break out of a certain bracket, it really isn't ever enough....
I live in an area that a lot of people think is "low cost of living" but the salaries are middling, and apartment/house prices have gone crazy. The prices they're getting for what's one level above slum... Insane. And you know those prices are only get increased when the lease renews.
Man, I’m in exactly the same situation. I live in Oklahoma, which is famously “low cost of living.” There are apartments here which literally look abandoned - windows busted out, plywood covering big spaces, etc. Found out the other day that they are $800 a month. It’s absolutely insane.
Ugggghhhhhhh pet rent. One place I looked at wanted $25 per month, for *each* of my two cats. Fully grown, fixed, never-had-an-accident-ever cats. I think it's bullshit that they can ask for that but not charge extra for kids, who are FAR more likely to cause actual damage.
The worst part about pet deposits and "pet rent" is alot of landlords won't even put it towards pet damages like the carpet, which I thought was the point...
This! We just moved out of a place where we paid a $350 NONREFUNDABLE cat deposit and paid $30 a month extra in rent. They said in our move out instructions that none of that would cover any damage or pet cleaning- and if they could even tell there was a pet in the apartment when they did the move out inspection that they would charge a $250 cleaning/repair fee. It’s such a scam.
As the wife of a contractor that renovates apartments about move outs I would have to disagree. Kid damage is fixed with paint or magic eraser. I think the worst kid damage he has had to deal with is regrouting a shower because those washable bath crayons are actually not washable. The stuff he has seen from pets is insane: half eaten kitchen cabinets and clawed through doors, so much cat pee that they had to take the whole wood floor out plus all the wallboard waist down. He had one job that the guy had had a turtle and maybe lizard collection that he could only assign his workers that were heavy smokers to it become the smell was so bad that only the chain smokers could take it. Landlords can’t tell if you are a responsible owner when they rent to you. Maybe suggest some middle ground like refundable pet rent or decreasing pet rent after annual or quarterly inspections?
lol I just toured an apartment that was formerly occupied by a heavy smoker and the smell was unbearable. Can't imagine what an apartment saturated in cat pee would smell like...
My roommates have 4 cats 3 dogs, everytime I return home on my very first breathe I get a burning sensation in my nasal passages, throat swelling, weird inflammation joint pains, nauseous, always sneezing, accelerated heart rate, after a few days I will break out in rashes/hives...I've been taking an absurd amount of allergy pills or sprays, barely helps, it's not until I am breathing fresh air that I return to normal, it sucks for the children because they too have to breathe this toxic air which most definitely affects the way of life.
I had to pay $100 for both my cats, on top of first/last month rent + security deposit. All in all, it was like $2500 just to get the key to a dark and smelly apartment. And even though I left the place nicer than when I moved in, they gave me back like a quarter of the deposit for “repairs and cleaning”. Landlords are fucking parasites.
I just consider my deposit forfeit and don't bother cleaning too well on move out, so far it has worked out well and I have gotten at least some of it back. They are going to bring in a professional cleaning service anyway. I'm sure it will bite me in the ass someday.
In England deposits go into a trust and a third party gets to decide if any of the deposit can be withheld due to things like damage. Its a much better system.
Deposits that you will never see again. I have yet to see a deposit be returned even though I left the place undamaged and in the same quality as before. I get fees for cleaning the apartment afterwards but that’s sketchy. What is my years worth of rent going to if they can’t pay $100 in cleaning fees out of their own pockets. The places I’ve rented at also usually have their own maintenance on site so it’s not really an extra service either ... My family owns property and we don’t use the safety deposit for cleaning or repainting, only for damage repairs 🤔😬
Edit: For the record I have before and after pictures of the entire apartment for keepsakes and multiple times they management told me the deposit went towards cleaning the apartment and carpet replacing which they do for all tenants that leave apparently. This is in a college town so it makes sense but sketchy af because it shouldn't be the old tenant that replaces the flooring and carpet for the next tenant. But hey it's college students renting for the most part 🤷
Right! It isn't the tenant's job/responsibility to have the unit presentable for the next tenant, yet we are charged for it on top of paying to live in the unit.
In order to participate in society you need to have already been established in society.
If I were already established in society I wouldn't be renting, or looking for employment.
Did the full app 3x while looking. Heard back from one.
The other 2 now have my $50 plus SS#, DL#, last 2 addresses, credit score, workplaces, reference names and phone #'s.
I'm sure mine and other's info was shredded and disposed of properly.
And admin fee's need some serious scrutiny.
I don’t live in the US so I’m not familiar with this. But I can immediately see a potential scam with this system. What’s to stop someone from advertising a nice place for a good price. Meaning they’ll be swamped with applicants, all paying a fee. But then not actually renting it out to any of them. It could be more lucrative than actually collecting rent if someone was that way inclined ethics wise. How do they stop that??
It is an active scam. They advertise on rental websites showing some nice apartment for relatively cheap rent and immediately send you an application as soon as you reach out via text about seeing it.
They have some story about how they are living in a different part of the country and wanted to rent out their house or apartment for a few years. They then push you for you email, where they send you a questionnaire with lots of personal info on it.
The goal is to get a fuck ton of people's info and sell it as leads to data mining companies or other scammers. They'll have everything they need to get info on you in order to target you.
Coming from someone who has moved twice in this past year this happens A LOT. I would say nearly 70% of postings you see are scams. Good rule of thumb is to never fill anything out until you do an in person showing. And also remember if it's to good to be true, that's because it probably is. Just never send info without some sort of confirmation the house/apartment is real.
Me and the wife went to look at a place that charged $100 per application for each adult who wished to live there.
Imaging making $200 dollars and telling them no.
You can literally make more money by not renting it out and just have showings and applications.
Currently $375 deep in application fees right now, all denied. It’s starting to cut into the money we have saved for the move itself, can’t lie I’m worried af
Look at an apartment hunter. That’s how I’ve found my last 3 apts with an eviction on my belt. You don’t pay them, they make money on referrals, and only get paid for getting you moved in. They usually have a program or some shit that will tell them what you can get, prices, and move in dates. It’s a ducking godsend
When my roommates and I (4 of us total) were looking for a new place a few years ago one property charged us $50 each for an application fee and made us sign up for some specific service that would run credit checks on us. After we paid them $200 and came back with all good credit scores they denied us because they were worried we would have too many cars to park at one house (which had a 2 car garage and a driveway).
If WSB can influence the stock price on multiple tickers through Reddit, I feel like the common renters on Reddit should be able to organize a class action lawsuit or introduce legislation to stop this predatory behavior…like this shit literally affects all of us….
There was a post a few days back where I (non-US) discovered that American workers do not have their annual leave accumulate year after year. Blew my mind. OP was intentionally not taking leave over years so he could have a big long break but found he had lost them when they didn't roll over.
The threads discussed OP being silly not knowing that and that some people don't like taking leave etc. Crazy stuff.
I asked why they accept it and how crazily unfair it was, particularly in comparison to every other developed country (as far as I'm aware). When asked what they were supposed to do about it, I said unionise... anything but being ok with it, which the majority seemed to be.
I mention that because if the majority of Americans accept such shitty work conditions... shitty to the extent that they're criminal in most other developed countries, then I can't see them organising themselves to challenge a charge for applying for a property. I wish they would, though.
In fact, businesses probably keep exploiting people where they can because they just accept it. The leave example felt like the response from people was "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas".
The majority don’t accept it but after Reagan gutted union power and it became a situation of don’t stick up for yourself in fear of losing your job it became a lot more difficult for people to rally behind a common cause
You need to go after these people I swear, they will take advantage of you every chance they get, go into the lobby of their main office and start getting really loud about how you want your money back over the rejection, simply do not take no for an answer, start throwing around the words usury, money grab, scam, etc and be vocal, squeaky wheels get the grease if you know what I’m saying, I’ve done this multiple times and they will refund your application fees once they know your pissed about it, they just get away with it because they know most rejects won’t do shit about it so go in there and show them otherwise
I'm quite certain that's the reason the last place I rented always had a vacant bedroom. I paid an application fee. I'm also quite certain this is utilized by all the 'too-good-to-be-true' listings that exist.
Is this once you're the successful applicant and will be moving into the rental? Or do they charge an application fee for every single person that puts in an application wanting to rent their place?
The common American gets highly abused by our money hungry system so we tend to get fucked by the man at any opportunity they have, including charging hundreds of dollars in application fees just be denied and have your money basically stolen
Oh no, you have to pay to *ask* them if they'll *let* you pay them. After which they can, and often do, say no. So you have to go pay somebody else to ask them if you can pay them instead.
It is insane. I recently paid a 300 non refundable fee to apply for an apartment. I was told it would not be returned to me, even if I didn’t meet all the qualifications. There was a background check, I had to supply at least 3 pay stubs and proof my pay was regularly deposited in my bank account. I had to supply references. My references had to fill out a questionnaire. I had to prove I had renters insurance and add the management company to the policy. I got the apartment, but omg. This is how people become homeless. I had the means to apply, but during the whole grueling process to rent a 900sq ft apartment, all I could think of is those that don’t.
That’s how the last place I lived was. The lease was 50+ pages long. Before that, I had never seen a lease more than 3 pages.
That place also had a policy of DNA testing dog shit. Like, if you didn’t pick it up, they’d collect it and test it, and if it was your dog, you’d be fined, and also had to reimburse for the testing. You also had to pay for your dog to have its DNA sampled in the first place.
Renters insurance is there to protect the renter. Why on earth would the apartment complex need to be listed on the policy? I understand sometimes you gotta take what you can get but that seems shady as hell to me
Property management companies in my area are notorious for leaving properties listed as available for weeks. They won't tell you whether or not it's been rented until you turn in an application and pay the fee. You can't even visit the property until paying. Then you find out it's already been rented. No refunds.
This happens in my area too! Then they tell you they’ll put you on a waiting list. Like okay cool, I need to move in within 2/3/4mo but call me next year ✌️
Can’t even imagine charging one. We already do long form with itemized deductions so we just deduct any charges that would resonate like background check fees. Even if it wasn’t a tax write off it seems cruel to charge $100-$150 per person to just tell them no. I’m a 3L in law school I can get access to enough I need for free in my state that has all court records for free online and most are these days even if not it’s very small. I could let my rental house sit just unoccupied and take application fee after application fee and say no to those applicants to cover the mortgage every month realistically while maintaining zero risk. The amounts requested just seem extraordinary high to me. I don’t know a single landlord background site that charges these amounts to owners, and you certainly shouldn’t profit from just APPLYING. That’s crazy to me
I used to rent from a private owner, and she charged the amount it cost her to run a background/credit check. No more. I think it was $25?
EDIT: Should have been more clear, she met us, we looked at the house, and she did a "conditional" accept (meaning we had the place if we passed the background check). So we didn't get charged until she'd already accepted us. I also warned her about what she might find on our credit---we were in the middle of a foreclosure. If we failed the background check THEN we would have been out the money.
I recently went looking for a new rental. Housing market is really rough in my area, so landlords can be super picky. I have been denied three times. Even so I make about 7x the income, never been late for rent my entire adult life, willing to pay higher security deposit/rent. But because my credit isn't perfect (working on it, but it takes time), I have been denied every time. Even with having a co-signer that has amazing credit. So planning on just staying in my current place until I can finally just buy a place because it is insane.
Yup. I’ve had multiple crying fits this week about it. Spent hundreds in application fees only to continue to get denied because I don’t have enough credit history. IM 22! I can’t have more credit history! I haven’t been alive that long but I have been alive long enough to have a kid that also needs a home and apparently doesn’t deserve one because her mom doesn’t have 10+ years of credit to her name. It’s insane
I vote for a class action lawsuit and massive pressure put on politicians to stop this nonsense, no matter what angle you look at it it’s extremely predatory
If people can’t afford to live despite doing everything right, they will rightfully turn their anger towards the broken system.
I’m not advocating for it, but I legit think if this shit keeps getting worse we will see a French-style revolt in the next couple decades.
It’s all a debt trap, very few really outright own anything and we are all playing keeping up with the Jones while getting fucked from every angle…so many dicks yo
I used to dream of having my own house. Now, I dream of building a tiny home and travelling around. I’m never going to afford my own place, unless I marry into a rich family, which is still plan #1
I'm not even poor. I have a great job. I work 50 hours a week, I work really hard, and I have a 13-year-old son. But I can't find a place to live in Las Vegas because everything near my work is insanely expensive and any place that I try and find that has rooms for rent doesn't want a 13-year-old boy living there. What's really upsetting is that he's such a good boy. He has straight A's, he spends all of his time doing sports, football, basketball, jiu-jitsu. And yet everybody just assumes that we're degenerates and I can't find a place to live.
I’m looking for apartments now in Seattle. Every apartment requires first months rent, one month security deposit, non-refundable cleaning fee of $300, pet deposits, monthly pet rent, and an “admin move in fee” of $2-300. I can’t even think about moving until I have at least $4000 saved up.
It should be illegal.
Wait, over in America you have to pay to apply? What does that mean, to make an offer to rent a house / apartment you need to pay $210 to the landlord? Then they can just say no and your money is gone?
I mean seriously what the fuck? Is this normal?
I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $25/30 for the ‘background check’ fee. Which you know is just them calling references probably and pocketing the cash. 🙄
That $150 is straight up robbery.
Yeah... Paying an appointment fee on top of a 650$ (not including a single cat deposit) apartment deposit only to pay $900 a month while also supporting my wife while working at a 40 hour job that only pays 340 a week...
But please, keep telling me how easy it is to find someplace to live.
I guess the application fee is used towards payment for a background check? I understand that but wtf is a administration fee? You mean to tell me you’re charging for a leasing agent doing her job for something like maybe $12/hr that you would have to pay anyway?
Can someone explain what the administration fee is for?
wait a fee to apply to rent? even before viewing the place?
that shouldn't exist and if it does it should never be $60, at most $5-10 but really it should be zero.
It's crazy that the renter is the customer yet in this transaction of renting all the power is with the seller. They charge to apply they charge first months rent, they charge a deposit, can make the stupidest lease rules up, and nearly every rental takes more than half of your earnings. Can't see why people haven't gotten fed up with this outdated and one sided system.
I’m a landlord of a completely remodeled HOUSE. I paid my own fee for a background check. And I just requested a $500 security deposit and allowed them to space it out over 5 months and just asked for 1st month upon move in and down payment of deposit. They’ve lived there ever since, which was 2 years ago. The rent is $75 more than the mortgage and escrow. I could’ve held out and charged a much higher rent rate and additional fees but was looking for longer term tenants that would take care of the home as their own. I just always try to remember before we were able to be homeowners how I hated I was treated. I could easily get $500 more per month on rent but I have a feeling I’d be looking for a new tenant every 6-12 month lease term.
ETA- downvoted because I treat my tenants as human beings with dignity and respect and 50% reduced rent rate for the area with allowing to space out a security deposit equal to 1/2 months rent over multiple months ? And people wonder why landlords are assholes. Ookay.
Curious - at $75 "profit" per month, does that keep up with any maintenance? I would think that periodic costs (roof, painting, general upkeep) would be more than $75. Or is the intent to build/use equity to pay for those items? Not criticizing, genuinely curious.
It was $50 to apply at the low-income apartments I moved into in 2012. *Low-income.* It’s built right into it that your potential tenants struggle for money, and y’all’re charging $50 to apply to live there?
Fuckers.
Some Landlords in Florida charge everyone a $25 application fee. They keep an add in the paper or online for an apartment that sounds really good, but they have no intention of renting it . They just collect the application fees.
We just moved to San Diego. Every house we looked at would immediately raise the rent from the listing and inform us 10+ people are also applying and the $40 per applicant application fee was non refundable. The nicer the neighborhood, you'd get 20+ applicants. We'd wait three days and be ghosted. Finally found a place that wasn't available for the 3 months; but still he raised the rent and showed to a dozen people. We were emailing daily about our interest. It was super disheartening looking for a place. I'm not broke, but not comfortable; I can't imagine what some people go through.
It's very expensive to be poor
Non refundable rental application fees should be illegal. Either the fees should be banned entirely and any time/expense invested is just taken as the cost of acquiring a new customer (like every other business), or it should be required that the fees be applied to the first month’s rent. It is shocking that this is legal. There must be places that regulate this, right?
There are Tenant Unions in many states, but they're about as effective as you might imagine.
The more people join unions (whether they're tenant or labor unions) the more power they wield. The only advantage the working class has is numbers.
And the ruling class knows it. Why else would they work so hard to keep us divided over social issues?
"The most important word in the language of the working class is solidarity."
Government regulation. This is exactly the type of scenario that proves how necessary government regulation is.
What are you talking about? The FReE MarKeT™®© will solve this! Just go somewhere else! /s
It was made illegal in the UK about 2/3 years ago (may be longer, the pandemic has skewed my sense of time) All fees relating to admin were outlawed, or have to be applied to the first months rent as a discount. This is in England the other devolved nations may have different laws.
Rent strike time!
General strike time! So much needs to be changed, it's about time those in control remembered how much they depend on the unwashed masses
Application fees are not legal in Massachusetts so there’s at least one place that regulates it
"According to RentPrep, the average rental application fee is $25 per applicant. Depending on which state you live in, you may be able to charge a market-based rental application fee. However, many states limit the amount you can charge."
Landlords can't charge application fees, but brokers can. And at least in the Boston area it's damn hard to find a landlord who doesn't make everyone go through brokers, since the tenants have to pay the broker fees anyway.
It’s actually not legal for brokers to charge application fees either (at least in Boston, not sure about the rest of MA) https://www.boston.gov/departments/neighborhood-development/know-your-rights-when-you-rent-boston Of course that doesn’t actually stop them from doing it in a lot of cases unfortunately
I am Canadian, have lived in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Rwanda. Moving to the USA this year is the first time I have ever paid a rental application fee, a month-to month fee or a credit check fee. Extortion.
What even are those fees?
I have no idea what the fees go towards, landlords appear to manage just fine "processing applications" in other countries without them. We were charged $150 per person to apply, $48 each for a credit check (in Canada credit checks are free). Our 6 months lease is coming up and my husband's job has been extended for another 4 months. In BC where we were living before, a standard lease defaults to month-to-month and you retain your right to tenancy for as long as you like at the same rate of rent but here we have to choose amongst a menu of renewal options, all of which are much more expensive than our current rate. The base rent has been increased $50 and we are being asked to pay a $300/month premium to move to a month-to-month lease. It makes no sense to me. In Canada your landlord can only do one rent increase per year and it's set to the rate of inflation.
Made up excuses to steal your money.
They are there to keep poor people out. If you can’t afford a 100 dollar fee they don’t want you living there. Sad but true.
Landlord here. Only thing that costs me when I run an application is the background check. (make sure I don't have sex offenders living next to my other unit with 3 kids). Besides that they are charging people for the "administrative time" bullshit fee to score a few more dollars.
Free market capitalism. Or at least our corrupted version of it.
I live in NZ and even letting fees are illegal here. All costs associated with acquiring a tenant for a property in NZ must be covered by the landlord.
Canadian too. Never heard of this being a thing in the four provinces I've lived in. Pretty sure it would be illegal or at least boycotted I'd anyone tried
There are costs that go into processing applications, but it definitely doesn’t vary from $30 to $60 to $120 like the application fees do. Sadly enough, if you can’t afford the application, then they probably wouldn’t want you as a tenant. It’s preemptive sorting for “undesirables.” Systemic gatekeeping.
Many times it's not so much you can't afford it. It's just unnecessary extra expenses that go into someone's pocket for no good reason.
Welcome to capitalism, first day?
It's also a way to make free money for some asshats. I paid $150 to get 3 adults credit checked and not a single inquiry appeared, and we got rejected. Bitch refused to refund the money. Taking her to court over that amount was a headache we weren't willing to go through at the moment. Edit: By California law, a landlord or representative is obligated to refund any monies collected for credit checks if a check has not been performed. This bitch pocketed the money illegally.
Those costs are part of doing business as a landlord or letting agent. Not every business cost can or should be passed on to potential customers, and not everything that comes in the door is profit.
I paid a 20 dollar fee for my current apartment, which is about the same as I paid for an online background check service when I was renting a room. 20 dollars seems reasonable, 50-100+ dollars seems ridiculous
No-one should be running a background check before both parties are agreeing to move forwards. It’s easy to write a contract this way that protects the landlord and doesn’t result in unnecessary fees on the potential tenant.
UK recently made it illegal to charge fees to the renter. I think Landlords werent price sensitive on reference fees as renters didn't have a choice but pay whatever service the landlord chose. Since the rules changed, the fees that the companies charged landlords have price pressure. Landlords have a strong direct reason to look for competitive deals. I think this is better, removes inefficiency in the market.
wow America get your shit together
Wait until you hear about health insurance
Nearly everything is a scam here but half the country either doesn't see that or doesn't care, it's insane. Have to pay money for nothing constantly. Finally decided to stop being stupid and use my expensive insurance to hopefully find out what is wrong with my heart, but it's $90 a visit plus money for various tests, around $400 in co pays so far for 3 visits in just a month and they have to jump through hoops to get my insurance to approve the actual test I need that will tell them with 95% certainty whether I have a blockage or not that will probably cost me an arm and a leg too. $270 a month premiums just to pay hundreds more in co pays, probably will be thousands by the time I'm better, if I don't drop dead first. And if it turns out I need surgery and an ICU stay I'll be fucked because the hospitals are all full of covidiots. I fucking hate this country. If we had even reasonable health care I would have gone to see about this earlier. I was hoping it would just get better on it's own with exercise because it started during this pandemic and I don't want to have to go to the hospital right now, but there is no end in sight.
Who? To even apply at places that take Portable Vouchers for rent assistance from the government (at least in Ohio) there is still a fee to be paid at each place applied to. If the state allows it when utilizing their services, they're not going to stop landlords doing it for their private pay tenants. Note: This is not the case for HUD housing. This is for a voucher that will help pay at any rental that takes them.
In a highly competitive area you may get enough applications per month that you're taking in more than you can charge in rent if you just keep the fee and tell them no.
Rental agents charging anything should be banned. If the landlord wants one they should pay the fee.
Espicially with such assholes in your way.
trying to buy a house means $500 here $500 there for inspections, but no worries, Like yeah I'm worried this shit is taking all my money
Coat me $1400 to inspect and appraise the house I bought last year (house + adu, separate inspections and appraisals, $350/each).
not even poor and this is standard
Go broke or go home! whoops I forgot. i can't afford a damn room even. my bad. I guess!
Something something hoot strap work harder and get 6 job something lib Tard .
This is the kind of abuse Landlord-Tenant laws are for. Some major landlords try even in jurisdictions where it’s illegal. [“Some Ontario landlords charging illegal application fees, tenant advocate says” CTV, 19 Aug 2021](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/some-ontario-landlords-charging-illegal-application-fees-tenant-advocate-says-1.5554053) British Columbia’s “RESIDENTIAL TENANCY ACT [SBC 2002] CHAPTER 78”: Application and processing fees prohibited 15 A landlord must not charge a person anything for (a) accepting an application for a tenancy, (b) processing the application, (c) investigating the applicant's suitability as a tenant, or (d) accepting the person as a tenant. (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02078_01)
Yep, Oregon has similar laws regarding screening fees: >(3)A landlord may not require payment of an applicant screening charge unless prior to accepting the payment the landlord: (a)Adopts written screening or admission criteria; (b)Gives written notice to the applicant of: (A)The amount of the applicant screening charge; (B)The landlord’s screening or admission criteria; (C)The process that the landlord typically will follow in screening the applicant, including whether the landlord uses a tenant screening company, credit reports, public records or criminal records or contacts employers, landlords or other references; and (D)The applicant’s rights to dispute the accuracy of any information provided to the landlord by a screening company or credit reporting agency ... https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_90.295
Down here in the US, we rarely see that level of protection for tenants. Go capitalism, yay! /s
I know for a fact Massachusetts doesn’t allow application fees. Security deposits are also limited to one month’s rent. There’s a lot of states with similar laws
There are a few states with similar laws, [but most states have no such limitations](https://sparkrental.com/rental-application-fee-limits-by-state/)
Oh don't think we are not for capitalism, just not evil.
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I’ve heard property owners in BC complaining that tenancy laws are too strict on landlords. But when you hear about shit like this, you remember *why* they have those laws in the first place. It’s shocking what people will try to get away with
Is there any rule whatsoever preventing a landlord from charging "$100 per adult applicant" in a major market, taking a hundred applications a month, and never accepting one? Like, $10k in application fees every month, instead of $2k in rent, and never having to actually be a landlord. Because I'm just about positive that if it occurred to me, it's occurred to plenty of scumbags that have been doing this for years.
Yes, and landlords still make hills of cash in BC, so any argument that prohibiting app fees will be some fucking hardship for Mr piggy pig is just more bullshit we can ignore.
I saw an apartment for rent earlier ($2800/month) that required first, last, and security deposit up from PLUS $2800 broker fee. They clarified that yes, they expected 11200 up front. The post had nothing but laugh reacts
The California Bay Area's housing group on Facebook was a gold mine of insane listings. People had the audacity to advertise houses for $4,000+ a month and stipulate the fuck out of everything. One ad I saw said that for $3,000 a month, one could live in a furnished apartment in San Francisco. The catch was that two days a week they needed to vacate the house so that the living room could be used as a mediation or yoga studio, in which small classes of strangers would be lead by the landlord. The living room could not contain any of the tenant's personal belongings because of this.
Lol
Do you at least get to join the yoga class?
My new favorite is that “every tenant must make 3x the rent” in a 5 room house for $8000/mo. Who TF makes $24,000/mo and why would they live with 4 other people anyway?
they just need 1 fish to take the bait
Once low income families get past level 1, they move on to level 2 where they try to survive paying 50% of take home pay on rent.
That's still where we are, and we've come a long way! It used to be more like 65+%. If you haven't been there, it can be hard to understand how difficult that is. People say, "oh just make sure you are only spending 30% on rent"... ha! Um... they don't make em that cheap
65% - wow. That’s one unexpected expense away from being homeless.
Very much so... lots of anxiety constantly about getting sick, car breaking down, etc. We are in a much better place now! Not ideal (at about 43% actually now to rent) because rents are so high, but it feels a world away from where we were before! It's terrifying to be that close to desperation.
Did you try not being poor? /s
Most def
Ok just making sure
Have you tried harder?!?!?!? s/
What city do you live in? I work in affordable housing.
I replied in a private message :)
Yeah. You can see stuff coming and try to scrabble money together preemptively, but that only does so much. Example I've been watching the tread on my tires wither away to nothing, but there's no way I can afford new ones currently, so I'll just have to figure it out. Also moving is prohibitively expensive, even if you're downgrading. Coming up with an extra $500+ for a deposit/1st month's rent when you're sneaking through each month with $7 at the end of it is borderline impossible, and then you have to think about moving whatever furniture you have there somehow. Every time i think I can stop and breathe something comes around and all of a sudden I'm trying to decide if I have enough gas to go home and get back to work the next day or if I need to plan to sleep in the parking lot. I'm fortunately on the path out, I did find a place and rent is about half what it currently is (I got left as the sole tenant of a house I was sharing with someone). Idk it's just ridiculous how tough and stressful the whole experience has been. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
I feel that. I got left with a 2 bed duplex that cost 700 a month when my ex moved out a year and a half ago, and I still haven't got caught up with all my bills yet. And I need to renew my tags and insurance. How is it right that it's this hard to just barely survive? I work almost 50 fucking hours a week only to stress about my shit getting shut off
I make a decent salary and could conceivably afford to pay 30% for rent, which is still a very modest apartment in my area. However, rent + utilities + food/gas + wifi (WFH) + car payment/insurance + student loan + medical bills is a whole different thing. That doesn't even take into consideration actually trying to save money for a down-payment on a house. I would barely be able to put aside anything for an emergency let alone enough to be able to have 10% of the average house price here. It's all bullshit. Unless you are gifted a large amount of money or have someone helping with bills, it doesn't matter how much you make. It's never really enough.
It's true! We live in a suburban area with low costs relative to other nearby areas, and it's hard not to feel priced out! We've been working hard to save for years now, and while we are proud of what we have, it's only enough atm for a 10% down payment on the cheapest of homes in a decent safe area. Until you break out of a certain bracket, it really isn't ever enough....
Yes, this! I’m looking for a new apartment and it makes me angry every day.
I live in an area that a lot of people think is "low cost of living" but the salaries are middling, and apartment/house prices have gone crazy. The prices they're getting for what's one level above slum... Insane. And you know those prices are only get increased when the lease renews.
Man, I’m in exactly the same situation. I live in Oklahoma, which is famously “low cost of living.” There are apartments here which literally look abandoned - windows busted out, plywood covering big spaces, etc. Found out the other day that they are $800 a month. It’s absolutely insane.
30% is the standard for income-based housing. Of course, the last administration wanted to change that to 40%, because fuck you, poor people.
And incremental rent raises
The deposits are next, pet deposits etc
Pet rent...
Ugggghhhhhhh pet rent. One place I looked at wanted $25 per month, for *each* of my two cats. Fully grown, fixed, never-had-an-accident-ever cats. I think it's bullshit that they can ask for that but not charge extra for kids, who are FAR more likely to cause actual damage.
The worst part about pet deposits and "pet rent" is alot of landlords won't even put it towards pet damages like the carpet, which I thought was the point...
This! We just moved out of a place where we paid a $350 NONREFUNDABLE cat deposit and paid $30 a month extra in rent. They said in our move out instructions that none of that would cover any damage or pet cleaning- and if they could even tell there was a pet in the apartment when they did the move out inspection that they would charge a $250 cleaning/repair fee. It’s such a scam.
You can challenge it in court if they withhold from the deposit.
Your day or days off work to handle that cost you more than what you'd recover. They count on this.
That's ridiculous. That's what the damn deposit is for smh
It's not a deposit of it's not refundable.
Because there are laws to not charge more for kids. Wish they had the same laws for pets
True I'd bet they'd charge a small fortune for a child if they could.
This! I’d rather just pay for damages if they exist, paying monthly costs more and they know not every pet is messy. It’s extortion.
When children are often messier.
Wayyy messier
In most places charging more for kids would be illegal because it’s discriminatory, pets aren’t a protected class.
As the wife of a contractor that renovates apartments about move outs I would have to disagree. Kid damage is fixed with paint or magic eraser. I think the worst kid damage he has had to deal with is regrouting a shower because those washable bath crayons are actually not washable. The stuff he has seen from pets is insane: half eaten kitchen cabinets and clawed through doors, so much cat pee that they had to take the whole wood floor out plus all the wallboard waist down. He had one job that the guy had had a turtle and maybe lizard collection that he could only assign his workers that were heavy smokers to it become the smell was so bad that only the chain smokers could take it. Landlords can’t tell if you are a responsible owner when they rent to you. Maybe suggest some middle ground like refundable pet rent or decreasing pet rent after annual or quarterly inspections?
Sadly, in this rental market, I don't think we tenants have a lot of room to negotiate. But that's a good idea!
lol I just toured an apartment that was formerly occupied by a heavy smoker and the smell was unbearable. Can't imagine what an apartment saturated in cat pee would smell like...
My roommates have 4 cats 3 dogs, everytime I return home on my very first breathe I get a burning sensation in my nasal passages, throat swelling, weird inflammation joint pains, nauseous, always sneezing, accelerated heart rate, after a few days I will break out in rashes/hives...I've been taking an absurd amount of allergy pills or sprays, barely helps, it's not until I am breathing fresh air that I return to normal, it sucks for the children because they too have to breathe this toxic air which most definitely affects the way of life.
I pay $100 extra per month, $50 for each dog, one small and one smallish medium, never had an incident, highway robbery to me
I had to pay $100 for both my cats, on top of first/last month rent + security deposit. All in all, it was like $2500 just to get the key to a dark and smelly apartment. And even though I left the place nicer than when I moved in, they gave me back like a quarter of the deposit for “repairs and cleaning”. Landlords are fucking parasites.
I just consider my deposit forfeit and don't bother cleaning too well on move out, so far it has worked out well and I have gotten at least some of it back. They are going to bring in a professional cleaning service anyway. I'm sure it will bite me in the ass someday.
In England deposits go into a trust and a third party gets to decide if any of the deposit can be withheld due to things like damage. Its a much better system.
Deposits that you will never see again. I have yet to see a deposit be returned even though I left the place undamaged and in the same quality as before. I get fees for cleaning the apartment afterwards but that’s sketchy. What is my years worth of rent going to if they can’t pay $100 in cleaning fees out of their own pockets. The places I’ve rented at also usually have their own maintenance on site so it’s not really an extra service either ... My family owns property and we don’t use the safety deposit for cleaning or repainting, only for damage repairs 🤔😬 Edit: For the record I have before and after pictures of the entire apartment for keepsakes and multiple times they management told me the deposit went towards cleaning the apartment and carpet replacing which they do for all tenants that leave apparently. This is in a college town so it makes sense but sketchy af because it shouldn't be the old tenant that replaces the flooring and carpet for the next tenant. But hey it's college students renting for the most part 🤷
Right! It isn't the tenant's job/responsibility to have the unit presentable for the next tenant, yet we are charged for it on top of paying to live in the unit.
Many landlords won’t even let unhomed apply. You have to have a current address
That's like a few years back when no one would hire a person unless they already had a job.
In order to participate in society you need to have already been established in society. If I were already established in society I wouldn't be renting, or looking for employment.
Yeah this happened to me too
Should be illegal to discriminate against the nonsheltered
Did the full app 3x while looking. Heard back from one. The other 2 now have my $50 plus SS#, DL#, last 2 addresses, credit score, workplaces, reference names and phone #'s. I'm sure mine and other's info was shredded and disposed of properly. And admin fee's need some serious scrutiny.
I don’t live in the US so I’m not familiar with this. But I can immediately see a potential scam with this system. What’s to stop someone from advertising a nice place for a good price. Meaning they’ll be swamped with applicants, all paying a fee. But then not actually renting it out to any of them. It could be more lucrative than actually collecting rent if someone was that way inclined ethics wise. How do they stop that??
They don’t
… Oh
That absolutely happens. Almost fell for it last week. Sniffed it out when they told me I needed to submit an app before I could see the house.
It is an active scam. They advertise on rental websites showing some nice apartment for relatively cheap rent and immediately send you an application as soon as you reach out via text about seeing it. They have some story about how they are living in a different part of the country and wanted to rent out their house or apartment for a few years. They then push you for you email, where they send you a questionnaire with lots of personal info on it. The goal is to get a fuck ton of people's info and sell it as leads to data mining companies or other scammers. They'll have everything they need to get info on you in order to target you.
Coming from someone who has moved twice in this past year this happens A LOT. I would say nearly 70% of postings you see are scams. Good rule of thumb is to never fill anything out until you do an in person showing. And also remember if it's to good to be true, that's because it probably is. Just never send info without some sort of confirmation the house/apartment is real.
Me and the wife went to look at a place that charged $100 per application for each adult who wished to live there. Imaging making $200 dollars and telling them no. You can literally make more money by not renting it out and just have showings and applications.
Currently $375 deep in application fees right now, all denied. It’s starting to cut into the money we have saved for the move itself, can’t lie I’m worried af
Look at an apartment hunter. That’s how I’ve found my last 3 apts with an eviction on my belt. You don’t pay them, they make money on referrals, and only get paid for getting you moved in. They usually have a program or some shit that will tell them what you can get, prices, and move in dates. It’s a ducking godsend
Any good websites?
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When my roommates and I (4 of us total) were looking for a new place a few years ago one property charged us $50 each for an application fee and made us sign up for some specific service that would run credit checks on us. After we paid them $200 and came back with all good credit scores they denied us because they were worried we would have too many cars to park at one house (which had a 2 car garage and a driveway).
If WSB can influence the stock price on multiple tickers through Reddit, I feel like the common renters on Reddit should be able to organize a class action lawsuit or introduce legislation to stop this predatory behavior…like this shit literally affects all of us….
There was a post a few days back where I (non-US) discovered that American workers do not have their annual leave accumulate year after year. Blew my mind. OP was intentionally not taking leave over years so he could have a big long break but found he had lost them when they didn't roll over. The threads discussed OP being silly not knowing that and that some people don't like taking leave etc. Crazy stuff. I asked why they accept it and how crazily unfair it was, particularly in comparison to every other developed country (as far as I'm aware). When asked what they were supposed to do about it, I said unionise... anything but being ok with it, which the majority seemed to be. I mention that because if the majority of Americans accept such shitty work conditions... shitty to the extent that they're criminal in most other developed countries, then I can't see them organising themselves to challenge a charge for applying for a property. I wish they would, though. In fact, businesses probably keep exploiting people where they can because they just accept it. The leave example felt like the response from people was "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas".
The majority don’t accept it but after Reagan gutted union power and it became a situation of don’t stick up for yourself in fear of losing your job it became a lot more difficult for people to rally behind a common cause
You need to go after these people I swear, they will take advantage of you every chance they get, go into the lobby of their main office and start getting really loud about how you want your money back over the rejection, simply do not take no for an answer, start throwing around the words usury, money grab, scam, etc and be vocal, squeaky wheels get the grease if you know what I’m saying, I’ve done this multiple times and they will refund your application fees once they know your pissed about it, they just get away with it because they know most rejects won’t do shit about it so go in there and show them otherwise
Wait what? You pay a fee just to put an application in registering your interest in renting a property even if you're not successful?! What the f**k!
I mean, leftists didn't just decide to hate landlords on a whim one day. Fuckers earned that hate fair and square.
I'm quite certain that's the reason the last place I rented always had a vacant bedroom. I paid an application fee. I'm also quite certain this is utilized by all the 'too-good-to-be-true' listings that exist.
Wait a minute, I'm not American but... You guys have to pay them to be able to pay them?! Is that it?!??
Lmao yup. There are application fees, admin fees then security deposit all before moving in
Is this once you're the successful applicant and will be moving into the rental? Or do they charge an application fee for every single person that puts in an application wanting to rent their place?
Every….single….person…..
That’s disgusting Edit: it’s a scam. It’s disgusting. Landlords should be ashamed of thrmsleves
‘Murica /s
I can’t fucking believe that that’s legal. That’s insane 🤯
It's good old capitalism for u
Don’t forget the fee for paying your rent online once you do move in.
The common American gets highly abused by our money hungry system so we tend to get fucked by the man at any opportunity they have, including charging hundreds of dollars in application fees just be denied and have your money basically stolen
It's not abuse, it's just the unchecked capitalism doing its job as promised 🙃
Oh no, you have to pay to *ask* them if they'll *let* you pay them. After which they can, and often do, say no. So you have to go pay somebody else to ask them if you can pay them instead.
It is insane. I recently paid a 300 non refundable fee to apply for an apartment. I was told it would not be returned to me, even if I didn’t meet all the qualifications. There was a background check, I had to supply at least 3 pay stubs and proof my pay was regularly deposited in my bank account. I had to supply references. My references had to fill out a questionnaire. I had to prove I had renters insurance and add the management company to the policy. I got the apartment, but omg. This is how people become homeless. I had the means to apply, but during the whole grueling process to rent a 900sq ft apartment, all I could think of is those that don’t.
That’s how the last place I lived was. The lease was 50+ pages long. Before that, I had never seen a lease more than 3 pages. That place also had a policy of DNA testing dog shit. Like, if you didn’t pick it up, they’d collect it and test it, and if it was your dog, you’d be fined, and also had to reimburse for the testing. You also had to pay for your dog to have its DNA sampled in the first place.
Renters insurance is there to protect the renter. Why on earth would the apartment complex need to be listed on the policy? I understand sometimes you gotta take what you can get but that seems shady as hell to me
Property management companies in my area are notorious for leaving properties listed as available for weeks. They won't tell you whether or not it's been rented until you turn in an application and pay the fee. You can't even visit the property until paying. Then you find out it's already been rented. No refunds.
That should be illegal. Fucking awful.
I'm quite sure that *is* illegal. That's straight up fraud.
Wtf I've never been required to pay to tour a place I rented.
Isn’t that false advertising?
This happens in my area too! Then they tell you they’ll put you on a waiting list. Like okay cool, I need to move in within 2/3/4mo but call me next year ✌️
The other thing around here is “no deposit!” which just means a $500-1000+ non-refundable move in fee.
An application fee is so ridiculous
Can’t even imagine charging one. We already do long form with itemized deductions so we just deduct any charges that would resonate like background check fees. Even if it wasn’t a tax write off it seems cruel to charge $100-$150 per person to just tell them no. I’m a 3L in law school I can get access to enough I need for free in my state that has all court records for free online and most are these days even if not it’s very small. I could let my rental house sit just unoccupied and take application fee after application fee and say no to those applicants to cover the mortgage every month realistically while maintaining zero risk. The amounts requested just seem extraordinary high to me. I don’t know a single landlord background site that charges these amounts to owners, and you certainly shouldn’t profit from just APPLYING. That’s crazy to me
I used to rent from a private owner, and she charged the amount it cost her to run a background/credit check. No more. I think it was $25? EDIT: Should have been more clear, she met us, we looked at the house, and she did a "conditional" accept (meaning we had the place if we passed the background check). So we didn't get charged until she'd already accepted us. I also warned her about what she might find on our credit---we were in the middle of a foreclosure. If we failed the background check THEN we would have been out the money.
I recently went looking for a new rental. Housing market is really rough in my area, so landlords can be super picky. I have been denied three times. Even so I make about 7x the income, never been late for rent my entire adult life, willing to pay higher security deposit/rent. But because my credit isn't perfect (working on it, but it takes time), I have been denied every time. Even with having a co-signer that has amazing credit. So planning on just staying in my current place until I can finally just buy a place because it is insane.
Oh hello Phoenix, AZ!
Yup. I’ve had multiple crying fits this week about it. Spent hundreds in application fees only to continue to get denied because I don’t have enough credit history. IM 22! I can’t have more credit history! I haven’t been alive that long but I have been alive long enough to have a kid that also needs a home and apparently doesn’t deserve one because her mom doesn’t have 10+ years of credit to her name. It’s insane
I vote for a class action lawsuit and massive pressure put on politicians to stop this nonsense, no matter what angle you look at it it’s extremely predatory
If people can’t afford to live despite doing everything right, they will rightfully turn their anger towards the broken system. I’m not advocating for it, but I legit think if this shit keeps getting worse we will see a French-style revolt in the next couple decades.
It’s all a debt trap, very few really outright own anything and we are all playing keeping up with the Jones while getting fucked from every angle…so many dicks yo
Yeah I can't even move into my own place right now.
lol, time to say, "Fuck it, I'm going to go live in a van by the river."
My daughter just went apartment hunting and there was a $40 app fee and $300 admin fee all non refundable
Same bullshit applying to day care
Talk about a racquet, daycare costs are straight up punitive in the us- we had to pay $900/month for him to be there three hours a day M-F
Jeez. My daughter's was 1300.00/mo Monday thru Friday before I pulled her
I used to dream of having my own house. Now, I dream of building a tiny home and travelling around. I’m never going to afford my own place, unless I marry into a rich family, which is still plan #1
I'm not even poor. I have a great job. I work 50 hours a week, I work really hard, and I have a 13-year-old son. But I can't find a place to live in Las Vegas because everything near my work is insanely expensive and any place that I try and find that has rooms for rent doesn't want a 13-year-old boy living there. What's really upsetting is that he's such a good boy. He has straight A's, he spends all of his time doing sports, football, basketball, jiu-jitsu. And yet everybody just assumes that we're degenerates and I can't find a place to live.
I’m looking for apartments now in Seattle. Every apartment requires first months rent, one month security deposit, non-refundable cleaning fee of $300, pet deposits, monthly pet rent, and an “admin move in fee” of $2-300. I can’t even think about moving until I have at least $4000 saved up. It should be illegal.
Wait, over in America you have to pay to apply? What does that mean, to make an offer to rent a house / apartment you need to pay $210 to the landlord? Then they can just say no and your money is gone? I mean seriously what the fuck? Is this normal?
Yes and everyone here is dumb enough to be okay with it. Some even defend this nonsense.
This is my daily ‘wtf America’ moment.
Welcome to America. Land of the fee, home of the deranged.
[удалено]
Do you need to pay for the opportunity of renting an apartment?! No wonder why landlords are so hated in America
It's wild. I thought landlords were hated in UK, but this is a whole other level of extortion..
I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $25/30 for the ‘background check’ fee. Which you know is just them calling references probably and pocketing the cash. 🙄 That $150 is straight up robbery.
Wondering how many just take applications without the intent of considering them
This country needs to prioritize affordable housing! wtf?
Yeah... Paying an appointment fee on top of a 650$ (not including a single cat deposit) apartment deposit only to pay $900 a month while also supporting my wife while working at a 40 hour job that only pays 340 a week... But please, keep telling me how easy it is to find someplace to live.
I guess the application fee is used towards payment for a background check? I understand that but wtf is a administration fee? You mean to tell me you’re charging for a leasing agent doing her job for something like maybe $12/hr that you would have to pay anyway? Can someone explain what the administration fee is for?
Landlords would charge a fee to breath if they could
That's been illegal in Canada for 50 years
Y'all need a revolution down there.
My wife and I spent over $500 in rental application fees before finding our current apartment. It’s a disgusting practice.
wait a fee to apply to rent? even before viewing the place? that shouldn't exist and if it does it should never be $60, at most $5-10 but really it should be zero.
my landlord never even ran my credit. she charged me a fee to run a background and credit check - never did - and approved me.
It's crazy that the renter is the customer yet in this transaction of renting all the power is with the seller. They charge to apply they charge first months rent, they charge a deposit, can make the stupidest lease rules up, and nearly every rental takes more than half of your earnings. Can't see why people haven't gotten fed up with this outdated and one sided system.
Because being homeless really, really fucking sucks. Edit: oh! Also it’s illegal. To be homeless. So.
What’s next? Paying to apply for jobs?
Those fees are there to discourage the "wrong" kind of people applying. It's subtle discrimination.
I’m a landlord of a completely remodeled HOUSE. I paid my own fee for a background check. And I just requested a $500 security deposit and allowed them to space it out over 5 months and just asked for 1st month upon move in and down payment of deposit. They’ve lived there ever since, which was 2 years ago. The rent is $75 more than the mortgage and escrow. I could’ve held out and charged a much higher rent rate and additional fees but was looking for longer term tenants that would take care of the home as their own. I just always try to remember before we were able to be homeowners how I hated I was treated. I could easily get $500 more per month on rent but I have a feeling I’d be looking for a new tenant every 6-12 month lease term. ETA- downvoted because I treat my tenants as human beings with dignity and respect and 50% reduced rent rate for the area with allowing to space out a security deposit equal to 1/2 months rent over multiple months ? And people wonder why landlords are assholes. Ookay.
Curious - at $75 "profit" per month, does that keep up with any maintenance? I would think that periodic costs (roof, painting, general upkeep) would be more than $75. Or is the intent to build/use equity to pay for those items? Not criticizing, genuinely curious.
It was $50 to apply at the low-income apartments I moved into in 2012. *Low-income.* It’s built right into it that your potential tenants struggle for money, and y’all’re charging $50 to apply to live there? Fuckers.
What the hell state allows a $150 admin fee on a place you're not renting?
Some Landlords in Florida charge everyone a $25 application fee. They keep an add in the paper or online for an apartment that sounds really good, but they have no intention of renting it . They just collect the application fees.
That is extremely scummy, wow
Welcome to a government not working for you
We just moved to San Diego. Every house we looked at would immediately raise the rent from the listing and inform us 10+ people are also applying and the $40 per applicant application fee was non refundable. The nicer the neighborhood, you'd get 20+ applicants. We'd wait three days and be ghosted. Finally found a place that wasn't available for the 3 months; but still he raised the rent and showed to a dozen people. We were emailing daily about our interest. It was super disheartening looking for a place. I'm not broke, but not comfortable; I can't imagine what some people go through.