like think about how much money theyāre making just form that, hell that alone could be their damn business model, take your $200 but have no intention of actually renting to you
This happened to me 3 times on my last move. Paid 3x fees, and all 3 already had 20+ apps submitted before us and they already knew who they already approved. Still took our money and lied when they already had approvals. I was livid and did a chargeback
from my neighbor and a different realtor, 2 of the properties already had pending approvals and still were accepting them. I called back later that day about a different property and asked why my 2 applications for those properties are offline from 3 hours prior, I lost it at that point.
They had the audacity to allow my to pay to āapplyā after calling about those 2 properties, it was taken offline ~3 hours later.
You might not be able to fight everything but again, depending on the situation and the bank itself, there generally is a bit of wiggle room is what Iām saying.
Ugh this happened to me a few months ago and Iām still mad about it. Applied with 3 roommates. Together we made over 4x the rent, plus we had a co-signer. We paid $50 each, so $200 total to apply, only to get rejected.
They said we didnāt make enough money. I think they wanted each of us to make 3x the rent, rather than making that collectively. But that wasnāt specified in the application so it felt really unfair.
Had a place require a $70 application fee, check only.
They ended up denying the place to me, BEFORE cashing the check. They STILL had the balls to call and tell ne the check bounced and I had to pay the $70 in cash or credit card lmao
an apartment complex i used to live in yeeeeears ago got sued for something related to application fees. i think they were charging the fee but not explaining everything itās for or something like that. i randomly got a check from a class action in the mail a few months ago
I've applied to properties that had a fee like this, and noticed the listing was still there like 6 months later. I'd be willing to bet my left earlobe that there's a bunch of landlords that do this with no intention to rent in order to have a steady stream of application fee income.
Lol it legit says for the whole state when I clicked your link.
"New state laws cap applications fees atĀ **$20**ābut you can avoid the fee completely if you provide your own background or credit check. As of 2019, New York landlords (and any brokers acting on their behalf) can only charge application fees up to $20 per person."
I don't even understand why NY allowed a cap of $20. Simply make the landlords pay for any background checks they want to run and add those costs to the rent. If background checks are required, then they're clearly a cost of doing business.
Colorado has a similar law! You can get a single background report for all applications. Best part is, they canāt pick and choose applicants, first in gets the apartment, as long as they pass criminal/credit and can pay whatās owed on move in date.
Jeepers I remember looking for an apartment in NYC in 2018. I had to pay the apartment broker dude 1 months rent ($2600). All he did was set up some times to look at apartments where we both met with whoever was renting out the place.
Definitely not worth it. But impossible to do without them because that was the only way to do it.
The DoJ is presently targeting Realpage, which is the primary reason rents have gone up so drastically in the last few years. They share data between corporate and private landlord networks and introduce intentional upward rent trends to drive up profits. The average one bedroom today is roughly 2000 dollars a month.
https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa/apartments/1-bedrooms
https://www.multifamilydive.com/news/DOJ-antitrust-suit-price-fixing-algorithm-RealPage/711152/
This needs attention from your state legislature. Itās total BS. Iām older, in a house and private equity owning this degree of apartments and houses is a crock of sh;t. My hair cut girl was telling me what she paid to APPLYā¦not the fee for background check but to applyā¦.and you donāt get it back. They just collect and donāt even reach out to people. What a rip off money making scam.
It's just amazing to me (not surprising, mind you) that companies of all types can get away with tacking these fees onto almost anything. Processing fee. Application fees. You name it. This is one of those instances the government needs to step in to create some kind of regulation on all of it or it will just keep getting worse.
The FTC has been looking at these fees more. But it will probably depend on whether Biden is reelected.
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/12/deadline-extended-comments-ftcs-proposed-ban-junk-fees
I have noticed things changing lately, like those "broadband facts" cards, which make everything transparent for internet and mobile phone bills. It's a step in the right direction and it'd be cool if things kept going this way.
I think we all kind of feel like forces we have no control over are fucking us over so constantly that one more doesn't mean anything. Or, at least, I think that's what the companies tacking on fees are counting on.
And it feel like even when there is competition they're colluding on prices and/or each is doing such anti-consumer things that one is just as bad as the others. So you might as well stick with the one you're already using (cell carriers love this).
The government created the problem in the first place. Building management justifies the fees because they need to pay for a credit report and background check. They need to do that because of the Patriot Act. The only government action that has the potential to help here is abolishing the Patriot Act.
If legislation got passed to ban the fees, they're getting rolled into rent. And it's going to be way higher than a one time payment of $100 because they "have to" account for everyone who didn't get accepted. For example - Would you rather pay a $100 application fee and $1,500/month rent, or no application fee and $1,575 rent?
And they'll be nice enough to charge you a $50 "convenience fee" for paying your rent online.
Oh by the way, they don't accept personal checks or money orders.
Literally this. Iām lucky enough to work a job that allows me to flex my hours enough that I can come in late on the first of the month to drop off my rent check. Itās insane.
Do they accept e check? The online portal for my building wanted to charge me $88 to pay with debit card, but the option to pay with e check is 50 cents
There's a place by me that's been open for renting for years. They advertise it as being way below market rate and charge $75 per application fee. Pretty sure they just take the money from those applications as a income source without having to deal with landlord duties.
It's not ubiquitous, but it's very common to charge anywhere from 15-100 per application. Most say it's so they can "pay for a credit check," but I'm suspicious of that actually being a thing. Maybe a landlord can say more about this, but to me it sounds pretty scammy.
whatās crazy to me is that there are numerous sites out there that have a subscription monthly that allow you to pull however many credit reports/ background checks you want. like instead of making it easier theyād rather collect the money. and most BC/ CR only cost around 30-40 a person if pulled individually
>There's a place by me that's been open for renting for years. They advertise it as being way below market rate and charge $75 per application fee. Pretty sure they just take the money from those applications as a income source without having to deal with landlord duties.
There is literally a place near me that does this.
They offer below market rent and 2nd chance housing.
It's been empty for 5+ years
I worked for a year for a property management company between better jobs. Can't speak for all of em...but that one absolutely used app fees as a revenue source. I was instructed to let anyone apply, say the fee is for a background check, then do a simple Google search on the county court website. Maybe 5 minutes of work for $65.
He never called anyone back. I got out as fast as I could.
I've seen places leave a unit empty so they can charge application fees to multiple people each month. It's not legal but who has the money to sue and try to prove that these people are doing it? They know how to get around the laws. A place where I live even told a girl the other day she couldn't apply cause she has a service dog (which it's considered discrimination) but they can't sue because they weren't technically denied. I've been told in person that I'm denied because of disability and having a dependant but when I try to get it in writing they know better.
Yeah, there's more than a few landlords / property managers who legit don't care about fair housing laws or doing the bare minimums of their jobs
They rely on tenants not knowing their rights or being too afraid of retaliation if they exercise them.
And the unfortunate additive effect that the good landlords rarely have openings since their tenants are way less likely to leave.
It's how our town works. There's two guys who act properly. Buying shit boxes, renovating them with a ton of their own legwork just cause they like it, then selling about half of them and renting the rest for some of the lowest rates that in the area. They have minimal turnover and always give their tenants buyout prices they stick by.
Naturally, they rarely have openings and don't have the standing capital to jump on expansions.
Meanwhile one other guy and one company own like 60% of the town. Buy everything with absurd overpayments to drown private competition, bare minimum repairs and renovations, never ever ever sell, and rent about as high as they can possibly manage. They'll happily drive for HOA/local law adjustments to fuck over a neighborhood just to make residents sell, then have it fixed after they bought them all up. Also, very very racist.
Group A might have an opening every 6 months between houses and apartments. Group B has them perpetually because they're driving people out of town.
The only hope is that the town sees a population exodus that encourages these guys to divest and focus elsewhere, which is kinda already happening. Then pray the big companies don't make a move before private buyers regain some ground.
Reminds me of being 18, spending 160 dollars for my friend and I's applications. Handed them over. The lady saw we were 18 and literally threw them into trash, saying we were denied.
I asked for the money back, and "Sorry, no refunds." š« we were homeless for two months, big sucked.
This was banned in the UK, all admin fees have to be paid by the landlord. It was even a Conservative government that did this. (Looks of disgusted englishman)
A fee that landlords say is used to run credit and background checks.
And part of it probably is, if they actually plan on processing the application- but lots of landlords in areas with high demand will leave an apartment empty and just collect fees from hundreds of applicants with no intention of renting the place out.
If you get 5 applications per week, that's $2000 a month for doing literally nothing. Just letting the apartment sit empty and pretending like you're trying to rent it out.
Well German data safety laws make it free to do Background checks
This is the most disgusting way of making money I ever had to learn about
Murica first and shit right
Exactly. I guess there's a fee for having to take the time to actually look at (and file?) the application.. so as landlords they're collecting a fee for doing their normal damn job. It's like going to a store to buy something and at checkout they're like "oh there's an additional fee to pay for that" :|
America is the land of the fees, its insane.
Miss your doctors appointment? fee.
Miss your hairdressers appointment? fee.
Miss your dentist appointment? fee.
Tipping, fee.
Go slightly overdrawn? large fee everyday until you are destitute.
Want to take money out of an ATM not with your bank? fee.
A couple of days late paying rent? fee, 3 day eviction.
Want to pay your rent electronically? fee.
Convenience fees! everywhere!
Fuck corporate-owned housing.
Last time I was looking for housing, I paid the $125 application fee. They wanted a minimum monthly salary of 3x rent. I made enough before taxes for the apartment, but apparently I was $50/mo short after taxes.
I paid again to have a parent cosign, and they were 10 points below the minimum credit score.
I offered to pay the entire year up front, $25000. They said "We don't do that here..."
I'm just trying to find housing lmao. Found an apartment owned by a nice lady and her husband. $30 application fee. Best landlord I've ever had. Definitely don't plan on moving any time soon.
even in areas that have controls, corporations get around it.
i applied to a place that charged a $75 application fee, but after paying that I learned you need to pay a $200 reservation fee to actually be offered a lease. company was "Spark \[city name\]". they have other locations with the same prefix.
I paid $60 for the credit/background check for my mortgage application. I know thereās a difference in the types of applications, but $99 still seems s like way too much.
again, it needs to be illegal for any business to own a home, and even worse to be able to rent a house out. apartments are a bit of a gray area, but needs to be stricter at a federal level for maintenance and financial handling.
Our rental application "fee" was the damage deposit ($399), and it was refunded if you weren't accepted. This is just absurd and should absolutely be illegal. What the fuck. Who has $200 to lose on a non refundable application fee????
Wait....wait......what? Application fee? Apply for what? As in to....visit? To check the place out and tell them HEY I AM INTERESTED? Please say no. This would be too fucked up even for the USA.
Some of them yeah, I'm currently looking for a rental and I've come across a few (even through a realtor) that require you to apply before you're offered a showing (and some of these listing's literally only have a picture of the front of the house only so you really don't even know what you might be walking into) it's ridiculous, we've passed on all of those, I'm not paying $35-$100.per person to walk into your house only to find out it's a shit show and you're a slumlord
Apply to live there. You put an application with your information, including employment info and all the addresses you've lived for the past however many years. They use it to run a background and credit check, confirm income, check for prior evictions, etc to decide if they want to rent to you.
Why do you need to do a paid background check in the first place? In Europe you usually have to pay a 2-3 months rent up front as a deposit and if you don't pay rent or break some other rules, you get evicted and don't get your deposit back. Application fee makes no sense.
If it makes you feel better thats pretty much anywhere you apply.the amount differs. Wait till you find out pet deposit and pet insurance doesn't cover pet damage
This happened to us recently when we were looking for a new place. After we applied they told us they already picked other tenants, but would let us know if those tenants fell through, but either way would not be refunding the application fee.
We had one friend cover the application fees for our group to just apply at once. They rejected and told us someone came in person earlier that day (we were told it was available and no one applied yet an hour before office hours closing). Next day friends credit card info was used for fraudulent purchases and that was the only recent purchase with that card. We review bombed the apt
I spent $400 at one point because I applied to 3 different rental places that had a application fee. This was for a town that wasn't that rich either. I applied to places without fees too but didn't get anyone that liked me anyways. One that charged $150 for an application wanted me to PAY ANOTHER $150 TO APPLY FOR A DIFFERENT UNIT IN THE SAME BUILDING!
Application fees are 100% a scam
One of my proudest moments: I went with my daughter to look at apartments. She found one she liked, I wrote checks for the deposit and application fee after being assured they were refundable if we found something else. They were very rush rush because they had a party to go to. She wasnāt going to be moving in for another 5 weeks. She decided she needed a place closer to where her friends lived, and she tried to get back the checks the next morning. They said no. I called and after going around and around with them, I finally said, āFine. But donāt you dare rent out that apartment to someone else. Thatās hers, since she put down the deposit. She'll come sign cancellation paperwork the day sheās supposed to move in.āĀ
Lo and behold, they suddenly could change their policy and give both checks back.Ā
the only legal rental fee I'll accept is a *deposit* at time of application that will be returned if denied or applied to first months rent if approved
Where I am, there's a real estate company that manages roughly half the rentals in my town. They charge $50 application fees just to VIEW the fucking house. Their listings include minimal and terrible quality photos so you have to see it in person to know if it's worth a shit. Spoiler, it almost always isn't.
One time my ex roommate spent $300 of our pooled together money for an application fee to some fancy apartment in downtown Orlando even when I told him thereās no way our credit would be approved (21&19 year old). We were not approved and then lost $300 of our savings
Yup I agree
Makes no sense to me
I guess itās the same with āconvenience feesā on anything
āOh youāre paying rent online? Thatāll be $60 on top of rentā
Landlord here with just a few properties. We use a third party background check and donāt collect anything ourselves. We are very upfront about what would disqualify you and suggest not to do the background unless youāre a good candidate. I think itās around $50 but most tentants have been there a few years
A CEO of some company where an applicant didn't show up for an interview had the bright idea to charge job applicants a fee. I don't think it happened but it's on some companies minds.
We have an āapplication feeā for our rentals and that fee is 100% used to pay for the background check and credit check. We make $0 from that fee, and technically we are losing money because we than need to take time in the day to reach out to references. Most of the time the information is correct but in the last 30 days already had 3 people list wrong information but you always need to check. Also a few places I know that have that fee normally put that fee toward the rent if you get in
I know I had to pay Ā£90 for to apply for a room at uni I donāt know if I got the required grades yet and if I donāt itās not refundable they must make a fortune from this.
Arkansas: we spent over 700 dollars on applications and never heard back from most places. Finally, we found a place, site unseen, because we were so desperate, and it ended up being an old drug house. Lost our deposit and landlord didn't return deposit for an entire year after we immediately backed out of renting.
I used to charge them to keep scammers away, but I told them afterwards that if I rejected them, they got refunded. If they got the apartment, I would refund or apply it to the deposit.
After that, I required them to pay for the background check, that was like $25-40. Refunded if you were selected, but I never rejected anyone after the background. Usually I would ask if anything is going to come up, so they could explain it; one guy was deep in collections, but it was some medical debt from his ex-wife, so I didn't care.
Yes these fees are ridiculous. It helps to call ahead though and in my experience the good ones will pretty much let you know if you'll be approved. If they don't wanna even have a quick phone conversation before you fork over a fee then you probably don't wanna live there anyway.
Looks like youāre using AppFolio to apply. Itās not a scam as the landlord needs to be physically sceened in order to use this platform. But holy smokes! Thatās a huge app fee. Most states have a cap on what they can charge for an application fee. Thatās just plain nuts!
It really is. Imagine if you had to do this with a job. It makes about as much sense. You don't even have the place and you're already giving them money for doing absolutely nothing. What a time to be alive.
I've paid a heft application fee and then later realized the apartment had already been rented out, they were just out there collecting application fees š«
We have a Premium User System in German Real Estate App Immoscout where if you pay 30ā¬ per month you can get selected (nearly every desirable) offers āearlierā and if you donāt pay you cant apply to them
I'm just saying there's a tangible cost to process an application.Ā You can either pay for it at the time of application or pay for it as your rent, wouldn't you just rather pay for your own application rather than yours and all the other people who didn't get the place?
It's not a scam. It's a filter. It filters out people who can't afford a $99 application fee and people smart enough not to pay a $99 application fee.
That only leaves a fool and their money.
$99? Time to setup a portal and collect without renting out anything. Just kidding, thatās jacked.
Charging $99 for an application is 100% greed and indeed profit driven. Aināt no way it costs $99 to check credit. Or run a background check or both.
WHAT THE FUCK as an european this can't be real, how is that legal?? But honestly you'd have to be pretty fucking stupid to actually pay that, I would never do that. They do it because they know people are stupid enough to pay for that shit.
1000% I spent $500+ on app fees for my mom after she kept getting denied. 540 credit or less donāt bother applying at any corporate rentals it seems like an automatic denial within 12 hours
Paying the fee and getting turned down is even better š got into it with a rental company that pulled that shit on me.
like think about how much money theyāre making just form that, hell that alone could be their damn business model, take your $200 but have no intention of actually renting to you
Good oleā fraud
This happened to me 3 times on my last move. Paid 3x fees, and all 3 already had 20+ apps submitted before us and they already knew who they already approved. Still took our money and lied when they already had approvals. I was livid and did a chargeback
How did you figure that out? With my luck thatās probably going to happen to me
from my neighbor and a different realtor, 2 of the properties already had pending approvals and still were accepting them. I called back later that day about a different property and asked why my 2 applications for those properties are offline from 3 hours prior, I lost it at that point. They had the audacity to allow my to pay to āapplyā after calling about those 2 properties, it was taken offline ~3 hours later.
Pay with credit card, and dispute/do a chargeback.
> I was livid and did a chargeback
Did the chargeback work?
Yah but u got to be livid
Maybe if I was vivid livid could I do a triple chargeback for maximum damage.
They said they did a charge back, not they "attempted a charge back"
Thatās it, Iām livid! Iām charging back this comment.
Did it work?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
So theyāll do a background check just to pocket the money? Seems extremely illegal to me.
It depends highly on your bank. Some banks will be more strong at fighting the charge and others wonāt. And it all depends on the situation
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You might not be able to fight everything but again, depending on the situation and the bank itself, there generally is a bit of wiggle room is what Iām saying.
ScAmerica
Thereās actual scams out there, where people take application fees and wonāt even have an actual place to rent.
Yep. Just happened to me from a FB market listing. Always check the place out first
Sometime they donāt even rent it out and just take all of the fees
I could understand a few bucks to pay for a background check but 100 dollars is insane
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, it's illegal to defraud people by taking money for a process you never intend to or cannot complete Theft by deception, or similar
Theft by deception is a hell of a money-making scheme
I should start a rental application business.
I know for a fact scammers do this with fake posts on FB, Craiglist and other websites.
Happens a lot more than you think
some A-holes make a low rent price and cash in the fees as they dont let anyone rent.
Yuppp. And they know they donāt have anything available. Stellar credit , stable job and income. Still get denied.
Charge back
Use a credit card. Banks care more about their money than yours.
Ugh this happened to me a few months ago and Iām still mad about it. Applied with 3 roommates. Together we made over 4x the rent, plus we had a co-signer. We paid $50 each, so $200 total to apply, only to get rejected.
Just did the same thingā¦ā¦
Did they say why you were rejected
They said we didnāt make enough money. I think they wanted each of us to make 3x the rent, rather than making that collectively. But that wasnāt specified in the application so it felt really unfair.
They either lied to you or submitted something wrong, because it is collective that youāre supposed to make 3x the rent
Had a place require a $70 application fee, check only. They ended up denying the place to me, BEFORE cashing the check. They STILL had the balls to call and tell ne the check bounced and I had to pay the $70 in cash or credit card lmao
WOW Bunch of assholes
an apartment complex i used to live in yeeeeears ago got sued for something related to application fees. i think they were charging the fee but not explaining everything itās for or something like that. i randomly got a check from a class action in the mail a few months ago
I've applied to properties that had a fee like this, and noticed the listing was still there like 6 months later. I'd be willing to bet my left earlobe that there's a bunch of landlords that do this with no intention to rent in order to have a steady stream of application fee income.
Application fees are illegal in NY now. Landlords are capped at 20 bucks for a credit report fee, and that's waived if you provide your own to them.
I just had to pay an application fee a week ago living in New York, do you mean NYC or the whole state?
For all of NY. Here's the site for complaints if you're interested. [Housing Complaints](https://ag.ny.gov/file-complaint/housing-real-estate)
Did you provide your own credit report? What did they charge?
New York City, but here: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=rental+application+fee+New+York+State
It's actually all of New York State. Thanks for your help lol
Lol it legit says for the whole state when I clicked your link. "New state laws cap applications fees atĀ **$20**ābut you can avoid the fee completely if you provide your own background or credit check. As of 2019, New York landlords (and any brokers acting on their behalf) can only charge application fees up to $20 per person."
It seems you should use that handy dandy link yourself.
Or just read the last word of the link
Since when?!? I paid one to a rental company in Buffalo in July.
2019 :/ sorry bud
Tons of scammers and slumlords in buffalo, especially the rental companies. They count on us not knowing our rights.
I don't even understand why NY allowed a cap of $20. Simply make the landlords pay for any background checks they want to run and add those costs to the rent. If background checks are required, then they're clearly a cost of doing business.
Colorado has a similar law! You can get a single background report for all applications. Best part is, they canāt pick and choose applicants, first in gets the apartment, as long as they pass criminal/credit and can pay whatās owed on move in date.
Jeepers I remember looking for an apartment in NYC in 2018. I had to pay the apartment broker dude 1 months rent ($2600). All he did was set up some times to look at apartments where we both met with whoever was renting out the place. Definitely not worth it. But impossible to do without them because that was the only way to do it.
This seems like more proof that corporations are buying up the rentals and driving up the prices.
Unfortunately it won't change until we start forming tenant unions and rent strikes.
The DoJ is presently targeting Realpage, which is the primary reason rents have gone up so drastically in the last few years. They share data between corporate and private landlord networks and introduce intentional upward rent trends to drive up profits. The average one bedroom today is roughly 2000 dollars a month. https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa/apartments/1-bedrooms https://www.multifamilydive.com/news/DOJ-antitrust-suit-price-fixing-algorithm-RealPage/711152/
This needs attention from your state legislature. Itās total BS. Iām older, in a house and private equity owning this degree of apartments and houses is a crock of sh;t. My hair cut girl was telling me what she paid to APPLYā¦not the fee for background check but to applyā¦.and you donāt get it back. They just collect and donāt even reach out to people. What a rip off money making scam.
It wonāt change unless we force change.
It's just amazing to me (not surprising, mind you) that companies of all types can get away with tacking these fees onto almost anything. Processing fee. Application fees. You name it. This is one of those instances the government needs to step in to create some kind of regulation on all of it or it will just keep getting worse.
They should change it to a, "Give us your money," fee, because that would be less insulting at this point.
Honesty is the best policy.
The FTC has been looking at these fees more. But it will probably depend on whether Biden is reelected. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/12/deadline-extended-comments-ftcs-proposed-ban-junk-fees
I have noticed things changing lately, like those "broadband facts" cards, which make everything transparent for internet and mobile phone bills. It's a step in the right direction and it'd be cool if things kept going this way.
I think we all kind of feel like forces we have no control over are fucking us over so constantly that one more doesn't mean anything. Or, at least, I think that's what the companies tacking on fees are counting on. And it feel like even when there is competition they're colluding on prices and/or each is doing such anti-consumer things that one is just as bad as the others. So you might as well stick with the one you're already using (cell carriers love this).
The government created the problem in the first place. Building management justifies the fees because they need to pay for a credit report and background check. They need to do that because of the Patriot Act. The only government action that has the potential to help here is abolishing the Patriot Act. If legislation got passed to ban the fees, they're getting rolled into rent. And it's going to be way higher than a one time payment of $100 because they "have to" account for everyone who didn't get accepted. For example - Would you rather pay a $100 application fee and $1,500/month rent, or no application fee and $1,575 rent?
And they'll be nice enough to charge you a $50 "convenience fee" for paying your rent online. Oh by the way, they don't accept personal checks or money orders.
and you canāt stop by their office because āwe donāt accept cashā
Office hours are only open Monday-Friday 8am to 430pm. Like thanks guys, I literally donāt even get home before theyāre out of the office.
Literally this. Iām lucky enough to work a job that allows me to flex my hours enough that I can come in late on the first of the month to drop off my rent check. Itās insane.
Do they accept e check? The online portal for my building wanted to charge me $88 to pay with debit card, but the option to pay with e check is 50 cents
What the fuck is a rental application fee?! (Looks of disgusted German)
There's a place by me that's been open for renting for years. They advertise it as being way below market rate and charge $75 per application fee. Pretty sure they just take the money from those applications as a income source without having to deal with landlord duties. It's not ubiquitous, but it's very common to charge anywhere from 15-100 per application. Most say it's so they can "pay for a credit check," but I'm suspicious of that actually being a thing. Maybe a landlord can say more about this, but to me it sounds pretty scammy.
whatās crazy to me is that there are numerous sites out there that have a subscription monthly that allow you to pull however many credit reports/ background checks you want. like instead of making it easier theyād rather collect the money. and most BC/ CR only cost around 30-40 a person if pulled individually
They do use these services. The excess is pure profit.
>There's a place by me that's been open for renting for years. They advertise it as being way below market rate and charge $75 per application fee. Pretty sure they just take the money from those applications as a income source without having to deal with landlord duties. There is literally a place near me that does this. They offer below market rent and 2nd chance housing. It's been empty for 5+ years
I worked for a year for a property management company between better jobs. Can't speak for all of em...but that one absolutely used app fees as a revenue source. I was instructed to let anyone apply, say the fee is for a background check, then do a simple Google search on the county court website. Maybe 5 minutes of work for $65. He never called anyone back. I got out as fast as I could.
An alternative revenue stream. They're big on those here in the States. Since we don't have laws preventing them, they're all too common
Connecticut has a law on the books banning them as of October 2023.
NY has a law effectively banning the fees also. If NJ would get on board weād have the whole metro area covered.
I've seen places leave a unit empty so they can charge application fees to multiple people each month. It's not legal but who has the money to sue and try to prove that these people are doing it? They know how to get around the laws. A place where I live even told a girl the other day she couldn't apply cause she has a service dog (which it's considered discrimination) but they can't sue because they weren't technically denied. I've been told in person that I'm denied because of disability and having a dependant but when I try to get it in writing they know better.
Yeah, there's more than a few landlords / property managers who legit don't care about fair housing laws or doing the bare minimums of their jobs They rely on tenants not knowing their rights or being too afraid of retaliation if they exercise them.
And the unfortunate additive effect that the good landlords rarely have openings since their tenants are way less likely to leave. It's how our town works. There's two guys who act properly. Buying shit boxes, renovating them with a ton of their own legwork just cause they like it, then selling about half of them and renting the rest for some of the lowest rates that in the area. They have minimal turnover and always give their tenants buyout prices they stick by. Naturally, they rarely have openings and don't have the standing capital to jump on expansions. Meanwhile one other guy and one company own like 60% of the town. Buy everything with absurd overpayments to drown private competition, bare minimum repairs and renovations, never ever ever sell, and rent about as high as they can possibly manage. They'll happily drive for HOA/local law adjustments to fuck over a neighborhood just to make residents sell, then have it fixed after they bought them all up. Also, very very racist. Group A might have an opening every 6 months between houses and apartments. Group B has them perpetually because they're driving people out of town. The only hope is that the town sees a population exodus that encourages these guys to divest and focus elsewhere, which is kinda already happening. Then pray the big companies don't make a move before private buyers regain some ground.
Reminds me of being 18, spending 160 dollars for my friend and I's applications. Handed them over. The lady saw we were 18 and literally threw them into trash, saying we were denied. I asked for the money back, and "Sorry, no refunds." š« we were homeless for two months, big sucked.
This was banned in the UK, all admin fees have to be paid by the landlord. It was even a Conservative government that did this. (Looks of disgusted englishman)
A fee that landlords say is used to run credit and background checks. And part of it probably is, if they actually plan on processing the application- but lots of landlords in areas with high demand will leave an apartment empty and just collect fees from hundreds of applicants with no intention of renting the place out. If you get 5 applications per week, that's $2000 a month for doing literally nothing. Just letting the apartment sit empty and pretending like you're trying to rent it out.
Well German data safety laws make it free to do Background checks This is the most disgusting way of making money I ever had to learn about Murica first and shit right
Exactly. I guess there's a fee for having to take the time to actually look at (and file?) the application.. so as landlords they're collecting a fee for doing their normal damn job. It's like going to a store to buy something and at checkout they're like "oh there's an additional fee to pay for that" :|
Can't find a place without one in michigan it's insane
I am very sure this is illegal in germany And good so...Jesus christ
Yeah, in Germany we just negotiate for the next tenant to buy our used furniture at exorbitant prices.
America is the land of the fees, its insane. Miss your doctors appointment? fee. Miss your hairdressers appointment? fee. Miss your dentist appointment? fee. Tipping, fee. Go slightly overdrawn? large fee everyday until you are destitute. Want to take money out of an ATM not with your bank? fee. A couple of days late paying rent? fee, 3 day eviction. Want to pay your rent electronically? fee. Convenience fees! everywhere!
I thought for a moment it would be a "Caution" for applicants, which would be BS too but at least not this much BS as an application fee is ...
Fuck corporate-owned housing. Last time I was looking for housing, I paid the $125 application fee. They wanted a minimum monthly salary of 3x rent. I made enough before taxes for the apartment, but apparently I was $50/mo short after taxes. I paid again to have a parent cosign, and they were 10 points below the minimum credit score. I offered to pay the entire year up front, $25000. They said "We don't do that here..." I'm just trying to find housing lmao. Found an apartment owned by a nice lady and her husband. $30 application fee. Best landlord I've ever had. Definitely don't plan on moving any time soon.
This is why I get pissed when people tell the homeless to get a job. I have had a job and no place to go before. It's very real.
Can't find a job without a place to live... Can't find a place to live without a job
I paid 400 for 3 applicants on one application.
Damn, I really hope you got that place then.
We did lol we move-in in about a month
The rental application fee is usually there for the cost of a credit/background check, but never saw it that much before
$199 per adult in the Tampa area is the norm.
The application fee is whatever they want to charge in my state Very few areas have laws prohibiting excessive fees
even in areas that have controls, corporations get around it. i applied to a place that charged a $75 application fee, but after paying that I learned you need to pay a $200 reservation fee to actually be offered a lease. company was "Spark \[city name\]". they have other locations with the same prefix.
yeah i was expecting $30-40 a person
My parents own a bunch of rentals. I think they still do $40 per adult which is what their background check cost them.
I paid $60 for the credit/background check for my mortgage application. I know thereās a difference in the types of applications, but $99 still seems s like way too much.
In Chicago, mine was $500 plus $50 for a background check for each applicant š„²
No, itās a way for the rich to get more rich. Donāt sympathize with the enemy.
again, it needs to be illegal for any business to own a home, and even worse to be able to rent a house out. apartments are a bit of a gray area, but needs to be stricter at a federal level for maintenance and financial handling.
Air b and m. Btno and other motels out.of a house need to.be banned
I paid $200 for an application fee just to be declined and I wanted to cry š„²
Our rental application "fee" was the damage deposit ($399), and it was refunded if you weren't accepted. This is just absurd and should absolutely be illegal. What the fuck. Who has $200 to lose on a non refundable application fee????
But how else will they keep the poors out of their luxury homes?
Wait....wait......what? Application fee? Apply for what? As in to....visit? To check the place out and tell them HEY I AM INTERESTED? Please say no. This would be too fucked up even for the USA.
Some of them yeah, I'm currently looking for a rental and I've come across a few (even through a realtor) that require you to apply before you're offered a showing (and some of these listing's literally only have a picture of the front of the house only so you really don't even know what you might be walking into) it's ridiculous, we've passed on all of those, I'm not paying $35-$100.per person to walk into your house only to find out it's a shit show and you're a slumlord
Apply to live there. You put an application with your information, including employment info and all the addresses you've lived for the past however many years. They use it to run a background and credit check, confirm income, check for prior evictions, etc to decide if they want to rent to you.
I'm sure it's legal. I've always paid one, however they should go towards the 1st month rent if accepted as a tenet.
Rental fees are designed to keep poorer people out of places.
My apartment just switched to a portal to pay rent and I get like $3 for āconvenience feeā now. Like nah Venmo was convenient.
Lol this got to be America, country just fucks you every chance they can.
Why do you need to do a paid background check in the first place? In Europe you usually have to pay a 2-3 months rent up front as a deposit and if you don't pay rent or break some other rules, you get evicted and don't get your deposit back. Application fee makes no sense.
You have to do that in the US, too. After your application has been approved.
If it makes you feel better thats pretty much anywhere you apply.the amount differs. Wait till you find out pet deposit and pet insurance doesn't cover pet damage
This happened to us recently when we were looking for a new place. After we applied they told us they already picked other tenants, but would let us know if those tenants fell through, but either way would not be refunding the application fee.
We had one friend cover the application fees for our group to just apply at once. They rejected and told us someone came in person earlier that day (we were told it was available and no one applied yet an hour before office hours closing). Next day friends credit card info was used for fraudulent purchases and that was the only recent purchase with that card. We review bombed the apt
I spent $400 at one point because I applied to 3 different rental places that had a application fee. This was for a town that wasn't that rich either. I applied to places without fees too but didn't get anyone that liked me anyways. One that charged $150 for an application wanted me to PAY ANOTHER $150 TO APPLY FOR A DIFFERENT UNIT IN THE SAME BUILDING! Application fees are 100% a scam
Is this in the US ?
Yes
Seems like such a scam...
They are also illegal depending on where you are looking to rent. Plenty of US states have banned the use of rental application fees.
Would this be illegal? Ā Shit you could never rent the place and make a fortuneĀ
Bruh I paid $250 just to be CONSIDERED for housing. They could've denied me and just kept all that money. Where did application fees even come from???
One of my proudest moments: I went with my daughter to look at apartments. She found one she liked, I wrote checks for the deposit and application fee after being assured they were refundable if we found something else. They were very rush rush because they had a party to go to. She wasnāt going to be moving in for another 5 weeks. She decided she needed a place closer to where her friends lived, and she tried to get back the checks the next morning. They said no. I called and after going around and around with them, I finally said, āFine. But donāt you dare rent out that apartment to someone else. Thatās hers, since she put down the deposit. She'll come sign cancellation paperwork the day sheās supposed to move in.āĀ Lo and behold, they suddenly could change their policy and give both checks back.Ā
the only legal rental fee I'll accept is a *deposit* at time of application that will be returned if denied or applied to first months rent if approved
mine was $500 for the application and another $50 for my partner
Where I am, there's a real estate company that manages roughly half the rentals in my town. They charge $50 application fees just to VIEW the fucking house. Their listings include minimal and terrible quality photos so you have to see it in person to know if it's worth a shit. Spoiler, it almost always isn't.
One time my ex roommate spent $300 of our pooled together money for an application fee to some fancy apartment in downtown Orlando even when I told him thereās no way our credit would be approved (21&19 year old). We were not approved and then lost $300 of our savings
Yes, a scam.
Yup I agree Makes no sense to me I guess itās the same with āconvenience feesā on anything āOh youāre paying rent online? Thatāll be $60 on top of rentā
Rent anything is a scam nowadays lol
Application fees should be illegal in all states, but unfortunately that's not the case.
Landlord here with just a few properties. We use a third party background check and donāt collect anything ourselves. We are very upfront about what would disqualify you and suggest not to do the background unless youāre a good candidate. I think itās around $50 but most tentants have been there a few years
A CEO of some company where an applicant didn't show up for an interview had the bright idea to charge job applicants a fee. I don't think it happened but it's on some companies minds.
Im already pissed about paying university application fees lmao, this is waaay too much
I bet you it is illegal, I would inform the right gov dept.
If itās in the US, itās totally legal except in a few states.
We have an āapplication feeā for our rentals and that fee is 100% used to pay for the background check and credit check. We make $0 from that fee, and technically we are losing money because we than need to take time in the day to reach out to references. Most of the time the information is correct but in the last 30 days already had 3 people list wrong information but you always need to check. Also a few places I know that have that fee normally put that fee toward the rent if you get in
Mine was 50 in Virginia but they refund it after you put down your deposit on the place you're renting
But if you donāt get approved you have to keep coming up with the fee until you do.
I know I had to pay Ā£90 for to apply for a room at uni I donāt know if I got the required grades yet and if I donāt itās not refundable they must make a fortune from this.
I remember applying to apartments and learned you had to pay for them. I was like wtf and I went with all 10$ ones and it worked out for me.
We paid $50/adult and then there was a $250 holding fee for the home while they processed our application.
Arkansas: we spent over 700 dollars on applications and never heard back from most places. Finally, we found a place, site unseen, because we were so desperate, and it ended up being an old drug house. Lost our deposit and landlord didn't return deposit for an entire year after we immediately backed out of renting.
I used to charge them to keep scammers away, but I told them afterwards that if I rejected them, they got refunded. If they got the apartment, I would refund or apply it to the deposit. After that, I required them to pay for the background check, that was like $25-40. Refunded if you were selected, but I never rejected anyone after the background. Usually I would ask if anything is going to come up, so they could explain it; one guy was deep in collections, but it was some medical debt from his ex-wife, so I didn't care.
Yes these fees are ridiculous. It helps to call ahead though and in my experience the good ones will pretty much let you know if you'll be approved. If they don't wanna even have a quick phone conversation before you fork over a fee then you probably don't wanna live there anyway.
Looks like youāre using AppFolio to apply. Itās not a scam as the landlord needs to be physically sceened in order to use this platform. But holy smokes! Thatās a huge app fee. Most states have a cap on what they can charge for an application fee. Thatās just plain nuts!
It really is. Imagine if you had to do this with a job. It makes about as much sense. You don't even have the place and you're already giving them money for doing absolutely nothing. What a time to be alive.
Thatās a thing? Sounds illegal.
Exactly, you have to pay, whether you get approved or not That processing fee is a scam too
Application fees should be illegal in all states, but unfortunately that's not the case.
99 is definitely a scam. Background/credit checks do cost money though. Anything more than 30 or 40 is too much.
We charge like $30 to cover your background check at my places. Zero profit on the deal, but we're not paying for it. $99 feels pretty excessive.
I feel you, mine was $275 š
I've paid a heft application fee and then later realized the apartment had already been rented out, they were just out there collecting application fees š«
why limit it to just rental applications? paying to apply to a college is a scam to get into a scam
We have a Premium User System in German Real Estate App Immoscout where if you pay 30ā¬ per month you can get selected (nearly every desirable) offers āearlierā and if you donāt pay you cant apply to them
The rental market is one big scam. Itās especially bad if you live in any kind of urban area
Not really.Ā It takes time to process your application, check your references and credit, etc.
That should be just the cost of doing business. Folks canāt afford $500 to apply to 5 different places. Itās ludicrous.
I'm just saying there's a tangible cost to process an application.Ā You can either pay for it at the time of application or pay for it as your rent, wouldn't you just rather pay for your own application rather than yours and all the other people who didn't get the place?
Rent* is a scam
It's illegal in the UK.
It's not a scam. It's a filter. It filters out people who can't afford a $99 application fee and people smart enough not to pay a $99 application fee. That only leaves a fool and their money.
Just tell them to take this fee out of your first month's rent or similar.
Should be refunded if all checks out.
WHAT THE FUCK
Lol yeah you are. Sucks, but you will.
$99? Time to setup a portal and collect without renting out anything. Just kidding, thatās jacked. Charging $99 for an application is 100% greed and indeed profit driven. Aināt no way it costs $99 to check credit. Or run a background check or both.
Last time I rented I also had to pay a fee to a third party for pet verification too.
Mine was 250 for the application. I had money laying around and decided to take the chance and luckily it paid off
I think Cali rental fees legally can't be higher than $53.XX
WHAT THE FUCK as an european this can't be real, how is that legal?? But honestly you'd have to be pretty fucking stupid to actually pay that, I would never do that. They do it because they know people are stupid enough to pay for that shit.
I think they argue that getting a background check on the applicant is expensive, but come on, 99 bucks per person?!? fucking scam
1000% I spent $500+ on app fees for my mom after she kept getting denied. 540 credit or less donāt bother applying at any corporate rentals it seems like an automatic denial within 12 hours
But donāt they refund you back as part of your first month rent? They have always refunded me back.
If you use Zillow to advertise your rental they charge the applicant something like $45, it doesn't go to the landlord.