Paying applications fee for leasing?

[GeoMex]

Hello everyone.

 

Have any of you payed the application fee for an apartment without having looked at it?

I'm moving to Austin from Mexico and there's always a recommendation in sites about not paying anything if there's no personal contact, but I don't know if that applies for application fees and credit check fees (I can't believe they charge that).

How have you done your leasing process from abroad?

Thanks

[TakeruK]

I was surprised to see these charges too, when moving to the US. In many places in Canada, such fees are illegal and landlords are expected to pay for their own credit checks on you since that is considered a business expense. Similarly, I just moved out of my first US apartment and it sounds like they are going to charge me to clean the carpet and windows from my security deposit--again, this is another "cost of business" expense in Canada that the landlord is expected to pay for as part of renting. However, I suppose that if the landlord has to pay for it out of pocket, then they would just get the money through our rent or whatever. Just frustrating

 

All that said, I would be very cautious of paying fees online without seeing the place first. This is a very common scam in North America, where the "landlord" or "agent" will list an apartment that doesn't really exist or they don't really own. They will collect your fee and then disappear! If there is no way for you to come in person to see the apartment, please do as much as you can to ensure the apartment is 1) real and 2) is actually livable (many places have very misleading photos). One way you can do this is to get an apartment building recommendation from someone you know or another student in your program. Ideally, you would come to the city a little early and try to find a place during the first week or so (stay in a motel or graduate housing if possible).

[GeoMex]

I was surprised to see these charges too, when moving to the US. In many places in Canada, such fees are illegal and landlords are expected to pay for their own credit checks on you since that is considered a business expense. Similarly, I just moved out of my first US apartment and it sounds like they are going to charge me to clean the carpet and windows from my security deposit--again, this is another "cost of business" expense in Canada that the landlord is expected to pay for as part of renting. However, I suppose that if the landlord has to pay for it out of pocket, then they would just get the money through our rent or whatever. Just frustrating

 

All that said, I would be very cautious of paying fees online without seeing the place first. This is a very common scam in North America, where the "landlord" or "agent" will list an apartment that doesn't really exist or they don't really own. They will collect your fee and then disappear! If there is no way for you to come in person to see the apartment, please do as much as you can to ensure the apartment is 1) real and 2) is actually livable (many places have very misleading photos). One way you can do this is to get an apartment building recommendation from someone you know or another student in your program. Ideally, you would come to the city a little early and try to find a place during the first week or so (stay in a motel or graduate housing if possible).

 

 

Thank you for your response.

And yes, that's why I'm a little cautious of applying before going. But I've managed to plan a trip in may to see some of the apartments. Also, do you think it would be safer if the agent is from a well known real state company? 

[TakeruK]

Yes I would feel safer. I also tend to rent from big landlord companies (ones that own several buildings in the same city) rather than individual people renting out the single building (or single apartment!) they own. But whether or not this makes one feels better depends on each person!

[Crucial BBQ]

Hello everyone.

 

Have any of you payed the application fee for an apartment without having looked at it?

I'm moving to Austin from Mexico and there's always a recommendation in sites about not paying anything if there's no personal contact, but I don't know if that applies for application fees and credit check fees (I can't believe they charge that).

How have you done your leasing process from abroad?

Thanks

See below:

 

I was surprised to see these charges too, when moving to the US. In many places in Canada, such fees are illegal and landlords are expected to pay for their own credit checks on you since that is considered a business expense. Similarly, I just moved out of my first US apartment and it sounds like they are going to charge me to clean the carpet and windows from my security deposit--again, this is another "cost of business" expense in Canada that the landlord is expected to pay for as part of renting. However, I suppose that if the landlord has to pay for it out of pocket, then they would just get the money through our rent or whatever. Just frustrating

 

All that said, I would be very cautious of paying fees online without seeing the place first. This is a very common scam in North America, where the "landlord" or "agent" will list an apartment that doesn't really exist or they don't really own. They will collect your fee and then disappear! If there is no way for you to come in person to see the apartment, please do as much as you can to ensure the apartment is 1) real and 2) is actually livable (many places have very misleading photos). One way you can do this is to get an apartment building recommendation from someone you know or another student in your program. Ideally, you would come to the city a little early and try to find a place during the first week or so (stay in a motel or graduate housing if possible).

I have always had my security deposit returned to me 100% intact; there are certain "damages" that are just considered a normal part of wear and tear.  Sometimes a landlord will throw on a new coat of paint or install new carpet when a tenant leaves, but these are done more so the landlord can increase the rent with the next tenants and typically come out of their own pocket.  Also, some landlords/property managements will do a walk-through with you prior to you moving in to take note of the dwelling's current condition with both you and the "inspector" initialing each check-list item, indicating that you agree to rent/lease the dwelling in its current "as-is" state and that you will return the property in a similar, or satisfactory, condition.  Some renters will go as far as to take pictures prior to moving in, just in case. 

 

If your landlord is going to charge you to clean, then either you did some obvious damage, did not clean upon leaving, or they are taking advantage of you being a Canadian and ripping you off.  They should not charge you to clean the windows unless they were visibly stained and unless the carpet is stained, not for that, either. But I have heard of landlords charging a cleaning, fee, though.   I'd go online and find reviews of this landlord/property management to see if this is something they commonly do.  If it is, cut your loss I suppose.  If not, they are trying to scam you.  I'd also check your copy of the lease.  Sometimes it is written in the lease that the tenant is expected to throughly clean the rental upon leaving, and if not, they can charge you the cleaning fee.  I do have some friend's who were charged for things such as not cleaning the bathtub even though they claim they did.   Sometimes it is hard to take an early 20-something's word for it, however, in particular if they are the type to drink and smoke dope on a regular basis.  As I wrote, I always got my deposit back in full. 

 

It is a common scam that you mention, yes.  However, many legit landlords will believe that you are trying to scam them.  I am not sure how the scam is supposed to work, but I have had landlords/property management refuse to accept any amount of money for fear I was somehow going to scam them.  In a way it does seem odd to agree to send money on an apartment sight-unseen since most Americans will typically visit the location first prior to securing a rental. 

 

I have been a victim of the "bait-and-switch" myself, when I moved out of Minneapolis for the East Coast.  The apartment they agreed to rent to me and the apartment I agreed to rent turned out to not be the same apartment they tried to give me upon arrival.  That apartment was still vacant, but somehow, for some reason, they claimed to have agreed to rent it to someone else.  What they tried to give me was a total dump, too.  I raised heck with them until they agreed to give me another unit in another building, that, incidentally, was one of the nicest apartments I have ever lived in.  A funny aside:  when the superintendent took me over to show me that other unit, it was also being shown to other people at the same time.  I kid you not; I walked in the front door, took a quick look around, and told the other perspective tenants to leave--that this place was now taken!  The whole event took about 2 seconds and all I really saw was the living room.  Seriously, I did not just drive 1500 miles to move into a dump that even a junkie would find disgusting.  

 

It is typical in the U.S. for the prospective tenant to pay for the background/credit check, which runs $20-25.  That is just how it is done here.  Coming from Mexico, or even another city within the State, I would not send money to an individual.  Instead, I would only deal with rentals that are managed by a property management, and one that can be verified.  I would check to see if they have a legit website and then contact them through what-ever phone number is listed on website, especially after hours to see if you get their answering machine.  You can also google the phone number to see if it belongs to an individual or a business.  Sure, a scammer could set all of this up but that is quiet a set-up just to rip off the occasional $25.  I'd also check Yelp, Google, etc. for reviews.  If you are really suspicious you can check with the Better Business Bureau, Rip-Off Report, etc. to see if any complaints have been lodged against them.  

 

This might be a bit of a stretch, but as someone mentioned in another thread of a different topic you can potentially use TinEye to run the photos to see if they were "stolen".  It is easy to drag photos from a legit rental company and drop them onto your desktop to be used in a Craigslist scam.   With TinEye you can see if the photos originated with a rental company in Arizona but the Craigslist ad is advertising for a rental in Chicago, for example. 

 

**please note, I do not endorse, work for, or use TinEye.  I just know it is photo/image software similar to that of something like Turnitin, but to check for plagiarized images across the web.**

[TakeruK]

Thanks for the tips CrucialBBQ. I actually have not seen the list of charges yet. We did the inspection and returned the keys on Sunday and the building manager mentioned that everything looks good and that they only expect charges for cleaning the carpet (unless they choose to replace them, then it will be no charge to us) and cleaning the windows ($110 is what they said the "standard" price was, which sounds excessive to me). But weirdly, the manager also said things like "since it is clear that you guys tried to clean things as best as possible, we'll only charge a percentage of that" so the subjective nature makes me a little uncomfortable!

 

California state law says they have to return our deposit minus any fees/charges (which must be itemized) within 21 days, so I guess we'll find out the final charges in a few weeks. We do have pictures of how dirty the carpets and windows were when we moved in so we'll be able to contest charges if necessary. Maybe it will all work out though. I know our lease does include a carpet cleaning fee and we took that in consideration when comparing places initially. It seems like every single place here charges that though. The rent market is kind of weird here where the market price is already so high that landlords are afraid of raising rent (in the entire 2.5 years there, our rent never went up) but then there's all these weird practices that they use to recoup expenses, like cleaning fees and requiring tenants to sign for another X months after the first lease expires (our place didn't do this). These practices are explicitly illegal in many parts of Canada (not to keep bringing that up, but just an example of how strange American systems can be to an international student).