At the end of the month I’m moving to a new place.
The new landlord wants three months rent before he’ll give us keys (first month, last month, and a damage deposit).
I always thought two months rent was normal.
Should this be some sort of red flag, or have I just gotten by easily in the past?
Depends on the market you’re moving into, but I don’t think it’s outlandish. I bet you could find other accomodations without first / last / deposit, but so it goes. Does the renters contract address your deposit at all?
Three months is normal in San Francisco (first/last/deposit).
clm
Its called a free market system. He can do whatever he wants, as long as the market will support it. You are always free to find a better deal elsewhere. If it was out of line, then he wouldn’t be renting any units.
Some rental agencies require credit checks and then setup the deposits based on a sliding scale depending on your score. But whatever the case, the market will determine what he can get away with.
Normal
.
Its called a free market system. He can do whatever he wants, as long as the market will support it. You are always free to find a better deal elsewhere. If it was out of line, then he wouldn’t be renting any units.
Some rental agencies require credit checks and then setup the deposits based on a sliding scale depending on your score. But whatever the case, the market will determine what he can get away with.
Ya, I suppose. It’s also a rather nice place, as far as rental properties go, so he has a bit of risk involved.
I’m also guessing we could get him to back off the third month by looking elsewhere - he doesn’t want this property to sit empty through September.
We had a guy that works here just tried to rent a place. They made him pay 25$ for a rental application, then told him he doesn’t make enough money to rent there. I thought that was a neat trick.
~Matt
Its called a free market system. He can do whatever he wants, as long as the market will support it. You are always free to find a better deal elsewhere. If it was out of line, then he wouldn’t be renting any units.
Some rental agencies require credit checks and then setup the deposits based on a sliding scale depending on your score. But whatever the case, the market will determine what he can get away with.
most municipalities have some sort of housing code that regulates landlord/renter relations, and often have rules about how much deposit a landlord can require. Not always easy to get this enforced, though.
to the OP, though - yeah, it’s pretty normal.
It’s common to have an application fee that basically covers a credit check and further shows whether the person is serious about renting the place. Landlords that have been burned by people with bad credit will be happy to explain why this is done.
most municipalities have some sort of housing code that regulates landlord/renter relations, and often have rules about how much deposit a landlord can require.<<
True. San Francisco is up to 3x the monthly rent. OP should see if the city has a rent board or landlord/tenants board and see what the code is, if any.
clm
If I were a landlord, that’s what I’d want to require.
My wife and I managed an apartment complex when I was in lawschool, and the percentage of deadbeats was eye-opening. Of course, we didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods. But tenants were routinely falling behind in rent and trashing their apartments. Without a last months’ rent and a security deposit, there was really no way to cover most of the crap some people would pull.
(While it had nothing to do with a deadbeat tenant, one of my favorite experience was when a tenant called to complain about some teenagers hanging out on the roof. While I really didn’t care that much, I went up to check it out, and the minute they saw me, the took off. I then went over to where they were hanging out and found that they had left behind a cheap water pipe. So I confiscated it and put it up on the mantle as a “flower vase.”)
We had a guy that works here just tried to rent a place. They made him pay 25$ for a rental application, then told him he doesn’t make enough money to rent there. I thought that was a neat trick.
Actually, up here at least, that isn’t a trick. When I went to get my apartment, they had said they were supposed to collect the fee from me, but since I was moving from out of town, they couldn’t really collect from me. They knew where I was working and so that bought me a lot of credibility. When I asked why they needed one though, he had said that many people on welfare would go and ask for an application, walk down to the social services office, say “here’s my new address I am moving to”, and apparently the city was required to give them first and last month’s rent, even though the people had no intention of actually living there. The $25 fee apparently is enough to scare these people away.
Just adding my 2 cents. But it does sound like it depends on the area.
I just moved to the Philly area from Canada. The apartment requested a $35 application fee, which was waived for me as the company I work for was on a preferred vendor list. I think it covers credit checks and background checks.
I signed gave a security deposit of 1-moth rent at the time of application. I also had to pay the first month’s rent since I wanted to move in with less than 30 days notice. I was accepted a few weeks later and basically signed the lease on the day I moved in. I understand that in PA, the maximum time that they can keep the security deposit is 2 years. So I should get that back by the time I move out.
I can understand all that, but you’d think they’d give the money back after you do the application stuff, especially if they reject you.
~Matt
Credit checks aren’t free. The landlord pays for those. Time is not free either. $25 is minimal.
I had a similar issue. My landlord made us pay a security deposit upon signing, and we had two weeks to come up with the first months rent, this was in the spring previous to the fall semester. Upon move in in the fall we had to pay for the last 2 months. I have done it both ways, I did not have any problems with this, I think it is just the landlord being extra cautious because he has probably had people skip out early. Good luck.
A lot of times the last months rent or last two months rent is required because of the eviction laws. If it takes 30-60 days to evict someoen (even though they are behind on their rent) that is what the landlord will want upfront. It protects them from someone not paying rent and not being able to evict them in a timely manner.
The application fee normally covers credit checks. Sometimes it is refunded if you rent the place. A lot of times it’s required so the property manager isn’t wasting time. People won’t likely fill out applications for a few places if they have to pay $25-40 each time they do. If they are going to reject someone based on their income they should probably tell them what the minimum income is upfront.