How Can I Avoid Getting Screwed By Landlords Application Fee Scams?
Ubi jus ibi remedium. “Where there is a right, there is a remedy.”
I have read your column for quite awhile, and I look forward to it every week. I have a question that might be outside of your typical coverage, but it might also be helpful for your readers. I have been looking for my own apartment in Oakland for several months, but I think my question would apply for San Francisco as well (and Marin, and the South Bay.)
I know through my research that there is a limit to the amount that a landlord may charge for an application fee/background check, and I believe it is currently $44.21. My research into California laws has also led me to believe that if a landlord does not actually perform a background check on me, or does not otherwise process my application, then s/he must refund it, otherwise it is illegal to accept the application fee payment. (An example would be, if the landlord accepted an application before me, processed it, offered the apartment to that person, and they accepted, thus my information was never looked at.) I always thought that this was the reason that landlords asked for checks, so that if an application was not processed, they would just not cash the check.
However, I have been coming across apartments that request an application fee be paid in cash or cashier’s check. Is this legal? I subscribe to Experian, so I can see when my credit is checked, and I’m in regular contact with my references, so I would know if this information was followed up on.
Do I have any recourse if I can tell that there was never a background/credit check performed on me, or do I have to just accept that there might be landlords out there collecting application fee payments on top of their already-guaranteed rent? I appreciate any thoughts you may have on this matter.
Rental application fees are governed by California law, therefore the comments I make here will apply to anyone in California who is looking for an apartment.
California Civil Code §1950.6 governs the collection of screening fees. In 1998, the fee to screen an applicant’s credit, etc. was capped at $30.00 with annual adjustments pegged to the Consumer Price Index. In 2012, he most a landlord could charge to screen an applicant’s credit was $44.51.
You are correct that the law provides that a must refund the fee if “the landlord or his or her agent does not perform a personal reference check or does not obtain a consumer credit report…” (Civil Code §1950.6(e).)
While the the law does not prohibit the collection of a cashier’s check or cash, it does provide, “The landlord or his or her agent shall provide, personally, or by mail, the applicant with a receipt for the fee paid by the applicant, which receipt shall itemize the out-of-pocket expenses and time spent by the landlord or his or her agent to obtain and process the information about the applicant.” (Civil Code §1950.6(d).)
Check out the California Department of Consumer Affairs article “Looking for a Rental Unit” for more detailed information. Their advice:
Before you pay the application screening fee, ask the landlord the following questions about it:
- How long will it take the landlord to get a copy of your credit report?
- How long will it take the landlord to review the credit report and decide whether to rent to you?
- Is the fee refundable if the credit check takes too long and you’re forced to rent another place?
- If you already have a current copy of your credit report, will the landlord accept it and either reduce the fee or not charge it at all?
If you don’t like the landlord’s policy on application screening fees, you may want to look for another rental unit. If you decide to pay the application screening fee, any agreement regarding a refund should be in writing.
One way to avoid the fee is to get a copy of your most recent credit report before you begin to search for apartments. Under federal law you are entitled to a copy of your credit report annually from all three credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax. and TransUnion. Each of the companies have their requirements to obtain one. Here is an example from Experian.
You can print out the report and provide copies to prospective landlords when you apply for apartments. I’ve done this in the past without a problem. I tend to think that a landlord who insists upon charging the fee despite your offer of a recent report, is either scamming you or such a Cheese Ball that you wouldn’t want to rent from him anyway.
Last week I talked to a tenant who told me that the leasing agent for an apartment in San Francisco wanted to charge $500.00 for a screening fee. My advice? Don’t pay. Get as much information as you can to prove the allegation and report the guy to the District Attorney. If you’re standing in a line to apply for an apartment with a bunch of other folks (typical these days) and the agent is collecting $500.00 a pop, flag down a cop.
While that may work when a landlord is blatantly running a con game, what if the landlord charges $50.00 per application or does not refund your fee after he fails to collect the information? Do you have any recourse if the landlord violates Civil Code §1950.6? Just like the Department of Consumer Affairs said, you can walk away or while you’re in line, negotiate a written agreement to get a refund.
You may wonder, what kind of bullshit, namby-pamby advice is that?
It’s the only kind of advice one can offer when the namby-pamby, bullshit law does not contain a remedy, a penalty for its violation.
Reread the statute. Note that it doesn’t provide a tenant with any recourse to enforce it. Could it be that the legislators who drafted and passed the law wanted to appear to be reformers while still guaranteeing one more illicit income stream for their landlord benefactors?
Some lawyers are familiar with this Latin phrase: Ubi jus ibi remedium. “Where there is a right, there is a remedy.” Conversely, where there is no remedy, there is no right. Get it? You’re a tenant not a lord.
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Hi,
Where do I complain to get my application fee back. I was charged 200$ as application fee which is way beyond 30$ on 6 August 2019 by Sofi Redwood Park SF. However I decided to go for another apartment. When I asked for my refund on 10 August 2019, I was told by Ms Alexandra that we will receive a cheque of 165 $ after deducting 35$ for application fee. After repeated calls and emails thereafter I was told again on 9 Sept 2019 that they will send the cheque and it will take 21 days to receive it. Today is 22 Oct 2019 and we have yet to see the cheque. We have the bank statement of our debit card from which the amount was paid and the itemised mobile bill to prove that our calls were received by them. This is harassment and illegal. Can you please help us.
Thank You,
Mrs Bhatia
I am in Northern CA and it may not have been that way back in 2015, but it’s that way here now. The landlords are absolutely terrible and fully take advantage of people. And look at all the homeless people we have now. We are not headed in a good direction at all. Gavin Newsom is a terrible governor. Our legislators just past some really dumb rent control laws but still did nothing to stop these slum lords from operating and ripping people off of these phony application fees. We all know credit checks are practically nothing. The person in the office making a couple of phone calls, if they do at all is probably getting paid minimum wage and should be considered part of the over head of running a business and is a tax write off for them as well as the nominal fee they pay to sign up to an internet background check service. Making spouses get separate application fees is a rip off. Everyone knows it. And, yes, they are all now running phony ads on Craigslist for fake rentals and raking in the application fees from desperate people that have been displaced because of the suspicious fires here- especially the recent Campfire in Magalia, CA. Now my wife and I are helping our son rent his first place in Redding, CA and we have found that they are fully taking advantage of people including us and we are Real Estate agents. They absolutely don’t care. Some of the landlords have such terrible attitudes because they can get away with it. They have no conscience or remorse. It is an absolute predatory environment in CA now in every way and getting worse every day. Not very many people seem to have any integrity or morals any longer. So now we look for laws and regulations to take it’s place but meanwhile people are getting relentlessly ripped off as our elected leaders have their priorities completely corrupted with their war against our President who is trying to fix our problems. We already have overcrowding and an out of control homeless population so how in the world can we afford open borders and to be a sanctuary state for everybody or anybody who wants to walk across our borders unaccounted for, for whatever reason they want good or bad we don’t know and then go on to pay for all of their expenses for housing, food, education and healthcare when the taxpayers don’t even get any of that- and the homeless grows. The landlords get more arrogant. We now have people living in tents, vans, cars, RV parks- they are charging $500 a month for an unlicensed, non-permitted RV space.
The really sad part of this whole thing is that these rip-off fees are the least of our worries now. What we should do is get the heck out of CA entirely. We didn’t want to and we are trying to hold on, but there isn’t much to hold on to any longer. My daughter already got out of here and moved to Idaho because after graduating from UC Davis, she couldn’t get a decent job out here. She got a terrible job, it paid crap and they worked here 12 hours a day 7 days a week and burnt her out. In her career, they are now telling her to get this degree, another degree, another “internship” and work for free or actually pay somebody for the privilege of working for free just to jump through another hoop. And another hoop, then get your masters, then your doctorate, it is never enough. And they only pay her enough to rent a room in an old, poorly maintained apartment unit in an “OK” part of town.
My son is very ambitious and managed to work his way up and get a position with Calfire. He is putting his life on the line for the community but he can’t even seem to be able to rent an apartment. We have paid hundreds in application fees to learn this terrible lesson first hand. Very disappointing the way they operate! We shouldn’t need stupid laws! People should do the right thing on there own because IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO! REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE! WE CAN EITHER LIVE IN PEACE OR IN A “DOG EAT DOG” WORLD UNTIL WE ALL DESTROY OURSELVES. GET IT TOGETHER PEOPLE!!!
1877rentpro.com is a company that posts low prices for units and collects as many applications as they can for $50 fees. If you’re married they ask each spouse to go through the application. That’s another $50. Does the law allow them to pocket thousands of dollars per unit showing?
“An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who had been doing a little
homework on this. And he actually ordered me dinner simply because
I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….
Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending some time to discuss
this topic here on your blog.”
I added a roommate few months ago to my lease and they asked for a $100 administration fee. Now, that roommate has left and I asked the leasing office to remove him from the application and they said even removal of a roommate is a $100 administration fee. Is this legal?
I spent $400 on app fees last month just to move out of here and get more space for my daughter and her 3yr old daughter.the problem I run into is we are both on ssi and make $4000 a month. the rates of a two or three bdrm 1.5ba.is $1750 and up per month.they WANT TWO AND A HALF TO THREE TIMES THAT AMOUNT GROSS TO QUALIFY…iM PAYING $1700 NOW AND HAVE FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS…NEVER BEEN LATE FOR TWENTY YEARS OF RENTING….IS THERE A LAW FOR THIS? I CALL IT DISCRIMINATION….Im not paying another app fee unless they say yes you can rent it…do i have any recourse?
ThAnk u. Wtf is going on around here? I want to ruin all of their overpriced dumps.
I read the above article/comments etc. This is quite similar to what is going on here in L.A. and Orange county, with this “pre-leasing” bullshit. It’s a complete scam and a great way to get rich. The landlords are collecting thousands of dollars from people for rental applications when they don’t even have apartments available to rent even with them listed on Craigslist! They don’t even run credit reports even though they tell people they are going to do that. They post available apartments on the internet but tell prospective tenants that the place cannot be shown because people are still in it, but people here are so desperate for a place (due to the supply and demand crisis here) that they are paying application fees to landlords that don’t even have an apartment available some times, or did have it and then pretend that it will be ready in a weel or two or a month, when in fact it has already been rented, but the prospective tenants are clueless, and give the money anyway. I am beyond disbelief with what is going on here, and people don’t even care. And the landlords will collect money for weeks and not show the apartments, and then do only a one hour open house one day to cover themselves so they can say they did show it when it finally becomes vacant, but all the people viewing and who have already put money down, have no idea that the landlord has already rented it! This seems so criminal to me! I just moved here from northern California and have NEVER experienced anything like this before! I wish there were more educated people or maybe I should say intuitive? Gosh, it’s terrible here! At least I figured it out.