Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate > Renting
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-24-2015, 09:26 PM
 
314 posts, read 552,055 times
Reputation: 267

Advertisements

If you had the choice between having to put up money for the damage deposit, which is equal to one month's rent (approx. $1,000) or pay a one-time fee of $175 and not have to pay a deposit, which would you choose an why?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-25-2015, 04:07 AM
 
Location: St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
24,665 posts, read 69,515,094 times
Reputation: 26727
It makes no sense so my immediate reaction would be "what's the catch?" and I would go over the lease with a very fine tooth comb to find out what it was. In some states it wouldn't be legal.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2015, 04:44 AM
 
10,746 posts, read 25,913,957 times
Reputation: 16024
Quote:
Originally Posted by youngprodigy21 View Post
If you had the choice between having to put up money for the damage deposit, which is equal to one month's rent (approx. $1,000) or pay a one-time fee of $175 and not have to pay a deposit, which would you choose an why?

If you're asking about Surety Bond, read your paperwork carefully.

You won't get that $175 back and if there are damages, the Surety Bond company would pay the landlord/complex and then come after you. They wont work with you, they will sue you as soon as smile at you...this is what they do.

From what I understand, and I have limited knowledge on this, there is no communication between you and the landlord, no disputing the damage charges, they (the Bond company) would send you a bill and if it wasn't paid, they sue. (I saw this as an option in my last unit and asked the manager about it....she doesn't recommend it, but she has to offer it based on company policy)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2015, 02:39 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,529 posts, read 47,608,287 times
Reputation: 77907
As a landlord, I'm not very interested in a one time non-refundable fee of $175. My good tenants get all their security back. The bad tenants sometimes do a couple of thousand dollars in damages. I don't have enough good tenants, at $175 each, to cover the thousands in damages that a bad tenant might do.

Not to mention, why should the good tenants be covering the damage done by the slobs, anyway?

If it is a surety bond, I don't want to have to hassle with a bondsman about how much they will give me to cover damages. I'd rather just do the repairs and take it out of the deposit. All insurance companies have a bunch of reasons why they don't have to pay on claims. I'm sure the bond company isn't any different.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2015, 05:14 PM
 
314 posts, read 552,055 times
Reputation: 267
Yes, it is a Surety Bond.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2015, 05:36 PM
 
27,206 posts, read 46,595,424 times
Reputation: 15661
Security deosit...no surety bond!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-25-2015, 11:25 PM
 
Location: West Virginia
13,914 posts, read 39,151,566 times
Reputation: 10244
I take the Deposit! & I am Poor! LOL
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2015, 07:36 AM
 
2,600 posts, read 8,746,003 times
Reputation: 2483
What’s a Surety Bond? | Apartment Ratings
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2015, 09:45 AM
 
7,672 posts, read 12,752,061 times
Reputation: 8030
After reading that link, I say security deposit. What would happen if you got a crappy landlord that dinged you for all kinds of stuff and then you have to fight the bond company. It seems like a headache to have to go through the bond company who would then contact the landlord etc.

Where as with a security deposit, you can file in small claims very easily without an attorney and fight only the landlord in court.

And whichever you end up doing, take thousands and one picture of your place inside and out before moving in and date it ONLINE somewhere like Facebook/Instagram to prove the dates along with a newspaper in each photo. And then take the same amount of pictures with a newspaper upon moving out. The newspaper dating of the leaving pictures should be fine and not needed to back up online. With the moving in pictures, it's probably easy to order a backdated newspaper and make it seem like it was back then which is why I suggested you upload those photos to a site where it's dated for you plus prevent losing them to data errors etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2015, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Rural Wisconsin
19,575 posts, read 9,110,554 times
Reputation: 37790
Unless you live in a SUPER apartment with great management, I think you can just plan on losing any deposit you put down.

Time and time again (about six apartments between us) until we bought our home, my husband and/or I would give plenty of notice and SCOUR our apartments before vacating, but we never got a deposit back, even though we had no pets and no kids and so there was NO damage. Each time we were told that they refused to refund our deposits because the carpets and windows needed cleaning! To have the windows and carpets professionally cleaned would have cost us more than losing the deposits!

However, the last time we had an apartment, before we bought our current home, we had lived in a nice 3-bedroom apartment for five years (and at that time we had two kids, a cat, and a dog), and when it was time to move after the experiences we had had before, we basically said, "screw it" and just gave it the kind of cleaning I would do if my mother was coming over. (Clean, but not sterile.) Surprise, surprise -- we got 90% of all our deposits back -- they only deducted for a torn screen door!

Anyway, my advice would be to not plan on getting any deposits back at all and only do as much cleaning as you WANT to do when you move out.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate > Renting

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top