help me help my 22 year old daughter (Oakland, Fremont: low income, extended stay)

[madrugalorie]

My daughter has relocated to Fremont California she has a job through a temp agency. She is now staying at a motel looking for an apartment. We found one that was promising in san Leandro. The manager was very nice . My daughter has no established credit but she has furnished the manager with check stubs for the past 6 months , credit report paid for and a letter from her place of employment. She signed the offer to rent and paid a $1200 deposit to hold the apartment. All of the things provided were asked for by manager ... and every time she complied. The manager said after she got the employment verification she should be good to go. So now we have paid and all info has been submitted. After a week of the manager asking for more and more documents and taking the deposit. .. she now wants a co signer and a notary . My daughter is spending $75 a day and losing money. Is that legal? They took the deposit money and filled out an offer to rent . She can't find a co signer .... and now after a week of wasted time and money they want her to pick of the check. . Like they legally can't show apartment unless she does . It was like false hope stringing her along ? What can she do? The apartment was promised to her and now it's like they are making up reasons to not rent it to her. Please respond she is all alone in fremont and she's my only daughter I need to help her she's 22 years old

[bmw335xi]

1) What are these "more and more" documents you mentioned?

2) Did her employer confirm the VOE?

3) Co-signing is very common for people with low incomes or no credit. Are you sure your daughter didn't understand that it was required? It's not surprising they asked for a co-signer if she has no credit.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

If she wants to give up on that place at this point, she can simply say, give me my money back. She will lose her application fee, but that's all that's legal for them to keep. In CA, the application fee can only be around $42 (can't remember exact amount, but it's set by law).

I retired from an apt mgr job in Santa Clara.

I think she should keep looking. If she has a job, she should not have trouble finding a landlord who will rent to her, even without credit.

I rented to people who didn't have credit, if they had a verified job, and didn't have bad credit. Personally, I didn't want to deal with co-signers. She should be able to find a landlord who will rent to her without a co-signer.

Is she staying in the Extended Stay Hotel? If so, after she has been there for 30 days, the rent amount drops significantly, because the luxury tax for short term hotel stays is dropped.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by madrugalorie

My daughter has relocated to Fremont California she has a job through a temp agency. She is now staying at a motel looking for an apartment. We found one that was promising in san Leandro. The manager was very nice . My daughter has no established credit but she has furnished the manager with check stubs for the past 6 months , credit report paid for and a letter from her place of employment. She signed the offer to rent and paid a $1200 deposit to hold the apartment. All of the things provided were asked for by manager ... and every time she complied. The manager said after she got the employment verification she should be good to go. So now we have paid and all info has been submitted. After a week of the manager asking for more and more documents and taking the deposit. .. she now wants a co signer and a notary . My daughter is spending $75 a day and losing money. Is that legal? They took the deposit money and filled out an offer to rent . She can't find a co signer .... and now after a week of wasted time and money they want her to pick of the check. . Like they legally can't show apartment unless she does . It was like false hope stringing her along ? What can she do? The apartment was promised to her and now it's like they are making up reasons to not rent it to her. Please respond she is all alone in fremont and she's my only daughter I need to help her she's 22 years old

It's tough to find a place without a credit history, maybe she should look at renting a room? It would be cheaper and if she finds the right place she might be able to share a place with other young women her age. If that's not a possibility then maybe you or another relative might want to co-sign for her.

[beb0p]

I am assuming you are out of state and the landlord does not accept out of state co-signer. Otherwise, it would have been a simple task for you to co-sign for her.

Since your daughter does not have sufficient credit history, it's not unusual for a landlord to require a co-signer. Since your daughter cannot find one to the landlord's satisfactory, I think it's inevitable that the young woman and the manager part ways.

I know it sucks, but keep looking. Maybe look for a roommate situation like the previous poster suggested, where the roommates likely will not be as demanding as the manager.

Good luck.
.

[eureka1]

Maybe they're concerned that the daughter is not managing her own affairs.

[Ruth4Truth]

Renting, especially in high-demand areas like the Bay Area and Seattle, is very competitive these days. Back in the "old days" before it was common for college students to have credit cards, landlords didn't require anything except the usual first and last month's rent and a deposit. No co-signer required. There were no credit checks, not for college-age people and those recently graduated. Now people in that age-group aren't able to rent at all, just because they don't have a credit history? There's got to be a solution for that.

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Renting, especially in high-demand areas like the Bay Area and Seattle, is very competitive these days. Back in the "old days" before it was common for college students to have credit cards, landlords didn't require anything except the usual first and last month's rent and a deposit. No co-signer required. There were no credit checks, not for college-age people and those recently graduated. Now people in that age-group aren't able to rent at all, just because they don't have a credit history? There's got to be a solution for that.

I had my son apply for a credit card as soon as he got a paid college internship (at age 19) in order to establish credit. I know of other parents (who are paying for their kids college) that have their kids take a one-year student loan (~$5K) while they are in college in order to establish credit (and the parents pay it off and the kid has established a credit history).

My son is in college and rents. He has a credit history, but doesn't have a job . I am the guarantor, and have signed as responsible for his rental debts.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by twins4lynn

I had my son apply for a credit card as soon as he got a paid college internship (at age 19) in order to establish credit. I know of other parents (who are paying for their kids college) that have their kids take a one-year student loan (~$5K) while they are in college in order to establish credit (and the parents pay it off and the kid has established a credit history).

My son is in college and rents. He has a credit history, but doesn't have a job . I am the guarantor, and have signed as responsible for his rental debts.

Yes, there was a flurry of publicity back in the 90's about the fact that some parents were having their college student kids get credit cards just so they could build up a history. Like--that's one of the must-haves these days for launching an adult life successfully.

Still, though, you'd think there would be landlords who would be understanding of college students and recent college grads who didn't have that. I think it's because there's such an overwhelming demand for rentals in the Bay Area, due to the explosion in tech development, that landlords have no incentive to rent to people in that just-starting-out situation.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by madrugalorie

My daughter has relocated to Fremont California she has a job through a temp agency. She is now staying at a motel looking for an apartment. We found one that was promising in san Leandro. The manager was very nice . My daughter has no established credit but she has furnished the manager with check stubs for the past 6 months , credit report paid for and a letter from her place of employment. She signed the offer to rent and paid a $1200 deposit to hold the apartment. All of the things provided were asked for by manager ... and every time she complied. The manager said after she got the employment verification she should be good to go. So now we have paid and all info has been submitted. After a week of the manager asking for more and more documents and taking the deposit. .. she now wants a co signer and a notary . My daughter is spending $75 a day and losing money. Is that legal? They took the deposit money and filled out an offer to rent . She can't find a co signer .... and now after a week of wasted time and money they want her to pick of the check. . Like they legally can't show apartment unless she does . It was like false hope stringing her along ? What can she do? The apartment was promised to her and now it's like they are making up reasons to not rent it to her. Please respond she is all alone in fremont and she's my only daughter I need to help her she's 22 years old

OP, what do you mean by "we", here? Did you speak to the manager yourself? If not, maybe it's time to do that, and ask nicely what the hold up is. Tell the mgr. you'd be happy to cosign, if that's necessary, in addition to the proof of a steady paycheck that's already been provided.

It might be easier for your daughter to get a studio in Berkeley or Oakland, and take BART to Fremont, if you can't resolve this.