Charging Apt Renters Fee For Their Check! (renter, sex offender)

[Rent101]

California is reknown for charging would be renters a fee for credit checks. Some are unethical that is they charge a couple of hundred per day and don't intend on renting to anyone!

What renters need to do now is charge the Landlord to check on their files such as their Housing Authority Inspection reports, health dept. reports, asbestos and lead reports, complaints in court against them under any various business name they have used for various buildings, etc....

Renters go to Landlords or agents at their mercy having to sometimes pay them while knowing nothing about the Landlord's history of the building.

This takes time and effort as well more time and effort than researching a credit report.

Start demanding that California would be Landlords pay a fee to renters to reseach their records as well. A renter has a right to know if the building is up to par, if there has been past complaints about the building, and if the Landlord is ethical or honest!!

[Ultrarunner]

Not all CA Landlords charge an application fee... I've never charge a fee because I do my own screening and absorb the cost of the credit check.

You do raise a good point and some tenants are very thorough in their home hunting. It is not uncommon for families, especially the moms to know detailed info on schools, Megan's law sex offender data basis, police crime reports, etc.

The better informed you are the better chance you have of finding something suitable and it has gotten much easier with the Internet.