Application Fee Legitimate (Seattle, Renton: apartment, rentals, evictions) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

svberge · 07-31-2021, 03:44 PM

I am planning to move to the Seattle area within the next month. I applied for an apartment that was listed as available and paid the application fee for myself and my guarantor. It's been more than a week and I haven't heard anything back and they don't answer the phones or respond to emails. The apartment is no longer listed as available. Do I have any rights here? Can I get my fee back if they rented the apartment to someone else and just took my fee for nothing? Is this a common thing that happens?

oregonwoodsmoke · 08-01-2021, 09:53 AM

No you can not get your fee returned to you. Paying an application fee is not the same as placing your quarter on the rail of the pool table to hold your place. Your application fee is not holding the apartment for you. It is paying part of the cost of having someone comb through your application and qualify you. Or in your case, disqualify you.

You have a guarantor, which means you can not qualify all by yourself. So they found a tenant who is better qualified and rented to them instead of you.

After all these months of having to allow deadbeats to live in rentals without paying rent, most landlords are going to be a lot choosier about who they rent to. Landlords who would "give a chance" in the past will no longer do so.

svberge · 08-01-2021, 11:00 AM

So sending in the application fee doesn't even guarantee that they will run a background check? They can legally just take money from people in return for nothing? That doesn't seem legal. Why would another tenant be considered better qualified when I can pay the entire year in cash right now? Can we ask them to provide a copy of the background checks? Doesn't the guarantor help? Ugh. Any advice on what I can do to be able to find a place to live? Should I offer to pay the year in advance? I'm only planning on going out there for a year.

CrazyDonkey · 08-01-2021, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svberge

So sending in the application fee doesn't even guarantee that they will run a background check? They can legally just take money from people in return for nothing? That doesn't seem legal.

Unfortunately, it is likely to be perfectly legal. Unless there are laws regulating it, there is nothing stopping them from turning collecting application fees into just another revenue stream.

Fake listings, soliciting application fees for non-existent properties, are a problem. Legitimate multi-unit properties should have an online presence with contact addresses and numbers. If it is a scam, just be happy, I suppose, that, having hooked you, they didn't try to reel you in.

MechAndy · 08-01-2021, 12:55 PM

How much was the fee?
I’m sorry but the guarantor thing for me would raise a red for me.
I wouldn’t rent to a person that needed that when there are other options
On another note you might try to advertise yourself to get away from the herd that wants to rent.
Good luck to you.

Parnassia · 08-01-2021, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svberge

So sending in the application fee doesn't even guarantee that they will run a background check? They can legally just take money from people in return for nothing? That doesn't seem legal. Why would another tenant be considered better qualified when I can pay the entire year in cash right now? Can we ask them to provide a copy of the background checks? Doesn't the guarantor help? Ugh. Any advice on what I can do to be able to find a place to live? Should I offer to pay the year in advance? I'm only planning on going out there for a year.

Maybe they did do a background check. Can you prove they did nothing in exchange for your fee? No, you can't. It costs them time (which means money) to evaluate you as a potential tenant. We don't know anything else about how good a tenant you might or might not be but needing a guarantor (WHY?) is definitely a flag. Your credit, income, payment, and rental histories all play into it. The reason they chose someone else could have been simple...another applicant who met their criteria and who didn't need a guarantor submitted an application before you did. They got the unit.

Non-refundable application fees are common for many many things in modern life. I just paid one for a different purpose last week. There's no law against it.

svberge · 08-01-2021, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MechAndy

How much was the fee?
I’m sorry but the guarantor thing for me would raise a red for me.
I wouldn’t rent to a person that needed that when there are other options
On another note you might try to advertise yourself to get away from the herd that wants to rent.
Good luck to you.

MechAndy, The fee was $44.00 for me and $44.00 for my guarantor - bringing the total to $88.00. I'm moving out to the Renton for trade school for one year, so I saved up enough to cover the tuition and a year of rent while I'm at school and I also plan to work part time. If I were to need any help at all, my parents will easily cover anything that I need. I do understand from the landlord perspective that there are lots of deadbeats and bad people out there. I honestly can't blame them, but I just wish there was an easy way to prove to them that I'm legitimate and trustworthy because I need a place to live. And it's hard since I live in Michigan and I can't just stop in and meet them in person. I'm going to try calling some places.

svberge · 08-01-2021, 02:02 PM

Parnassia,

I can't prove they didn't do the background check, but when I submitted the application I received an email that said I would hear from them shortly. I have not received any further messages from them. I am going to be attending a technical school so I am only planning on working part time for the next year and will be using my savings to pay my rent, which means my income does not meet their criteria, even though I already have the funds I need to pay my rent while I'm out there. I am only planning to live out there for one year. Because I won't be working full time, I have to list a guarantor. It's really a crummy deal for me.

bergun · 08-01-2021, 03:04 PM

Well, this is the reality… Of reality.

After this long period of non-evictions of people, where many could have still paid rent or part of their rent, rental managers are now being very careful on who they rent to. I’d bet that if any applicant doesn’t have a full-time job, with a good period of time at that job, especially during Covid, they would see this as a possible Red Flag.

As for having savings in a bank, that really doesn’t mean anything to them since “having money in a bank” doesn’t really guarantee that this money would be used towards paying their rent. I’m sure that landlords/rental managers look at “guarantor(s)” in the same manner.

Paying an application fee doesn’t guarantee nothing and I’m pretty sure that if there was something that you had to fill out, either in person or on the internet, it stated that this fee was non refundable.

I will agree that $88 is still $88, but that was the cost of doing business and trust me, it’s going to be tougher to rent nationwide since landlords/rental managers took this year long “plus” Covid hit to the noise AND in life, “sheet” rolls down hill.

CrazyDonkey · 08-01-2021, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svberge

MechAndy, The fee was $44.00 for me and $44.00 for my guarantor - bringing the total to $88.00. I'm moving out to the Renton for trade school for one year, so I saved up enough to cover the tuition and a year of rent while I'm at school and I also plan to work part time. If I were to need any help at all, my parents will easily cover anything that I need. I do understand from the landlord perspective that there are lots of deadbeats and bad people out there. I honestly can't blame them, but I just wish there was an easy way to prove to them that I'm legitimate and trustworthy because I need a place to live. And it's hard since I live in Michigan and I can't just stop in and meet them in person. I'm going to try calling some places.

You need to look at properties where you're less likely to be rejected due to needing a guarantor, which is not in the suburbs, including Renton. The over-supply is in central Seattle, where almost all of the new supply was added. For instance:

https://www.zillow.com/b/lowman-buil...tle-wa-5XjNR3/

Commute: 47 minutes, 1 transfer

https://www.soundtransit.org/trippla.../max-walk/4827