When did apartment complexes start charging an "application fee?"

[raccoon]

I don't remember paying one when I moved in 10 years ago.

And they're high--I believe it's $50 for my complex, a very modest complex.

This is in upstate SC. What about your neck of the woods?

[vadawg]

1. no idea never lived in one, but an interesting question.

i can see why a landlord wants to do credit checks, criminal checks etc for their tenants, just not sure if its standard for the person applying to be the one to pay for it all...

[Jim__]

2. Last time I moved into an apartment was about 7 years ago

in Denver Colorado. They waived any application fee (can't remember if there was one) and the first month's rent - there was a huge surplus of rentals in Denver at the time. I'm not sure about now.

[dkf]

3. Is this a rental application fee?

I know there was a scam around here where they were advertising a really great apartment at a great price simply intending to make an extra buck off of the many apps that came in for processing.

Not that I'm saying yours is a scam, but apparently it can be a very lucrative practice.

[raccoon]

4. Yes, it's a rental application fee.

Good point you made about the scam. I bet that's done a lot.

[leftofcool]

5. They have for a long time.

This covers paper work and credit check fees.

[izquierdista]

6. Maybe 30 years ago?

It started in tight real estate markets like California, where landlords took the legitimate expense of running a credit check (10 or 20 bucks) and decided that could be a "profit center" in itself. Ask them if they will credit it against the first month's rent if you are accepted, and if they refuse, then you know they are scamming you.

[LeftyMom]

10. I used to work in rentals in CA, and we didn't credit it. It wasn't a scam, it was expensive.

We were legally limited by the state to a lower application charge ($25 or $30 per adult? I forget, it's been a while) and our costs were higher than that. UD checks have to be done at the courthouse, and if the applicant has lived in another county at all recently you have to check there too (most of our applicants would need checked in Sacramento and one other county, that alone would take up the application fee, so we'd eat the credit check charge, and the criminal background check if we did it, and we checked Megan's law ourselves so at least that was free. It's a process and not cheap if you have it done properly. The fee just keeps clearly unqualified applicants (people who have an eviction they're hoping you won't catch, etc) from wasting your time, it only offsets some of the costs.

I did give people a copy of their credit report and any other data that turned up. Some places don't, but I figured they were paying for it, so I might as well.

[LeftyMom]

7. When it became standard to run credit and unlawful detainer (eviction) checks.

FWIW, at least here, getting the check from a reputable agency costs more than the maximum charge permitted by the state, so apartment complexes aren't making any money on the deal.

[Bitwit1234]

We did 15 years ago in Maryland

which was $25.00. But our deposit was on $50 dollars and we got that back within the year with a couple of dollars interest. I don't now what it is there now. We have moved to Minnesota and never paid any kind of those fees.

[mecherosegarden]

8. Same here in Southern Cal.

You pay around $50 for each adult who is going to move in the house/apartment. For a family of four, like mine, I have to pay $200 every time I apply. That fee is variable; sometime is higher than $50.

[cbdo2007]

9. I paid one about 12 years ago. $50 seems like a good deal.

[sharesunited]

11. It does cost them money to run a credit report on you. Not fifty bucks though.

[Myrina]

12. ... at least 10 years ago in Central IN ...

:shrug: