Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 173 posts

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#101

Post by syshum »

joshuaheard wrote: post #14

Landlord here. This tenant made a mistake paying an "administrative fee" of $150, and giving the deposit ($350) without a signed lease. Though, we do charge a $50 application fee to cover the cost of the background check we run. However, if this company is indeed not intending to rent this property and only collecting the application fees, it would be fraud.

Personally I consider charging an "application fee" to be slightly scamy anyway. I remember, many many many years ago, when charging such a fee was unusual and normally done by places I would not want to rent from anyway

If you feel the need to run a background check on your tenants, that should be the cost of doing business

Of course those times changed and one of many reasons I stopped renting...

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#102

Post by nraynaud »

joshuaheard wrote: post #14

Landlord here. This tenant made a mistake paying an "administrative fee" of $150, and giving the deposit ($350) without a signed lease. Though, we do charge a $50 application fee to cover the cost of the background check we run. However, if this company is indeed not intending to rent this property and only collecting the application fees, it would be fraud.

The US housing market is crazy, they creep on their tenants, and make them pay for the creepiness. And then the "background checks" are bullshit anyways because the court records is a mess and nobody has any incentive to keep perfect records (there is no downside to hurting the wrong person).

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#103

Post by verbify »

reustle wrote: post #30
ransom1538 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even disputing a charge on the credit card — they have copies of our ID, smart. Your credit card company will charge back that charge. AND they will make a note on the merchant's account. More than likely, when you call regarding this merchant account it will already have notes on it -- just making it even quicker. Once, I paid 2k for a couch on Macys.com. Their delivery guys came to deliver the couch on the agreed…

Are you saying they forged your signature?

Maybe it was one of those 'electronic signatures' - they're simply a scribble on an electronic device.

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#105

Post by Broken_Hippo »

4ad wrote: post #92
fwefwwfe wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then they made a photocopy of our ID for a file. Which again raised my suspicion, I’ve rented many apartment before and none of properties ever asked for that before signing the lease That sounds like a red flag with the article/author. What apartment place wouldn't do a background check and want ID to make sure they go the right person?

As a non-American living in Western Europe the idea of a landlord doing a "background check" on prospective tenants is terrifying. Never heard of such a thing in Europe. What the hell does "background check" even entail.

Most will minimally do a credit check. Some will check your past landlords - and won't rent to first-time renters. Some do criminal background checks, and a small portion will check personal references.

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#106

Post by eloisant »

kevinoconnor7 wrote: post #27
lysp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It 100% is fruad.

Given what's in the Medium post, there's zero evidence for that. The author is assuming that a scam took place, but another plausible explanation is that the author had a missed rent payment on their record and the management company auto rejects those applicants. Sure, that record might be wrong, but it's still not a scam. Everything else they mentioned is pure speculation. I think the author, if they feel strongly…

Even though, when I was living in US and rent from an appartment complex, it took them 5 minutes to clear my credit check on their computer.

Even if the author did in fact miss a payment, why should they be able to keep $250 from an tenant they rejected?

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#107

Post by trome »

35bge57dtjku wrote: post #76
joobus wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Texas, an ID is required to even view an apartment. Usually, they hold the drivers license at the office while you go view the apartments. It is a state law, and was put in place to prevent rapes.

Same thing happens in Seattle.

Patently false, I've been to a few camera infested shitholes like the one on 15th and Market in Ballard where they tried to pull this crap on me (and gave up), but outside of that I have yet to run into it. IMO its a huge red flag, they're the only ones that tried that out of 80 places I've toured in the past 2 months.

If the property manager tries this, its a sure sign that they are an ass. Also, the market seems to be cooling, one nicely remodled place I toured dropped to $1500 from $1700 for 950sqft 2 bed/1 bath in Queen Anne, then rented a week later. Seen a couple others do that, figure it should become more common as we get into summer.

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#108

Post by Broken_Hippo »

x0x0 wrote: post #88
nassir wrote: post #26

I faced a relatively similar situation when trying to rent in the East Bay. My wife and I both have 720+ credit scores as were looking to rent in the $2500 range. After going through applications at 3 places and getting rejected, I realized something was off. Our credit scores had been run multiple times and we had paid application processing fees at multiple places yet we were getting rejected. Perhaps the applicant…

I help manage an apartment building. There's always the chance there's something wrong on your reports. You should get your own credit reports directly from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion; this will cost you $30-ish in CA. Make sure the reports include FICO scores, and don't settle for any non-fico nonsense (eg CreditKarma or any such competitors). For future applications, you may be able to re-use those reports f…

Didn't they pass a law some years back allowing folks to get their credit report (from the major companies) once a year? In addition, isn't it law that they send a letter after taking negative action based on the credit report - because people are entitled to it then as well?

If this is the case, that fee won't be there.

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#109

Post by trome »

joobus wrote: post #38
felipemnoa wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote here: Once when I wanted to rent an apartment in a nice apartment complex they wouldn't even show me the apartment without me showing them my ID. I ended up renting the place and never had a problem.

In Texas, an ID is required to even view an apartment. Usually, they hold the drivers license at the office while you go view the apartments. It is a state law, and was put in place to prevent rapes.

Citation? This doesn't match my experience in Austin.

Re: How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex

#110

Post by dsr_ »

throwaway91111 wrote: post #31
kevinoconnor7 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given what's in the Medium post, there's zero evidence for that. The author is assuming that a scam took place, but another plausible explanation is that the author had a missed rent payment on their record and the management company auto rejects those applicants. Sure, that record might be wrong, but it's still not a scam. Everything else they mentioned is pure speculation. I think the author, if they feel strongly…

Well, if they don't actually rent any apartments, they misled them and people spent money based on that lie. They paid for an application that would be accepted. How is that not fraud?

You don't need to keep all the apartments empty in order to carry on a scam like this, you just need to have one of each type that you're advertising.

You also don't need to actually be the owner of the apartment complex. The property manager can execute this all by herself: keep an apartment open, take the credit card payments directly rather than via the corporate account, deny all the prospective renters.

$17,000/month isn't an amazing amount of money for a corporation that owns apartment buildings, but it's a very nice supplement to the property manager's salary, if she runs it that way.

Post reply on HN