How I legally got scammed for $250 by an upscale apartment complex • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by neogodless » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 11:43 AM UTC

syshum wrote: post #101

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...

It costs me $35 to run a background/credit check. I paid for that... once. And the prospective tenant passed, but backed out on the apartment. Since then, I've asked productive tenants to pay the $35 fee. Most are fine with that, and none have backed out from renting once they've paid that small fee. (So far all have cleared the check.)

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

#112

Post by chrisferry » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 11:58 AM UTC

ploxiln wrote: post #15

Maybe you've never attempted to rent an apartment in NYC. They typically require * scanned ID * recent bank statements * recent pay stubs * recent tax return or W2 * letter of employment on official company letterhead * company office number they can call to confirm employment * last two addresses you lived at * letter from previous landlord * yearly salary at least 40x (sometimes 50x) monthly rent * ~ $100 applicati…

I've never had to scan ID or provide a previous landlord letter for a NYC rental. Also there's usually no app fee just a $50 credit check. But all the other bullet points ring true. I've also lived in trendier Brooklyn neighborhoods where the competition is high. You must be prepared with a cashiers check for a down payment. Shit goes quick here.

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

#113

Post by reddytowns » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 12:15 PM UTC

This isn't a scam. The author admits they had an actual reason for denying him. It was a mistake in his record and they charged an exorbitant processing fee, but there is nothing that shows they acted in bad faith.

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

#114

Post by Shivetya » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 12:40 PM UTC

trome wrote: post #109

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.

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

Doubtful there is a law for it but there are two good reasons to want a copy of an id.

Safety of agent. Proof of compliance with fair housing laws.

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

#115

Post by owly » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 12:49 PM UTC

hprotagonist wrote: post #12

67726e wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been burned by a major corporate rental before, and will never do that again. Moving in wasn't a problem, though the "Smart Saver" non-refundable deposit they offered should have been enough of a red flag. Once while on a week long company retreat they upgraded their payment system, which removed my payment information not only causing my rent to be late, but they then filed for eviction after only three days. T…

From me, pulling that sort of horseshit gets you a certified letter notifying you, the landlord, of your impending small claims court date. Companies that want to play that kind of game don't want to play it with me. Particularly in my state (MA), the law is vastly in my favor, and I am willing and able to spend the time proving that point. I know a lot of people can't, so i'm happy enough to exact some measure of ka…

Ditto. I'm happy to spend the time to crush people like this.

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

#116

Post by romanows » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 12:52 PM UTC

trome wrote: post #109

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.

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

Matches mine in Austin.

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

#117

Post by rhexs » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 12:53 PM UTC

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #9

Any company like this is going to scam you at move out time as well. One agent told me that nobody gets their full deposit back, ever. They'll make up a list of things they had to do and give you an inflated bill for it.

This is easy to get around. Take pictures of the apartment at move-in. Read the lease to discover standard cleaning fees before signing. Take care of the apartment. Walk through the apartment with the Landlord on move-out.

If they fraudulently deduct as part of some sort of profit-center, discover the wonderful world of small claims court. Not going to be fun but you'll win.

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

#118

Post by SuperGent » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 1:07 PM UTC

PeterisP wrote: post #98

0xffff2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying they are doing some kind of instant background check with the ID? If not, what good is checking ID?

Deterrence. Having your ID on file (vs knowing only a name that they likely made up) makes a potential criminal much more likely to get caught, so they're much less likely to do anything bad.

Good job there is not such thing as false ID

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

#119

Post by PeterisP » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 1:09 PM UTC

SuperGent wrote: post #118

PeterisP wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deterrence. Having your ID on file (vs knowing only a name that they likely made up) makes a potential criminal much more likely to get caught, so they're much less likely to do anything bad.

Good job there is not such thing as false ID

It's still another barrier that deters people - it's a numbers game, not about impossibility.

And even a forged ID would have a valid photo that looks like you, which is much more helpful in finding a suspect than simply eyewitness/victim testimony.

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

#120

Post by kevinoconnor7 » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 1:14 PM UTC

jack9 wrote: post #87

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…

> Given what's in the Medium post, there's zero evidence for that Except the stated facts (if you're just gonna call anything posted a fiction, what's the point of stating it's this and not that?). It's certainly not a conviction, but would specifically be evidentiary and a judge can make a ruling from the bench with contingency.

Here's my take, there's two parts of this story:

1) Their experience trying to rent a unit. 2) Their outline of the scam.

I'm going to take all of (1) as facts, albeit it's only one side of the story. So maybe parts are missing and it might be biased, but I'll assume the core points are true.

(2) is where things become less factual. A large part of their support for it being a scam comes from two parts: it could be profitable, and it appears they didn't sell any units that week. The problem is just because a scam is profitable doesn't mean it actually took place. If I get shorted change at the deli I can't call it scam simply because it was profitable for them to short me. I would need to show that the problem is systemic to prove that.

The other supporting evidence was that they didn't rent any units that week. The problem is that they don't actually know that. Maybe the website inventory is stale? Maybe they just happened to not lease any units that week or they're still pending lease signing.

So I would say they absolutely got rejected for an apartment due to the report from CoreLogic. Everything beyond that is unsubstantiated and merely circumstantial.