Checks with Rental Application

depends on landlord. most condos and co-ops yes

There are a only a few rental landlords that require certified checks with application but it is typical with co-op and condo board applications for sublets.

Customary for many "uptight" buildings. Ask the broker to put the broker's fee in escrow until you receive approval.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Thank you both for info and advice.

many rental companies require cert checks be submitted along with app, including that of my building.
where required, you will be laughed at if you request a special escrow acct be opened to accomodate you.
most importantly, be sure the company you are dealing with is legit, and that the person you are dealing with is legit associated with said company.

w, the *landlord's* checks do not go into escrow. But if you are dealing with a *brokerage,* there's no reason that one check (or those two checks, if it's a co-broke deal) shouldn't be escrowed.

We just sublet a condop in Gramercy, and both my firm and the broker on the other side -- which was Brown Harris Stevens -- escrowed our fees during the two weeks it took to get approval.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Actually, the buuilding should not care if broker fees and 1st month's rent and security deposit are cashier's checks. As long as they get their processing fee. Also REBNY mandates that broker representing tenant hold checks until approval from management company or board. I just did a rental and what I recommend is to submit a photocopy of those checks with package.

Thank you UESaptowner. This has been a raging debate here, and I have always said I NEVER heard of such a thing, even when I lived in rented Condo. It seems outgrageous.

it is completely normal. the rule is to not turn them over without the clients consent, which isnt the same thing.

UESaptowner, the board certainly will care if the checks for rent etc are cashier's checks. They presumably want to see that you have put the money up for the apartment and are therefore serious. Personal checks do not mean very much in this context. For most rentals some kind of smaller deposit suffices with an application, but if it is a board and they ask for certified checks, then they do not want to see and will not accept personal checks.

Personally I have never been asked by a bldg to have bank checks, and have done rentals as high as 25k per month. I don't see why they would care if you are serious or not. It's not their loss if it doesn't rent. Rental bldgs are different but this is not what OP was referring to. Boards want to see solvency and ask reference letters, bank statements, and financial statements in that regard. Also the fees tenants pay, processing fee, move in fee sometimes are quite sizable and speaks for the seriousness of prospective tenant.

Just to make clear, the apt in question is a straight rental, not a co-op or condo sublet. It strikes me as an over-the-top request, seeing as nothing has been submitted or processed yet. I could understand a "good faith" deposit of some sort to be held in escrow like when you're buying a house.

Here's a good link regarding this topic when it comes to houses:

http://homebuying.about.com/od/buyingahome/qt/EarnestMoney.htm

Thanks for all the opinions.

Owner here...

I only take a $40 application/credit check fee with the application, and in fact refuse to take a deposit until someone is approved, as I do not need to be responsible for losing it. Once someone is approved, I know they will get me a deposit ASAP, as its not really off the market until I get a deposit.

I have heard many horror stories from people about brokers taking deposits for apartments, that apartment falling though, then the broker tries to hold the deposit until the client rents another apartment though them...

Mary--It's just how it's done, certainly with bigger rental companies. And, if you are unfortunate enough to have used a broker, do not make any checks to the broker. Make checks to the building's owner or management company only. And if youve used a broker for this take a quick look at NYBits ans this site to see no broker offerings.

its common many buildings do this...........

I've always brought cashiers check to the lease signing - not before approval. These were for all landlords who own big apt complexes

checks required at app time for related and algin--so i guess you havent rented at one of their properties??

I dont see the point to a cashiers check for the sec deposit and 1st month. What does it solve?

personal checks can, and do, bounce all the time.

Bank/certified/cashiers checks do not

Yes, but what does it solve? You still have to get personal checks for ongoing rent... I just don't see the point of the requirement

Because a deposit is non-refundable and a personal check can be cancelled if the applicant later wanted out.

I do not 'have to get personal checks for ongoing rent', I can certainly put into a lease that all checks must be certified. However, it is much more practical for everyone (and therefore common practice) to write a check bounce fee into the lease.

a "hold the rental" deposit is one thing. I thought this was about the firt month's rent and security deposit?

That is what the check to hold the rentals becomes...

Even if there is no deposit (say they are coming in the morning to sign the lease), another reason for the 1st mo & security to be certified is so you don't have a lease signing and checks that bounce immediately. I want real money when I hand the keys over, not a piece of paper which can be cancelled or bounce...

Right MAV, and because there are certain rights that even a squatter gets after a period of time, this can be a real risk in NYC for landlords.

speaking of,
whatever happened to this:
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/22765-real-estate-broker-steals-dog-from-tenant
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/booted_gal_rent_fight_nightmare_Pw7YHM4atyCnTIvqoST4KJ

Woman claims real-estate brokers held belongings over rent dispute
Booted gal's rent-fight nightmare
By PHILIP MESSING

Last Updated: 10:21 AM, September 20, 2010

Posted: 4:07 AM, September 20, 2010

A Chicago architect who moved to the Big Apple in June says her life became a nightmare after two hard-charging real-estate brokers got her fired from her job, broke into her Upper East Side apartment and took all of her belongings -- even her beloved dog -- when she couldn't pay the rent because she was the victim of identify theft.

"I am far from perfect, but you know what? I have never, ever, done something this bad to anybody," said Barbara McGill, referring to the humiliating ordeal she says she endured because of the brokers.

Carlos Javier Ortiz
SAD TAIL: Barbara McGill, with her Great Dane, Willow, says she was "terrorized" by brokers Avraham Lasri and Stefani Pace after renting an apartment.
"I want people to know what these people have done to me . . . They terrorized me," said McGill, who last week filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Stefani Pace and Pace's broker beau, Avraham Lasri.

McGill -- a project manager specializing in refurbishing five-star hotels, including The Plaza Athenee, a boutique hotel on East 64th Street -- said her hellish ordeal began June 3, when she signed a lease to sublet a one-bedroom apartment at 19 E. 65th St.

On June 9, she found out that two checks she had written totaling $6,400 -- her first month's rent and a month's security -- had bounced because she had unwittingly become a victim of identity theft and had insufficient funds, according to her lawsuit.

McGill said she produced a letter for Douglas Elliman from her bank stating that her accounts had been frozen as part of its probe. But she said Pace grew incensed when she couldn't cough up the money immediately.

McGill said she later learned that Pace's father -- Paul Foster, who is also named in the lawsuit -- owns the apartment she sublet.

She said Pace launched a campaign to label her as a deadbeat.

"She called my boss several times and said that I'm doing fraudulent acts," McGill said.

On June 10, McGill said, Pace showed up at her office, "yelling and screaming." Pace did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The day after Pace's alleged outburst, McGill said, she was fired.

McGill said she stayed in the apartment until June 28, when she returned home and found her possessions -- including her pooch -- gone and the locks changed.

She said she didn't get back her possessions until last Friday, after she sued.

And she finally managed to retrieve her dog -- a year-old, female Great Dane named Willow -- six hours after she was taken, after a wild goose chase to two ASPCA locations, she said.

Lasri said he believes that McGill made up the story about someone stealing her identity and siphoning funds from her bank account.

"She's playing the victim, but if you see who she really is, she's not really a victim," he insisted, saying he planned to countersue.

Barbara Wagner, a rep for the real-estate company, said, "Prudential Elliman is not a party to this lawsuit and, therefore, cannot comment."

Lasri, who allegedly helped move McGill's possessions into storage, and tried to negotiate with her over the back rent, accused the ex-tenant of having "a history of cheating landlords," a charge McGill denied.

Lasri noted that all the real-estate agency had to go on was that the bank was looking into the withdrawal of her money, and that it was important to get McGill out of the apartment in less than 30 days, before she would have gained certain tenant rights.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/booted_gal_rent_fight_nightmare_Pw7YHM4atyCnTIvqoST4KJ#ixzz1Umi6f1VO

That is a good example of why a LL should insist on certified checks.

Lasri and Pace are both still on the Elliman website.