<p>Anyone have any experience? S and roommate have found an apartment in a building in Brooklyn through a broker from Town Residential which he found by searching rentals on Trulia. H will serve as guarantor and I understand the need…we are paying S’s rent for this lease. But with no guarantee that they even get the apartment we needed to send applications for both roommates and my H, social security cards, driver’s licenses, tax returns, banking info, prior landlord letter for the roommates and proof of ownership for us. This package will be presented to the landlord tomorrow.</p>
<p>I am a nervous wreck having provided a gateway into our financial security in this age of identity theft and just wondering if this is the norm. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I think that’s pretty standard for apartments in the NYC area, but I really understand your concern. I think you should inquire as to what happens to your documents after the landlord inspects them and request that they be returned to you.
Having had ID theft- twice- I’d suggest that you subscribe to a credit monitoring service and check your reports yourself weekly and your on-line banking every couple of days for quite a while. At least that will give you some sense of security. Hang in there!</p>
<p>Also happened to my DS in San Francisco. And one of the landlords went dark on them after getting all that info. Made me a total wreck. But so far so good and that was 7 mos ago</p>
<p>We did this when D and her fiance got their first apartment in NYC. I had similar concerns with providing so much personal/financial information, but it’s been a year and a half and no bad repercussions yet.
D and fiance moved at the end of their one year lease and I’m happy to say that they are now able to rent without a guarantor.</p>
<p>I am a leasing agent for an apartment complex in Iowa, our corporate owners also own properties in Texas. It is standard practice for us to require guarantors for anyone with less than a year of rental history. If they have a year or more of positive rental history, then the guarantor is not necessary.</p>
<p>We would give the info back if requested, otherwise it is shredded.</p>
<p>You can place a freeze on your credit, if you are concerned about identity theft. The rules vary by state, but in CT we pay $12/credit reporting agencies (the big three) per person. I believe this may be free for NY state residents, but I may be wrong. You can unfreeze the credit if you should need to take out a mortgage or something. </p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. This is my S’s second apt…he graduates May 17 and the lease is up the end of the month. H served as guarantor for his current apt but we dealt directly w the managing agent of the complex and they didn’t require more than the application and social security number for a credit check and this was after we were certain he was getting the apt. </p>
<p>I understand the need for a guarantor for this apt bc my S and his roommate are theatre majors. So it’s not like coming in with a secure 9-5 salaried job. And we are paying the rent in full so I imagine they do need to see where it’s coming from. But what makes me nervous about this transaction is that we aren’t even certain that they are getting the apt and now the broker and potential landlord have their hands on A LOT of our confidential information. I can understand them wanting it before signing the lease but they are still showing the apt. I guess it’s fine if they get the apt but what happens now that I’ve given them all these documents if they decide to rent to someone else? And honestly, I am just shocked at how much info they requested. I don’t think I gave my mortgage co as much documentation when I refinanced a few years ago!</p>
<p>So I guess all I can do today is wait to see if we get an answer and pray that they get the apt! If not, I will take all of your suggestions about being on top of things and possibly getting a monitoring service or freezing my credit. Thanks so much for your help!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that’s the way it works in some markets. You don’t give, your son is not even on the list Yes, in some circumstances I’ve refused to do it, and told my son he had to look elsewhere. He did and found other options, but he did lose time, a preferred apartment and is still made about losing a whole roommate scene he really wanted. And it was good one. But…I just coudn’t. </p>
<p>The landlord is going to pick someone with best ability to pay. We didn’t have to do it for D1 with her first apartment in NYC. She and her roommate were able to do it by themselves, but they also had to provide a lot of personal information. They literally had all backup docs with them when they were looking at apartments. They were able to jump ahead of others because their docs were more complete than others.</p>
<p>We had to this for S in Brooklyn and D in Manhattan. S was making enough but lived out of the country for the previous two years. D was not making enough. I don’t remember giving SS# though. In fact, I decidedly remember blacking out the SS# on our tax returns. Also don’t send anything electronically.
oldfort is right - is doesn’t matter who got in line first; the one who can clearly pay the tab wins. In this season, I strongly recommend having copies of every document with him when seeing apts.
I hope he gets this one ASAP!</p>
<p>We have done this twice for our D in NYC. Both times we have given the requested information to the management company. When we provided the tax returns the SS numbers were blacked out. We had to supply a copy of our dirvier’s license, bank info and the taxes. This year when D renewed her lease she was able to sign herself and we didn’t provide anything.</p>
<p>I’ve also had to do this twice for apartments for both of my d’s in Brooklyn. Although it is standard practice in NYC, it did give me pause however it was required, it wasn’t a problem and we’ve never had any problems with identity theft of any kind since. </p>