My daughter and her roommate want to rent an apartment that is close to campus. She is in theater and needs to be within walking distance because of the late nights of rehearsals and this is an ideal location, even if it is very small.
I’ve rented apartments for my kids before but this landlord seems to be asking a lot more invasive questions than the other ones did.
She wants my driver’s license, credit report, and social security number, current employer, salary. Ok, this is reasonable.
She also wants to know all of my bank accounts, the account numbers and the balances. I am concerned about all of this information in one place and giving it to a stranger. She also wants the roommates information on the same form. So I would fill it out and then send it to the roommates parents for them to fill out their information. All of this is done via email
With identity fraud so prevalent I’m not willing to do this. I’m going to insist on separate applications. Is it reasonable for landlords to ask for bank information and account numbers?
This is unusual. Have you asked why she needs this information? Does she want it instead of paying to run a credit check? Does she need the account numbers so that he bank can set up direct payments? Is she a new landlord who got strange advice somewhere along the way? What standard information is required in that city for renters?
If the location is good, it is worth it for you to find a way to work with this landord. But if you think the paperwork is too invasive, you might want to keep shopping.
I can understand the landlord doing a credit and identity check, but I would be printing out bank statements with balances, but not giving out bank account numbers.
Applying for an apartment or even signing a lease should not obligate you to give out bank account numbers.
Most landlords should accept check or money order payments for rent.
Also I would not send my social security number over email. I would insist to talk to the landlord over the phone to give that number directly to them.
With social security number and driver’s license they have all they need to run a credit check on you. If they want you to provide a credit report then I would think they don’t need to have your social security number.
I also thought at first that my D’s rental application asked for bank account numbers. But I re-read and it asked for type of account, name of bank and current balance.
They need to know if with your income and savings you can afford to pay the rent.
That’s everyone! I am going to call the landlady and tell her my concerns. I’m just really uncomfortable giving her so much of my financial information.
I would not give that much info to a landlord. They can run background checks and credit checks. Plus, your agreement is to pay the rent on time. They have no ability to go into your acounts, run credit cards or anything else without your authorization so they don’t “need” all that info. Just enough to do the credit and background check.
I would check the states rental laws/codes and the cities to see what they are allowed to ask. No way would I give out bank account information. What the landlord would then have is everything necessary for identity theft. If you showed them one bank statement, how would they even know if that were all of your accounts?
Kid 1. We had to be guarantors for the lease…so the rental agency required three pay stubs for each of us, and two months of bank statements. This was 2005. We blacked out all identifying info…account numbers and SS…which were on everything at the time. They wanted the name and contact info for our employers to verify that we were still employed. Boston.
Kid 2. We did not have anything to do with that lease…at all. CA.
That is standard for California lease agreements. We co-signed for my daughter (also a theatre student lol) since she had no income. They asked for our tax statement as well.
I had to guarantee a lease for my daughter but I didn’t need verification of income. I just had to tell them what my monthly income was and then have it notarized. I would never provide what that landlord is asking for - it’s unnecessary.
Wow, that does sound intrusive. I would not want to give account numbers and balances – you would think that a credit check should be sufficient. My only experience was in Madison, WI, where there is a huge rental market for students, and all we did was sign a Guaranty form. Even that made me nervous because each student’s parent was guaranteeing the entire rent, not just their student’s pro rata share, so technically we could have been on the hook for a huge rent, but my kid lived with good friends so knew they were reliable and it was never an issue.
I’m in CA, and have several rentals. The application includes (1) employment (2) income (3) date of birth, and (4) social security number. (3) and (4) because they are needed to pull the credit check. The applicant pays a non-refundable application fee, which pays for the credit check (I do the applicant interviewing/screening myself).
Yes. This is standard. The landlord shouldn’t/doesn’t want to be involved in dividing rent among tenants. Each of the adult tenants has to (1) fill out an application, (2) pay for the application fee, and (3) sign the lease. In other words, each of the adult tenants is responsible for the whole rent, not just her/his part.
I understand parent guaranty of the entire rent is standard, and totally makes sense, especially when renting to potentially flakey students whose plans change at the last minute. It made me a little nervous to have my economic well-being tied up with these other families who I did not know. But, as my son knew the kids, he knew there was not any real risk, and it all worked out just fine. But that seems minor in comparison to an application which requires parent bank account and balance info – if it were NYC or another tight rental market, I could understand it, but still wouldn’t like it.
Is this just the standard form the landlord uses? I could see how a landlord would want bank accounts & details for a young adult but only run a credit check on a parent. If they want the rent auto paid, I would suggest supplying that info at lease signing not in the application process.
It sounds intrusive to me as well. My kids rented in CA and D still does. We guaranteed their rent but i can’t recall providing acct info and think I might ask my kids to look at another place if landlord insisted on my acct info. I might be willing to prepay higher # of months rent to avoid this issue.
It’s not really unusual when you are a guarantor for a Lease. But it is invasive. I would insist on calling in that SSN information. The credit report shows all of the important stuff so it really isn’t necessary to see all of your bank accounts.
I certainly wouldn’t do an application shared with others, permitting others to see my information. That’s unreasonable and a violation of FCRA, if I recall correctly. If possible, I would never co-sign, and merely offer a large deposit up front that is returned if my kid violates her terms.
Leases are done jointly and severally, which means each person is responsible for the entire rent. If one doesn’t ante up, the Landlord can sue any or all.