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Did this landlord F me in the A?
Sci-Fi Wasabi
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok, here's my situation.
My girlfriend and I found a nice little apartment complex near where we work. It looked nice, so we got a tour of an apartment which we will call apartment "A". Liking the way apartment A looked, we agreed to do the application process to the tune of 35 dollars per person. It was here the first landlord (we will call her landlord A) told us the move-in criteria. Apparently the grounds are grouped under Oregon's Section 42 housing. Basically, renters can not gross more than 50 percent of the median income for the area. This is a nice neighborhood, so the cap is around 32,000 dollars yearly.
No sweat. My girlfriend and I are working 40 hour weeks at minimum wage, and there is no way in hell we are going to gross more than 20,000 a year. Some other restrictions are no full time students. No big deal. So we give the landlord our cell number and she sends in our applications. We begin to get excited around the second day in waiting for a call back and we basically hover over our phones. A week passes and no call.
So we decide it would be more satisfying to stop by. Lo, they have our applications returned to them. We wonder why they haven't called us. They cut us short to let us know they need employment verification. The application waiver states a current paycheck for all applicants is required. We go in with both of our current paystubs only to meet a different landlord in the office. We will call her B. B tells us the paystubs will not do, and that she needs faxed verification from our company. Well, our company only verifies from corporate. B then explains that she will need to send our verification request through snail mail, and that it will take a week to complete.
Ok, a setback. Totally expected. Then we ask what the apartment was that we had been shown the previous week. B explains that that one had been filled the day after. My girlfriend are kind of like
, to which B then tells us that we are applying for an identical apartment on the opposite side of the complex. However, there is a tenant there whose move out date is september 16th. We agree that the move in date is fine with us, and I ask if we could tour that apartment too before we move in. The reply is "absolutely". The tenant is scheduled to move out a week beforehand.
So two weeks goes by and we dont get any phonecalls about our employment verification. So I return on the date I was supposed to check out our "new" apartment, and the lady says our verification hasn't come through yet (still) and that I'd have to wait until she had that before I could see the apartment. Defeated, I leave.
The following week (this past monday) I decide shit is going to get done wether she likes it or not, and I visit her office. She tells me my girlfriends application has arrived but that mine hadn't. This is confusing as both of our applications were mailed at the exact same time. I then tell her im going to call my company and have them speak to her. I ring the the corporate office designed to do exactly that and they speak to her. After the motions, she hangs up and tells me its going to be another week. We were hoping to move in before that, on the 16th.
"Oh, that tenant's plans fell through, so we are going to have to play that by ear." Also, just judging by your girlfriends verification results, if you make the same, you are probably over the income cap. Please give me your last years tax information".
I didn't do anything but nod and tried my best not to storm out of the place.
Am I being scammed? Is this all some sort of bullshit parade designed to keep me wasting my time and money? At this point in time they have no available apartments for rent, and my ass feels bruised. How do I resolve this in my favor, and keep it from happening in the future?
My girlfriend and I found a nice little apartment complex near where we work. It looked nice, so we got a tour of an apartment which we will call apartment "A". Liking the way apartment A looked, we agreed to do the application process to the tune of 35 dollars per person. It was here the first landlord (we will call her landlord A) told us the move-in criteria. Apparently the grounds are grouped under Oregon's Section 42 housing. Basically, renters can not gross more than 50 percent of the median income for the area. This is a nice neighborhood, so the cap is around 32,000 dollars yearly.
No sweat. My girlfriend and I are working 40 hour weeks at minimum wage, and there is no way in hell we are going to gross more than 20,000 a year. Some other restrictions are no full time students. No big deal. So we give the landlord our cell number and she sends in our applications. We begin to get excited around the second day in waiting for a call back and we basically hover over our phones. A week passes and no call.
So we decide it would be more satisfying to stop by. Lo, they have our applications returned to them. We wonder why they haven't called us. They cut us short to let us know they need employment verification. The application waiver states a current paycheck for all applicants is required. We go in with both of our current paystubs only to meet a different landlord in the office. We will call her B. B tells us the paystubs will not do, and that she needs faxed verification from our company. Well, our company only verifies from corporate. B then explains that she will need to send our verification request through snail mail, and that it will take a week to complete.
Ok, a setback. Totally expected. Then we ask what the apartment was that we had been shown the previous week. B explains that that one had been filled the day after. My girlfriend are kind of like
, to which B then tells us that we are applying for an identical apartment on the opposite side of the complex. However, there is a tenant there whose move out date is september 16th. We agree that the move in date is fine with us, and I ask if we could tour that apartment too before we move in. The reply is "absolutely". The tenant is scheduled to move out a week beforehand.So two weeks goes by and we dont get any phonecalls about our employment verification. So I return on the date I was supposed to check out our "new" apartment, and the lady says our verification hasn't come through yet (still) and that I'd have to wait until she had that before I could see the apartment. Defeated, I leave.
The following week (this past monday) I decide shit is going to get done wether she likes it or not, and I visit her office. She tells me my girlfriends application has arrived but that mine hadn't. This is confusing as both of our applications were mailed at the exact same time. I then tell her im going to call my company and have them speak to her. I ring the the corporate office designed to do exactly that and they speak to her. After the motions, she hangs up and tells me its going to be another week. We were hoping to move in before that, on the 16th.
"Oh, that tenant's plans fell through, so we are going to have to play that by ear." Also, just judging by your girlfriends verification results, if you make the same, you are probably over the income cap. Please give me your last years tax information".
I didn't do anything but nod and tried my best not to storm out of the place.
Am I being scammed? Is this all some sort of bullshit parade designed to keep me wasting my time and money? At this point in time they have no available apartments for rent, and my ass feels bruised. How do I resolve this in my favor, and keep it from happening in the future?
Sci-Fi Wasabi on
0
Posts
find another management company? they can't have a monopoly on all the apartments in your area.
Maybe Oregon has different standards, but a place like that in washington is one with bars on the windows. As far your situation, it sounds like they are fucking you over, cut your losses and go somewhere else.
pleasepaypreacher.net
I just kept on rolling and found a nicer place with cheaper rent.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
I'm not familiar with Oregon, I'm more familiar with California. But some quick Googling indicates that Oregon apartment owners can get a tax credit and/or subsidy if they set aside a certain number of units on their properties for Section 42 housing. This is similar to the way it works in California, and what I've seen is that when you apply for low-income housing at one of these properties, they require a lot of documentation from their applicants and they're very slow to move on it. Most people who apply to low-income housing in California apply to multiple properties at once, sometimes with the assistance of a local housing authority, because the delay in actually completing your application at any one particular place can be infuriating.
I do recognize that there's a significant difference between housing demand in Oregon and housing demand in California, but when you said that you were applying for low-income housing, a red flag went up in my brain that said, "Uh-oh! Bureaucracy and paperwork!"
I don't suspect that they were being malicious, I just suspect that they don't really care. Either way, don't put all your eggs in this basket.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
They are however excessivly incompetent and you should try and find a different place. Though like you said if you are set on this place you are going to need to settle for such incompentcies throughout your lease.
Satans..... hints.....
It's more like this: You apply, they show you the place, they get your info and based on either your appearance, their tax code, or the type of people they're trying to rent to, that they don't want you. However, the reason they have to refuse to rent to you is probably illegal. So they're trying to get you to become frustrated and walk away.
If you feel like being confrontational, just be up front. Go to their office and accuse them -- say that they're trying to refuse you from renting their, and this is just their run-around way to get you to give up, rather than having to say "Sorry, we refuse to rent to you." If they waffle, ask "Then why is this taking so long? I know it doesn't take this long for paperwork and applications -- credit reports come back in 15 minutes, phone calls to employers take 5 minutes. What is the holdup? If you're going to refuse to rent to me, tell it to my face." And if they do admit that they are refusing to rent to you, ask them why. If they state a reason that's illegal, tell them you'll notify the state that they're violating fair housing laws.
If you're not feeling confrontational, move on to another apartment.
And even if they aren't, you need to be looking at other places if this is how these folks do business. But do try to get some answers from this place, sooner than later. There's really no excuse for the delays at this point, as you've given them everything they need to know. Light a fire under their ass, get some answers so you can start planning ahead.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
In writing , get confirmation of a move in, and apartment
its 2007.. they can pick up the phone and verify all information right away.. even if its a phone call to say 'fax me this..'
I have NEVER heard of a paystub (the top part, not your actual check) that doesn't count for income verfication. Thats the whole point of the top part, to verify all the taxes and money you have made YTD. Simple maths give you the yearly total.
It does sound like they are fucking you over... but it could just be that they are flaky people. My old apartment management companies really didn't do anything unless I confronted the lady at the office, and she admitted she was held up my some corporate woman far away.
Can you explain the 'i can't make more then 30k' situation? It sounds like you are trying to get special low income housing... are you intending too? What is the price for a 'normal' apartment there ?
They are going to treat low income people like shit, because they have to follow all types of rules, and the profit to be made is nil.
Librarians harbor a terrible secret. Find it.
As someone mentioned, they get subsidies by designating some of their apartments as Section 42 housing. However, Section 42 tenants are usually an apartment complex's nightmare, so they want to make the application process as painful as possible, in the hope that you will give up and go somewhere else.
It's kind of your call. If you can wade through the bullshit (and, probably, the management's incessant attempts to push you out once you've moved in), you can probably get an apartment there you can afford.
However, it will be hassle. It will be hassle even after you move in. It will be hassle until after you move out. If you are not prepared for a lot of hassle, go elsewhere.
If it is this much of a pain just to get the apartment, imagine how horrible it will be if something goes amiss. Find a better place to live.
When I moved in I had to call my work and ask them to fax some sheet confirming my income(it wasn't low-income house though, I had to make like twice the monthly rent gross or whatever)took like 10 minutes, that snail mail thing is what strikes me as full of crap.
I have no clue how prices are there so I'll pretend they're like mine for now, my one-bedroom apartment for 639 a month strikes a nice balance between cheap and non crappy, so if you two are willing to spend 600 a month I think you could find another place. Maybe not RIGHT next to work, but a 10 minute drive never hurt anyone(except in gas)
Incompetent or assholes, either way would you want them running the place if, say, your heat goes out in the winter?