Broker's Fee Deposit
Hello, I recently looked at an apartment in Park Slope that has a broker’s fee. I really liked the apartment and immediately put down $650 as a deposit to show the landlord I was interested. This was effectively a portion of the total broker’s fee, due at lease signing. If the landlord rejected my application,…
Hello, I recently looked at an apartment in Park Slope that has a broker’s fee. I really liked the apartment and immediately put down $650 as a deposit to show the landlord I was interested. This was effectively a portion of the total broker’s fee, due at lease signing. If the landlord rejected my application, I would get this amount refunded, if I was chosen, this would go towards my broker’s fee. I signed a application contract stating all of this.
For my own reasons, I have opted to not move in. (My boyfriend has been unexpectedly been accepted to school abroad and I would go with him.) I am withdrawing my application which I wasn’t quite finished with anyway (I had not yet provided the guarantor information that was requested) and the broker is telling me that I am not eligible to receive my deposit back. I’ve looked closely at the application contract that I signed when I put down the deposit, and the fine print about the deposit does say, if the applicant (me) decides not to continue with the application, the deposit is “unreimbursed.”
I’ve looked more closely at the legalese behind this now, and the NYC Rent Guidelines Board website says “The fee should not be paid until the client is offered a lease signed by the landlord. The broker may also charge the client a reasonable amount to conduct a credit check.” (See http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/attygenguide.html#32 )
SO – I have learned my lesson about reading the fine print! But what should I do? It seems to me that according to rental law a broker’s fee should not be collected until I sign a lease. (That’s the assumption I had when I put down this deposit – that if I didn’t go through with signing, I wouldn’t be out $650.) The document I signed does stipulate that my deposit in this scenario should be “unreimbursed,” but doesn’t that appear to contradict rental law?
I want to resolve this quickly and without a lawyer, since I couldn’t afford to pay more than I already might lose here. I’m curious to hear your thoughts! Please don’t tear me apart, I know my follies here. Thanks.
Uh, yes slope, if it is a deposit as in a “deposit”, not a commission, 1st months rent, or security – yes.
Are you saying, crownlfc, that if someone backed out and you were able to rent the apartment out to someone else and collect a fee from them, that you would still keep the deposit?
Vinca. I am a broker. I take deposits because, as Irieman says, I will be wasting my time if I don’t. For the record, I know of many Landlords who also take deposits beacuse they don’t want to waste their time. I can’t speak for brokers who take multiple deposits on the same apt, I don’t. What was ck thinking would happen when she put a deposit down, then backed out?
Crownlfc, your “logic” defies logic. How many legitimate landlords of personal acquaintance, not urban myth, do you know that demand deposits OR commissions prior to lease-signing? How many—especially those using brokers—pull an apartment off the market before receiving a completed application or running a credit check, purely on the basis of receiving a deposit? How many landlords with well-kept apartments offered at reasonable (or even exorbitant) rents need to resort to such stunts? Certainly not the uber-cautious kind of landlord who requires guarantor information from ALL candidates, rather than an occasional applicant on the verge of lease-signing. If what OP wrote is the full story, this particular landlord/broker set-up reeks of scam. How many other equally-duped applicants placed an “unreimbursable” deposit on the same apartment? Yes, it’s stunning how many people fail to read a contract in full before signing. Equally stunning the defenders of swindlers peddling their goods in the real estate market.
“For my own reasons, I have opted to not move in.” let me repeat what she said for the semi literate hannible and the thick headed Tyburg. She said “For my own reasons, I have opted to not move in.”
You put a DEPOSIT, not a commission, a DEPOSIT, on an apt, you signed an agreement that stated you were putting a DEPOSIT for an apt that YOU acknowledged -said “if the applicant (me) decides not to continue with the application, the deposit is “unreimbursed.”
You backed out but you want your money back? What do you think the point of a deposit is, a pagan spring ritual?
If you put a deposit with caterers to do your wedding and days later you back out, do you get your money back?
If you left a deposit at your cleaners to have a leather jacket mended and you changed your mind, do you get your money back?
If you are buying a house, you put a deposit down but change your mind for ” your own reasons” do you get your money back?
I know rental agents are the (sometimes deserving) scum of the earth here on Bstoner, (your point is well taken 1910) but – really?
You can take the “advice” some of the posters gave and waste your time explaining to a Judge in small claims court why someone that has supposedly has more than a 3rd grade education put a deposit down with a signed agreement, backed out but thinks she is entitled to her money back.
If it were a commission it would be a different story. If you back out of an apt, you may be entitled to your commission back, as long as you haven’t taken possession of that said apt.
To prove my point even further if there was a need to do so.! Real Estate Brokers are nothing but blood sucking parisites. Low life bums!
Brokers, not all, can be uhm, sleazy. I had an experience a long time ago where I did put a deposit on an apartment with a rental agent. I found out later when I was in the office that they had taken deposits from four other people for the same apartment. I found this out because I was sitting right beside the others and got to talking.
I talked to agent to see what was up and that I didn’t think this was okay. I had the understanding that the deposit took the apartment off the market. They gave me the same spiel about if I backed out I could lose the deposit. I pointed out the other prospective tenants in the waiting area.
Long story short I, being a generally mild mannered person, made a calculated scene and caused them grief. They gave me back my money.
Kick up a fuss even if it’s not within your own personality. You gotta do what you gotta do.
With these types of things, is there really any consideration on the part of the broker for them to keep the money? Is there proof they took the apartment off the market, because you can tell the judge you saw otherwise and then its your word their word.
No consideration, no enforcement. Small claims court is definitely worth it. Only the sleaziest do business this way, tell the judge they continued to advertise the apartment. I have no feelings for these losers.
Leucas — unless the broker can’t rent it and is unable to collect a fee for it from anyone, the broker is not out of pocket. I’m not passing on the enforceability fo the term, but broker can easily end up with double money this way.