Apartment approved me but now saying i was Denied, is this legal?

Question

I recently applied to a beautiful apartment by the river downtown. Last week, the apartment denied my application due to income, however once i provided them proof of my income via pay stub... i was approved. The property manager then called providing the great news and that i would be moving in on August 7th, and said i would sign the agreement in July.

During the weekend, i took my mother and sister to view the apartment with the property manager and the manager never mentioned anything regarding an initial approval or that it required anymore steps.... when i tell you the manager watched me rejoice with JOYFUL TEARS and manifestation, and she insured “this is YOUR home, you deserved it! Congratulations, you earned this beautiful home! It is all yours!” I began emotionally attached and was never mentioned anything about an additional or final approval...


... today i got a phone call saying i was denied the final approval due to my student loan on my credit report and that the property will no longer be mine!!! Do you know how heartbreaking that is??? Shouldn’t it be necessary to tell a possible tenant the FULL app process ???

Answer 1

Unless you are behind on your student loan that is against the law. Talk to an attorney right away.

Answer 2

That is awful. I don’t lnowx

Answer 3

"when i tell you the manager watched me rejoice with JOYFUL TEARS and manifestation, and she insured “this is YOUR home, you deserved it!"



This was a business transaction how does she know you deserve diddly? Manifestation, really? Look you didn't disclose a student loan and she found it when doing your credit check.

Answer 4

It's legal for them to do this, unless they ran your credit without your permission or knowledge. If you were unaware that they would run your credit or if you didn't give them permission to do so then it was illegal for them to run your credit and deny you the property due to negative items or debt on your credit report. Also it sounds like the people at this apartment complex were unprofessional , they played games with you. Ps try to rent-to-own a house , owning your own property should be the ultimate goal!

Answer 5

It may not seem fair and maybe they could have handled things differently, but it's legal.

Answer 6

If you didn't sign a lease, you didn't get the apartment. If you were close on income...the student loans would have made your income inadequate.



You can call it bull...they shouldn't have said the apartment was yours...but you also shouldn't assume anything until you have the signed lease in your hand. Sorry...

Answer 7

Disappointing but legal. They should have said nothing until the decision was final.

Answer 8

100 % legal...it's only official when you sign the dotted line of the lease agreement.

Answer 9

Apparently your application had not been fully processed. As far as the property manager knew at the time, your application would be approved, and the earliest date you would be able to move in was August.



What you heard was not what was said. You heard you are able to move in the rental unit in August,therefore, I must have been approved.



Upon completion of the final approval of your rental application, your student loans appeared. Apparently you failed to pay your student loan payments as agreed or the monthly payment you are paying did not leave you a sufficient amount left after paying all your debts to be approved for the rental.



This night be heartbreaking and you might have gotten attached to the rental unit. You would need to make sure what you heard is what is being said.



I hope this has been of some benefit to you,good luck.



"FIGHT ON"

Answer 10

Yes, what occurred is legal. That being said, the rental manager should not have "gushed" as she did until final approval (after credit check) occurred. However, any apartment is NEVER "yours" until both parties have signed a lease contract. Sorry about your experience.

Answer 11

Not illegal. Really crappy an unprofessional, but not illegal.

Answer 12

It may seem unfair but they likely followed guidelines based on how much income you had left after all bills. They should have handled it better for sure, but most with deficient income have issues paying at some point in time so you will have to increase income, decrease bills or find a co-signer.

Answer 13

Evidently you didn't let them know about this debt. Once they found out it changed things. Yes, they should not have told you that you were approved until they had done everything. I do mortgage loans & we do pre-approvals all day long based on what a customer tells us about their credit, income & job history. Once we actually verify the info though many times they haven't given us all the info, or correct info etc & they end up being denied. We never tell them it's 100% approved until we have all their documents to prove everything.

Answer 14

The apartment is not yours until you sign a lease.

If you weren't going to sign the lease until July, there is a few months where things can change (on your side or theirs).



Be glad that you weren't accepted. With your outstanding debt, you weren't able to easily afford it.

Answer 15

Your story reads like a romance novel, who says 'rejoice' anymore?



Your final steps of being checked were delayed due to the time it took for the property manager to get ALL the information back. Sorry, but they go by what the bank and credit sources tell them. Look for something else.

Answer 16

100% legal. Your credit doesn't meet their standards.

Answer 17

You can be denied residency up until the minute you sign the lease. There is nothing illegal about what happened and why you were denied.



It's too bad that it happened, but the manager has to follow corporate policies.

Answer 18

Until you sign the contract you are not legally 'approved' and clearly they still hadn't received back the credit checks which it seems you failed to tell them about.



So the magic 'approval' only comes when you sign a contract so yes it is legal, you have no contract, no letter of approval, they didn't ask for for a holding deposit( which they would have done if you were approved to hold the place for 5 months) so you have nothing to sue for..... so pay off some of your student debt and next time you find a place you wish to rent don't get emotionally involved until you have signed the contract

Answer 19

They approved you "in good faith" that you fit the criteria of "eligibility". If you think about it, you will see why you were denied. If you cannot afford to pay your debt, then you cannot afford the apartment. It is not rocket science. Your credit is a problem. When you look elsewhere, tell them upfront that your credit is not good, that you owe $X in student loans. If you pay them off, you won't have to face that problem again. If you are honest up front and you can prove that you are paying off that debt regularly and they can see that you can afford to do that - make at least the minimum payments and still qualify for the apartment the regular payments that you owe, then they will accept you. If you are not paying off the debt as agreed, you can forget renting anywhere. So, not only is it legal but, you should expect it would happen from any landlord.