1. application form and contract of intermediary company: firstly, you need to fill in the application form provided by the landlord/property management company. The information to be filled in the general form includes name, contact information, current address and current landlord contact information, work/school information, emergency contact information, personal reference (a person who can prove that you are a good person, generally the same as an emergency contact) and signature. Most of the information is provided to the landlord to check your rental records and credit records. Intermediary companies need to sign a contract with you to help you contact the housing, provide information, charge fees and explain related responsibilities. These contracts are not only required to be signed by law, but also to protect the rights and interests of applicants.
2. Fees required for application: Generally speaking, what you need when applying is the first month's rent (this will be directly used as the first month's rent after you live in a house, and you need to pay the rent from the second month) plus the application fee. The application fee may vary according to the landlord, generally about tens of dollars, which is a cost and labor cost of doing historical investigation of renting houses and credit investigation.
3. Scanned copies of application materials: the landlord needs the applicant to provide scanned copies of passport home page, passport visa page, i-20 and student ID card/school admission notice (old classmates provide student ID card and freshmen provide school admission notice). For freshmen who are looking for a house, i20 and passport visa may not be available yet, but it doesn't matter. Most landlords can still accept the school offer and passport home page to submit the application first, and only need to fill in the remaining materials when they receive it. Just for the waiting time, each landlord may be different, some are patient, some are strict, and they are only willing to wait for one to two weeks. If you are a green card holder, you need to have a co-signer (guarantor), and provide the income certificate and photo ID card of the co-signer. If you are a visiting scholar, you need to change i-20 into DS20 19. There are also a small number of landlords who are strictly audited. Regardless of your status, you need to provide a certificate of countersignature or bank deposit.
4. Submit the application: After the above three steps are completed, you can submit the application! As soon as the application is received, the landlord will change the status of the house to "pending/pending", so that others can't apply for the same house (which is why renting a house should be emphasized on a first-come-first-served basis. If your application is submitted one minute later than others, you must give priority to others.
5. Landlord review: After the application is submitted successfully, it will enter the landlord review stage, which usually lasts for about one week, but there may be cases where the result will be known in two days or two to three weeks. Generally speaking, as long as there are no special circumstances, the application will pass smoothly. Many times, the reason why applying for a house is unsuccessful is that the speed of submitting an application is slower than others. If approved, the intermediary will be responsible for preparing the lease (rental contract) for the tenant to sign, and collect the rest of the money and give it to the landlord in the form of a company check. If materials such as i20 or visa are still missing, they need to be supplemented as soon as possible. After all the money and application materials are handed in, you can wait for the check-in bag at noon on the day of check-in. This check-in package usually includes the key to the house, the contract signed by the landlord, the matters needing attention in the apartment, etc. I suggest reading all the contents carefully, which will be very helpful for living in an apartment these days. If the application fails, the first month's rent/deposit paid at the time of application will be refunded in full, and the application fee will not be refunded. However, if you apply for another house, the application fee will not be charged. * Note: After signing the lease, it is usually necessary to make up the balance within one week. If you just signed the contract, but didn't pay all the money at the right time, or don't want to apply for this house for personal reasons, the landlord also has the right to withdraw the lease and not refund the money already paid.
6. What do I need to pay when I sign the lease? Generally speaking, the most common situation is the last month's rent, deposit, agency fee and key fee: the last month's rent: pay the rent one month before moving out in advance. For example, if your contract expires at the end of August next year, and then you don't renew it, then you don't have to pay the rent in August next year, because you already paid it when you applied! Deposit: usually equivalent to one month's rent, but there are cases where different amounts are charged according to the landlord's regulations. If there is no man-made damage to the house, the deposit will be refunded in full at the end of the contract. If there is any damage, the landlord needs to repair it, and the maintenance fee will be deducted from the deposit. Generally, the landlord will use the deposit to make a list of places that need maintenance and clearly tell the tenant. Agency fee: Generally speaking, the agency fee is equal to one month's rent, but there are also houses with semi-agency fee, no agency fee or partial agency fee reduction. Key fee: This is the fee for the landlord to change the lock. The amount charged by each landlord may be different, usually tens of dollars or so. There are also some landlords who don't charge for keys. According to the different requirements of the landlord, there are also cases where the landlord does not need to charge the last month's rent/deposit/agency fee. When applying for a house, remember to ask the agent who is responsible for helping you find a house!