Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 18:43
As the Editor responded in previous posts, this seems to be illegal under Massachusetts law. Assuming this is the case, why is this practice so wide-spread? Pretty much every large apartment complex in the MA charges this fee; and many include information about it in their advertisements.
Is there any case-law or court cases in which this fee has been refunded to the applicant by the court?
Application or real estate fee?
Are you referring to a fee to process the application, or the fee charged by a real estate professional representing a rental property?
In the latter, a real estate professional charges a fee (often equal to one month's rent) to represent the property. The landlord then decides whether to pay that fee himself or pass the cost on to the tenant. This fee is only paid at the inception of the lease and may be staggered into a higher initial rent payment for the first year. Whichever the landlord chooses is often dictated by the local market. In urban, high demand areas, it is not uncommon to see tenants pay this fee. It is far less common in suburban and rural regions. A "no fee" real estate listing likely means that the landlord is paying a fee to a real estate broker but not passing that cost directly on to the tenant.