Senior Apartment Applications Were Too Intrusive

I tried to rent just a regular apartment last year. I had the money to pay the rent a year in advance (length of lease), since I had no pay stubs, and offered to do so. They still wanted to check my credit and criminal histories. I don't have a criminal history and my credit score is great. Still, they would not let me rent the apartment because I didn't have a job. I had a stellar, 12 year, tenant history.

Then they charged me $125 for the credit/criminal checks. I reported it to my bank as fraud since they told me they were sure I would get accepted. The charge was reversed immediately by the apartment company.

In retrospect, I'm glad. I'd stayed in my daughter's apartment at that complex for a couple of months at the very beginning of Covid, and I felt trapped. I mean like a trapped animal. Concrete everywhere. No woods, pastures, no looking around and seeing no people or houses, no wild animals in evidence.

Note: My children were afraid I would get Covid and die. Having children try to parent one as if one were an unwitting small child is not fun. So I returned to my home late one night, while the two of them were paying attention to their screens. They were not keeping me hostage of course.
 

Sounds that way to me too, Luv. A lot of those questions sound very dubious, maybe even illegal.

Reminds me of once, years ago, when my husband and I were thinking about buying a place at the Jersey shore. We went into a realtor's office, and practically the first question she asked us was what religion we were!
I'm just seeing some of the replies to this thread!! Sunny I know several people who lived in that particular complex. One of my cousins, my uncle, a former neighbor who moved form here to there and a friend of my mom's lived there. My former neighbor moved most recently, about two or three years ago. I don't know if they changed their questionnaire. I never thought to ask her. Maybe I'll do that.

@Devi A few years ago, I started just putting the last four digits. More recently I notice that's all some questionnaire's ask for.
I felt like I was taking off my clothes with those applications. I was denied once when I tried to buy a co-op cash. And I had all the funds necessary. Others just sent me pages and pages of questions that I felt were nobody's business. Doesn't credit score and tenant history have anything to do with things anymore? And, no, I was never arrested or sued.
I would think they would jump at the chance to get the cash up front! Before my HD told me she would not take this apartment, I had also looked into buying a co-op heading in the direction of south Jersey. The listings were inexpensive ($40,000 - $60,000 range) and there were a lot of them in the same area, which made me wonder why. I understand how "stripped" you must've felt.

@Tish I mentioned in another reply that they claim they asked for race for "statistical purposes". In case you haven't noticed race enters into everything! It brings to mind a meme I saw with Laurence Fishburne's picture (I don't know if he really said this). "I'll stop playing the race card when you stop dealing it to me".
 

Last edited:
I would have just laughed at such questions. No way would I answer.
When I see a new dentist, I always leave the SS number blank. I've only had one receptionist say, "You forgot to fill in your SS number."
I replied, "I didn't forget; you have no need to know."
No one has ever refused to see me; especially dentists who would lose a fortune........

It's sorta funny that people who have been the victims of identity theft & spent months or years trying to fix it are always asked, "Why did you give out that information?"
 
I don't know where this co-op is located, but in my state co-ops are practically their own nations, and get away with a lot.

That title "Honorary Daughter" is excellent. We have an honorary great grand daughter that we have only met online and in photos.

She is in Vancouver British Columbia, a very long way from Florida.
Thank you Manatee. Blessedly, my HD has been in my life for close to two decades. She is the mother of two of my grandchildren and would do anything for me. We've hung out together and partied together, traveled together (with the children) and we always have a great time when we are together. Her oldest daughter is my Honorary granddaughter and my son thinks of her as one of his own.
 


Back
Top