A woman was blown away after being slapped with $21,000 in fees to rent a one-bedroom apartment, saying it was ‘the craziest thing’ she had ever seen.
Piper Phillips (@pipercassidyphillips) posted a video on TikTok to share her predicament, explaining how she and her boyfriend were hoping to move out of the apartment they shared with a third person by finding a place of their own.
But as simple as that sounds, they’ve found a frankly laughable market on their hands.
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Sure, they’re looking in New York City, which is known for its sky-high rental prices, but arguably nothing could have prepared them for what they received in an email about one prospective home.
“Do you want my first born child at this point?” Phillips, who is from Chicago, captioned the post.
In the video, Phillips said: “$10,000 to get the keys for the apartment – in fees! This is not including rent. I need to show you guys, I’m looking for an apartment right now and this was the craziest thing I’ve gotten.
“This sums it up in New York right now what it’s like trying to find an apartment.”
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Phillips went on: “I swear looking for an apartment in New York is like a full time job, but this email I got made me and my boyfriend actually laugh out loud.”
She then shared a screenshot of a response they had after registering their interest in one apartment, which told the couple: “Thank you for your interest. This is a condo and it takes 3 weeks to get an approval. Condo requires to show 50x of monthly rent income. Sorry tenants are NOT allowed to have dogs in the building. [Washer-dryer] in the unit.
“All fees are below.”
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The fees included a 15 percent broker commission and building fees, along with:
Application fee - $550
Administrative fee - $1,500
Annual amenity fee per applicant - $350
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Credit check per applicant - $150
Move in fee - $1,500
Single initiation fee for board packager - $100
Move in deposit (refundable) - $1,000
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Digital submission fee - $55
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Phillips fumed.
“And THEN, ‘five percent fee of total above’ – so like, the above and then an extra five percent for the app admin fee.
“How is that legal? How is this legal? Isn’t there legislation coming that fixes this?
“And then, the audacity also, ‘Would you like to come in at 12.20pm today’, when it’s like, 11.45am.”
The jaw-dropping fees totalled more than $10,000, which would take her initial payout including security and first month's rent to a grand total of $21,507.50.
Phillips added: “If you’re looking for an apartment out there, good luck, because this is just crazy.”
Something tells us Phillips and her boyfriend didn't manage to leg it across to the apartment for that 12.20pm - well, here's hoping for their sake, at least.
Jess Hardiman