# Apt. application approved but did not get apt.; legal for them to keep fee?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apt-application-approved-but-did-not-get-apt-legal-for-them-to-keep-fee/940983>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 28, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apt-application-approved-but-did-not-get-apt-legal-for-them-to-keep-fee/940983 "2021-04-28T20:07:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apt-application-approved-but-did-not-get-apt-legal-for-them-to-keep-fee/940983/21 "2021-04-29T14:50:19Z")

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I knew a guy some years back who used to manage several apartments, condos and houses for various private owners. He told me the ‘background fee’ went straight into his pocket; he just eyeballed the person and the condition of their car and made his decision.

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**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apt-application-approved-but-did-not-get-apt-legal-for-them-to-keep-fee/940983/22 "2021-04-29T15:32:05Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> But in our ~$1.3M/year budget with 10 or 15 of these checks per year, are we raking in the loot stealing from innocent renter wannabe’s? Hell no.

No but it could be a nice added profit margin. Let’s say the average tenant stays in your building for [3 years](https://www.wealthmanagement.com/sfr/single-family-rental-housing-tenant-king#:~:text=%E2%80%9CResidents%20that%20have%20a%20better,apartment%20building%20before%20moving%20out.) so you’re turning over 50 apartments per year and let’s say you average 10 people applying for each apartment. You could add $35,000 to your revenue or about 2.7%. Sure that’s not infinite money but that will certainly make a noticeable difference in your bottom line if you have a normal 10% profit margin.

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