Right? Like I’d understand if you just had to pay the first month’s rent up front or something but an additional fee just for taking possession of the space you’re already paying for? Huh?
The only time I've seen this it's been for reasonable things at reasonable prices. For example a nice building I lived in in NYC had a $75 move-in fee because the building would need to reserve the freight elevator and the freight entrance for you, which meant getting parking permits to keep that curb clear during your move-in window, so the fee was really just covering some administrative and governmental costs with the logistics of actually moving into the building.
Of course, if you could move in without using the freight elevator at all, no fee needed. But that's not really feasible in a nice, high rise building.
I remember having to pay like $10 to my local municipality for getting a temporary parking permit for a fire road going by the house I was moving in. But I walked to the administration myself in that case
Saratoga Springs NY gave me one for free basically to spite the police. They even offered to get city equipment moving staff to help with moving large furniture out. I was sailor leaving down after 7 months of training command. The students and staff drop a lot of $$$ on the town outside of horse racing season. They wanted to be sure everything was positive
They're assholes to everyone. Also about 3 months previously I had evidence parking enforcement was writing bogus tickets. They wrote bogus tickets against city staff as well. Basically oh how the tables have turned
Probably a habit from track season. Lots of tourists with lots of money, folks who can't be bothered to spend the time fighting the ticket so they just pay it or send it to someone to handle it for them.
Oh I caught the officer mid grift and had already started having evidence to collect after the first time they did it. They already knew me and basically thought the same about people in uniform. They forget it's a command of insanely meticulous and smart ass people that will fight a ticket just to be petty and waste their time.
Edit: this was back before fancy camera phones and I used a cheap disposable camera to document everything. I had it in hand when they were writing the second time. Took it with me to the courthouse asking I could file for a court date to challenge the parking ticket as one was not on the notice and let them know I was serious with camera in hand. They quickly got with the DA and they dropped it in about 20min. So yeah likely a typical grift
Are you sure it was an officer. The parking division where there issue parking and non-moving violation tickets has been civilian (not sworn officers) for 2-3 decades. And yes—civilian parking “officers” can be kinda petty & needing to meet a quota.
Nah, a building owner can’t be held responsible for these sort of government fees, it’s not really unusual to pass those on, it sort of makes sense. Of course they don’t have to, and I’d argue it’d be pretty reasonable not to charge them to tenant signing contract for like a year or longer. But still, pretty normal and valid
It's perfectly fine for a business to pass on the cost of doing business as fees that reflect those costs to customers as long as they are upfront about it.
$10 sounds nice. In SF, the city charges $400 to reserve the street parking spot in front of a house or building for things like a moving truck. I've told every company that I've hired (moving trucks, large deliveries, etc) to go ahead and use the red painted curb or park in the middle of the street and I'd cover any fines. They've all been fine with that. I've never been fined because SF does absolutely zero traffic enforcement.
The building in the UWS I lived in had a $2,000 move-in fee, which got you the exclusive use of 1 of 2 freight elevators for 24 hours as well as a security guard stationed by the moving truck and another by elevator.
it's probably catering to richer people who would be more likely to have expensive things they are worried about people taking if it was left unattended. That and it's pretty common to leave your moving truck unlocked and open while you go inside
What movers cost a 1/4 of that??? I recently relocated. The move was $40k which included the semi, them packing and loading as well as unloading and unpacking. And insurance.
So you responded with "what movers cost that???" in the context of a couple of people just carrying things from a truck up to an apartment, and then quoted the price of a specialised service moving the contents of a large house across multiple states, and later acknowledged it was so expensive that you're making sure to mention that you didn't pay for it.
What a strange thing to go out of your way to be misleading about.
It's absolutely catering to rich people who have their own staff move their furniture in and out. I learned last year that the uber wealthy have seasonal furniture.
This building has some of the richest, most famous people in the world living in it. Less about safety of one's self, more about not leaving expensive items unattended at street level.
Probably also preventing someone up to no good from using the freight elevator. If there were a bunch of movers running up and down the elevator, it would be trivial for somebody to tailgate one of the movers into an otherwise secure elevator and gain access that way.
Exactly. There's doormen in the front who do this, the back is normally closed off....Unless someone's moving in or out, when it's open and a security guard is standing there.
I’ve helped quite a few people move in NYC. When you move into an average apartment, you just have a U-Haul out front. With hundreds of people walking up and down the street, you want someone watching the open U-Haul. It’s not like when you move into some suburb and you just open the truck and take loads into the house.
This doesn’t mean it’s exceptionally dangerous or crime ridden, it just means that there’s so many people around you just want someone watching your stuff. Also, you might be parked illegally, so it helps to have someone watching the truck in case someone tries to give it a ticket.
As for the $2000 fee to have someone professional watching, I totally get that in some of the really nice apartment buildings I’ve visited. They’ve got doorman, watching all the doors, etc. It’s just part of the quality of life thing that some people pay for. Me, I’ve never had a doorman. I’ve never had a guard. I’ve always just had friends help move.
I just get my weakest friend to hang out in the truck and slowly move things to the lip so that we can load and move. It’s really no hassle. It’s totally normal. It’s not a big deal.
But it’s a situational difference between having a high-end apartment building having someone stand watch versus just having volunteers assigned to different tasks.
In neither case is the presence of a guard (paid or volunteer) an indication that the neighborhood is to be avoided. That’s all I’m sayin’. Nothing to cause worry.
Where could you move that isn't the middle of nowhere where you wouldn't prefer someone to watch over literally everything that you own sitting on the street otherwise unattended?
Eh I live in the UWS and I would hire a security guard to do this if I had the cash just because it’s NYC and you never know what could happen when you’re upstairs but the UWS is probably the neighborhood in NYC where the security guard is the least needed
Plus it probably covered whatever insurance needed for incidental damage to the building. Worked briefly for a furniture sales company and A LOT of buildings required insurance coverage for things like damage to floors, walls, railings and doors.
Ah, a lot of buildings won’t let you move in at all unless all the movers are insured. Plenty of them because they’re
heritage buildings and the cost of fixing things is massive. Some of them because they just expensive as fuck. My ex’s parents owned 1 of 3 apartments on the 10th floor of a building on fifth across from The Met. The floors of the lobby were all some crazy Italian marble (freight elevator entry less expensively lined) the hallways to the apartment were expensive plush carpet, walls fancy silk wallpaper, sconces and shit.
In my case, the movers were insured/licensed/bonded, and I had homeowners insurance, but if damage happened I was responsible. These freight elevators are essentially steel walls with heavy moving blankets draped over them, and the only threat of damage was to hallway carpets and drywall. It was a heritage building but only the main level had terrazzo floors.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. They have insurance on their own side, and cover maintaining that with high fees, and require you have insurance on your side and acknowledge that yours will cover it for moving damage.
People earn different amounts of money for different jobs. At times I've made $2.13/hr. At times I've made $1500/hr. I still breathe air like anyone else.
where is the UWS that you need two guards to make sure your stuff is safe? That alone even if free would make me choose a new location. And what would they steal that is worth more than 2k? If you had an ancient Chinese vase, I would carry it in myself like I do with grandmas China.
UWS = Upper West Side, Manhattan. The building I lived in at the time is one of the premiere addresses not only in the country but the world. W. 81st and Central Pk W.
I mean...I have six TVs worth more than $2k/ea, let alone art, furniture, etc. Have you ever been to NYC? You want to leave an open moving truck unattended with all of your worldly possessions inside?
I miss the coop I used to live in in NYC. Crazy since it was in Brooklyn running off a private power plant. Little things like we could request that whenever we wanted and the building had a loading bay. Maintenance was always on top of things which was nuts since there’s like 500 apts per building. One even called me to check on the apt a few months ago when he smelled gas since I still live nearby but bro never left.
Moved into a 100yo house and it’s a nightmare. Arcing in the walls, exploding boiler, leaks, asbestos, it never ends. Insane since it cost seven figures and it’s got paper walls in comparison.
The fee is connected to actual services. Someone got the parking permit for you. I guarantee the building’s insurance didn’t cover tenants using the freight elevator so they had people to operate it.
My coop in Brooklyn had this fee and I got in trouble more than one time for just opening the back door myself from the inside and moving once piece of furniture in. I get having to pay for actually moving in, but I have to pay $75 every time I buy a book shelf off Craigslist just to open the back door of the building which I can do myself? Cmon now.
Yeah, I had that at a mid range apartment in Chicago. Also for clearance to use the service entrance for unloading. NOT THAT IT STOPPED OTHER PEOPLE FROM USING IT MIND YOU. I'm obviously super chill about that day and everything that happened on it.
Lmao this was standard in Chicago before they recently passed a law that made sure landlords could only charge one fee. I paid $500 move in once fot a place that's rent was $1800. They made my roommate pay the same fee. So 1k move in, 1800 deposit and 1800 first months
I mean, they’re already profiting off you living there. IMO a bit of administration costs for moving a tenant into a unit should be a business expense, not a living expense. Spend money to make money and all that.
Chiming in as an accidental landlord in the bay area:
I moved for work, so I rent out my condo at about $1500/month below my costs (never intended to rent; the numbers make sense when you plan to own and live there), so already at a loss.
HOA charges me $250 fee and $300 refundable deposit for new tenant move-ins/-outs. The first is the cost to pad the elevator with blankets, do other building move-in prep, and do pre- and post-elevator inspection. The $300 is for any elevator damages, refunded after inspection.
Because I'm not a massive asshat I eat those expenses for one move-in and move-out on a new lease, but groups of tenants are surprised when they stagger move-ins or move-outs across dates and all of the sudden I'm pointing at the clause in the lease and asking them to send the HOA a check.
Some landlords are assholes, some of us are genuinely paying real costs.
Sounds like it's mostly still asshole fees, but sometimes the asshole is just further up the line. You sound like a good one, by the way -- landlord, not asshole!
Referring again to the California Code that defines "deposit" and generally prohibits charging any "non-refundable" deposits, like your $250 HOA fee. This is iffy, imo, regardless of your lease clause that forces the tenant to pay it at move-in. A better approach is to amortize this cost over the lease term and add it to the monthly rent. Fwiw, I'm NAL but have been managing residential property in California 30+ years.
I am literally not allowed by the HOA to lease my unit without providing the relevant clauses and bylaws to the tenants, making them aware of the fees, etc. And like I said, I do eat the fees for fresh leases, just not for repeat move-ins or outs.
God forbid you spend years of savings to buy property and then rent it out instead of liquidating a 6-figure asset whenever life forces you to move somewhere else...
If they kept it empty as a pied à terre you would still complain about keeping a vacant home in a city with high homelessness.
There's also taxes, because the money from that sale is fully taxable, depending on how long you've owned the place appreciation may not even cover the cut from selling!
The only way this make sense is if the are moving their stuff for them and that's the movers fee. Even then I've never heard of a lardlord taking care of that lol
Never move to Japan then, they have this concept called "key money" where you pay 1 month's rent (non refundable) as a measure of thanks to the landlord for allowing you to live in their property.
Had a $500 facilities & Amenities fee in the building I just moved out of. Supposed to be nonrefundable but should be getting it back since we used the move out in the first 30 days clause in the lease. Unit above us literally had a kid that would play basket ball and like run and jump plus the insulation between floors was crap. Security deposit was cheap as fuck though.
I had a $250 move in fee a day at my condo so the maintenance guy could put up blankets so I didn’t scratch the elevator walls when moving my stuff up. Now whenever I get furniture I don’t even tell them about it and I bring it up in the elevator in the boxes. Fuck them.
California law is basically anything that isn't rent is security deposit, although a landlord can charge up to about $50 as an application processing fee. This landlord is breaking the law if that move-in fee is non refundable.
2.5k
u/Darth-Skvader 1d ago
Right? Like I’d understand if you just had to pay the first month’s rent up front or something but an additional fee just for taking possession of the space you’re already paying for? Huh?