Is it right for landlord to recieve more deposit than its actual rent?

Question

My rent is $1400 and the landlord is asking for for $1600 in deposit. I never heard anyone asking more in desposit than its actual rent.

is it illegal

btw, ive lived here for 12 years and landlord just increased the rent

Answer 1

Depends on where you live (country, state, county, ctiy, etc)

In New Jersey (according to NJSA 46:8-21.2), a landlord may require a maximum security deposit of 1.5 * months rent, but may require a lesser deposit if they so desire.

If you lived in New Jersey, then the amount required for a security deposit in your example (assuming that the $1,400 is a monthly rent amount) would be legal (since it is equal or lesser than 1.5 * your monthly rent, or $2100)

Answer 2

depends on the jursdiction. It is illegal in Madison WI. Can't be more than one months rent. Land lords are allowed to charge an extra fee for things that are likely to cause damage, like a waterbed or a pet, but I believe here they have to be in the form of a monthly charge rather than a higher deposit, although they could increase the deposit by the monthly charge too. So unless you are paying a $200 extra fee for having a pet or something, what they are doing would be illegal here.

Now, to get around that, what landlords can do is charge you $1600 in rent but discount the rent $200 if paid before the first of the month or something like that. that way the deposit is not actually more than the rent.

It comes down to what the market will bear. If you feel the deposit is too high, just ask if they will accept a lower one. A lot of parts of the country have a glut of rental units right now anyway, they might be willing to negotiate especially if you don't have pets and/or have a good reference from your last landlord

Answer 3

No, it's not illegal.

Any landlord usually asks for a deposit (usually a months' rent) so that if you break the lease, he doesn't lose the income from having the unit rented full-time.

The additional deposit amount is likely to cover cleaning costs for preparing the apartment to be rented again.

Example: You pack and sneak out without notifying the landlord. He gets to keep a month's rent while the apartment is empty. If you sneak out, you probably won't spend time repairing nail holes, cleaning the bathroom/ kitchen, or making sure all the trash is removed. $200 would barely cover the time of someone who had to come in and do that.

You can negotiate any agreememt BEFORE you sign it. If you think that amount is too much, you might ask for some of that amount to be refunded after several months of on-time payment, for example.

If it is a deposit, you will get it all back when you turn in the keys to a clean, ready to occupy unit. Remember that 'normal' wear and tear is NOT your responsibility, but things that you could have prevented (holes, stains, broken fixtures, etc.) ARE.

Answer 4

Nope, not at all. The rent is a prorated amount of the cost of the property, the deposit is an amount designed to recover damages. If 3 male college students that play in a rock band want to rent my flat, and a married couple with grandkids and a Volvo want to rent my flat I'm not going to charge them the same deposit. If someone wants to rent from month to month and another lease for a year I'm not going to charge them the same deposit. There are 2 sorts of deposit, a security deposit is to cover fee's should you cut and run, a sort of deterrent to that. A damage deposit to meant to cover costs of repairing and recovering from damage done to the property. If you determine the amount of each making up your deposit perhaps you could negotiate. I sometimes prorate a damage deposit after reviewing an applicants income status, you could ask for this favor also if your situation merit's it.

Answer 5

I charge approx 10% more for the deposit than the monthly rent. The biggest reason for that is when it was the same as the monthly rent tenants assumed that it was last months rent and then didn't pay rent for that month. This draws a clear distinction because it is not the same amount as the rent.

So yes it is legal in many places and probably more common than you think.

Answer 6

What's legal differs from state to state.

Just because you never heard of it doesn't make it illegal.

The deposit is to cover any damage you do the landlord's property. From this perspective, it has nothing to do with the amount of the rent. After all, a tenant can do thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Answer 7

In most states it's perfectly legal. Some states limit the deposit -- 2 to 3 months is typical. In those that don't, the landlord is free to ask anything he wants. Of course, you can offer less and if you can't agree on it, you just look elsewhere.

Answer 8

Read the contract. What does it say about the deposit and what it covers? Lanlords are require to hold deposit monies in an account so that the monies are secured and untouchable. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't go into a contract that is requiring more for a deposit than your rent.

Answer 9

in case you're on a hard and fast term lease then on an analogous time as the lease expires the homestead proprietor can advance lease or secure practices deposit and upload costs which contain a cleansing fee. The tenant is unfastened to place forth a counter grant, bypass or settle for the unique grant. on an analogous time as people stay in a residence living for an prolonged time which contain extra advantageous effective than 10 years, then the procuring ability of their unique deposit is shrink than on an analogous time because it became into paid 10 years interior the previous. the homestead proprietor ought to choose extra advantageous deposit money to furnish the completed deposit up superb now's deposit fee. That reward the homestead proprietor and the tenant. superb it is why in case you located down a deposit of $500 ten years interior the previous and superb now's cutting-edge-day secure practices deposit is $a million,000 for form spanking new tenants, then by ability of ability of advance each and every physique to $a million,000 that lessens the burden on the long term tenant in the event that they bypass out and harm is in choose of fix. faster or later you will pay for the placed on and tear you do. a clever homestead proprietor will artwork with the tenant as far as paying the further deposit money is going. it is unwise to advance the deposit and assume a tenant to be waiting to pay it without warning. indoors the pastime of protecting a robust long term tenant, accepting installment money on the extra useful deposit is an suggestions-blowing concept.