All Forum Posts by: Meher Bandela

Well, the first applicant wishes the lease to begin on April 12. They don't want to pay rent from the 1st. In the absence of other applicants, this would obviously be acceptable to me. But I'd like to know my options in the presence of a second applicant.

Hi,

I'm a first-time landlord in NJ. I advertised my rental property as available from April 1. I accepted an application from a prospective tenant who, after submitting the application and paying for the credit history and background checks, told me that the earliest move-in they can do is April 12. We haven't signed a lease yet. I have a couple of questions now:

1) If another qualified applicant shows up and is willing to move-in on April 1, am I allowed to reject the first applicant? If I go ahead with the first applicant, I lose nearly $1000 in rent for the April 1 to 12 period.

2) If I reject the first applicant for this reason, am I expected to reimburse them for the credit and background checks? In general, if I'm processing 4 applicants in parallel, and they're all qualified in terms of income and references, am I obligated to return/reimburse the credit and background check fees for all the applicants that I end up rejecting?

Thanks for helping!