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Comment by fwefwwfe | Hacker News Reader

> Then they made a photocopy of our ID for a file. Which again raised my suspicion, I’ve rented many apartment before and none of properties ever asked for that before signing the lease

That sounds like a red flag with the article/author. What apartment place wouldn't do a background check and want ID to make sure they go the right person?

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Anecdote here: Once when I wanted to rent an apartment in a nice apartment complex they wouldn't even show me the apartment without me showing them my ID. I ended up renting the place and never had a problem.

In California - it's the Law. You need to provide picture ID before the property management company can you show you around the property. At least that's what the little sign in each leasing office I've visited said.... (????)

Huh? Is this a viewing or something else?

I have rented apartments and looked at housing in several places in CA, not once has anyone asked me for my ID. Only when it got down to the serious brass tacks was that required.

Every apartment complex I've looked at (bay area) has required me to leave my photo ID with them at the leasing office while one of them took me on a tour to show me the apartment.

Is this condominiums/highrises? When I was looking for my apartment here no one ever asked for that. But I also didn't really look at places that had a leasing office either.

Not necessarily in a high-rise. Basically a building or bunch of buildings with apartments that a single company owns and maintains and rents out. They tend to have a leasing office.

An owner can allow whomever they choose onto a property. The practice you are describing is probably the result of caution on behalf of either the owner or the management company, almost certainly due to potential liability for harms that might occur.

Thats not law, they do that to prevent assaults against the agent, to get your info for their marketing database and also as evidence they are complying with fair housing laws. Some places do it some places don't.

In Texas, an ID is required to even view an apartment. Usually, they hold the drivers license at the office while you go view the apartments. It is a state law, and was put in place to prevent rapes.

Same thing happens in Seattle.

Patently false, I've been to a few camera infested shitholes like the one on 15th and Market in Ballard where they tried to pull this crap on me (and gave up), but outside of that I have yet to run into it. IMO its a huge red flag, they're the only ones that tried that out of 80 places I've toured in the past 2 months.

If the property manager tries this, its a sure sign that they are an ass. Also, the market seems to be cooling, one nicely remodled place I toured dropped to $1500 from $1700 for 950sqft 2 bed/1 bath in Queen Anne, then rented a week later. Seen a couple others do that, figure it should become more common as we get into summer.

> Patently false

No, it was actually true when I looked at dozens of places.

> If the property manager tries this, its a sure sign that they are an ass.

That's a crazy assumption that's apparently based on nothing.

How does this work with landlords that do "direct sells" and there is no office?

Citation? This doesn't match my experience in Austin.

Doubtful there is a law for it but there are two good reasons to want a copy of an id.

Safety of agent. Proof of compliance with fair housing laws.

Matches mine in Austin.

That's pretty standard in most places AFAIK. Think about it - apartment salespeople are mostly women. Potential tenants are at least half men. When you walk in off the street to look at an apartment, they don't know you from Adam. And you're going into an empty apartment alone with a female salesperson. Do the math, they're gonna want some ID first.

Are you implying they are doing some kind of instant background check with the ID? If not, what good is checking ID?

The knowledge that you won't get away with rape, kidnap, or robbery acts as a deterrent.

Deterrence. Having your ID on file (vs knowing only a name that they likely made up) makes a potential criminal much more likely to get caught, so they're much less likely to do anything bad.

Good job there is not such thing as false ID

It's still another barrier that deters people - it's a numbers game, not about impossibility.

And even a forged ID would have a valid photo that looks like you, which is much more helpful in finding a suspect than simply eyewitness/victim testimony.

I think this is the common practice in FL and part of the rules of being a realtor.

Ditto with Australia, you have to show picture ID at inspections (which you must attend before applying).

As a non-American living in Western Europe the idea of a landlord doing a "background check" on prospective tenants is terrifying. Never heard of such a thing in Europe. What the hell does "background check" even entail.

Unfortunately in the UK landlords are obliged to perform immigration checks: https://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents/who-...

Most European countries have mandatory ID / residence registration so this is handled directly by the state rather than making landlords do it.

(Whether the UK counts as "Europe" is a subject of extreme controversy)

That rule in the UK is very new, and also controversial.

They check for whatever they're legally allowed to check for. I found a service that does it when I just searched.

https://www.tenantbackgroundsearch.com

Most will minimally do a credit check. Some will check your past landlords - and won't rent to first-time renters. Some do criminal background checks, and a small portion will check personal references.

German landlords in large cities generally require a credit report (though not things like criminal record, which can be in a US background check). For large institutional landlords, you may sign a document permitting them to perform this check; the more usual case is that you request a report from the credit-report company yourself and send them a copy.

What, you've never lived in France? It's RIDICULOUSLY common in Paris (though probably not legal? who knows).

"background check" in America almost always means credit report and little besides that.

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