The city of Cottonwood Heights has an ordinance 15.36.050
Cottonwood Heights
Maximum payment for tenant application fee
Apartment owners, operators and managers shall not charge an application fee in excess of twenty-five dollars per applicant.
Then it goes to say that “The fee charged reasonably represents the actual incremental costs of processing the application, including but not limited to, the cost of checking credit history, criminal history references, and verification of references and other information on the application.”
I don’t know about you but that looks a like a lot more than $25 worth of work. If the City of CWH were running an application I wonder if the same $25 would apply.
There is no reason that I can see to why a legitimate business owner cannot charge more if they wanted to.
It seems to me the city went to EBay and found some old set of city ordinances cheap and said these look good and used them.
Like the ordinance that was written about in the CWH Valley Journal on Snow Removal. The ordinance was 1 hour after it stops snowing. Three city officials were approached by TV Reporter right after a storm. The ordinance was changed.
I am not here to pick on the city, I personally think they are doing a great job and I am proud to be a citizen of Cottonwood Heights.
I just do not like any government agency telling any business what they can charge. I am in agreement with gouging laws, where it is illegal to charge excessive amounts for life sustaining essentials in the wake of a disaster.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Deb // Jul 10, 2008 at 7:25 am
I guess you have never been a renter then, with all the other stuff we have to pay like first and last, security deposit for this and security deposit for that, and if you have pet then thats another deposit. It sometimes feels like renters are being fined for not being able to buy! I like the idea that there is a cap on the application fee. Just my thoughts.
2 rob // Jul 10, 2008 at 10:07 am
I agree Deb, there can be a lot of expenses. I just not a fan of a governement dictating what the free market will always work out fairly. When vacancies were high applications fee were non existent, so it works both ways. Right now vacancies are low and property owners can get a premium. That is the natural law of supply and demand. btw I have been a renter in my lifetime.
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