Apartment hunting just got cheaper in Salt Lake City.
But rents and deposits may rise even higher because of it.In a surprise rejection of a compromise Tuesday night, the City Council voted to ban rental application fees - the $10 to $50 nonrefundable payments many landlords were requiring just for a chance at a rare vacant apartment.
The decision came after a public hearing dominated by renters and low-income advocates who said the fees are adding to homelessness.
Landlords said the fees were necessary to do credit checks and to investigate an applicant's background.
But groups representing low-income renters said the fees made it impossible to search for a home. Many accused landlords of gathering several applications for each vacant unit and of never checking backgrounds despite collecting fees.
"This is a big one," a gleeful Jeanette Larsen said after the council voted 5-2 for the ban. Larsen is a spokeswoman for JEDI Women, an acronym for Justice, Economic Dignity and Independence. The group began a fight against the fees last summer."Now we'll turn around and start working on the county," she said, adding the group hopes eventually to outlaw application fees statewide.
The council rejected a compromise which would have capped the fees at either $10 or $15 per application. Councilman Alan Hard-man, who represents a Central City district, said even a low cap could lead to abuses.
"Unscrupulous landlords will find a way to maximize their profits," he said. "The only way to eliminate the abuse is to eliminate the fee. If everyone were decent, honest, moral human beings, we wouldn't have to put these laws on the books."
But landlords, both on and off the council, strongly disagreed.
"I think we ought to cap the price of hamburgers at 75 cents," said David Thomas, a rental-property owner whose point was that government should stop regulating private business.
It was a point with which Councilman Ron Whitehead, also a land-lord, agreed.
"Are we as a body going to start setting limits on food if we feel the grocery stores are charging too much? Landlords are at such a disadvantage, rents will go up immediately. I think we're making a big mistake," he said.
The ban doesn't prohibit landlords from conducting background checks. But the cost of those checks will have to be included in rents or deposits.
Low-income advocates said they would rather deal with slightly higher rents or deposits than with having to pay hundreds of dollars for the chance of getting a home.
"This (fee) is worse than gambling, and this is a no-gambling state," said Mark Smith a member of the board of director of the Community Action Program, an advocacy group.