Unfair housing practices, need advice.

Submitted by billiepw t3_125q3fd in massachusetts

I ave been working with property management company since March 1st to secure affordable housing in Brookline on April 1st.

The company informed me last night that my application was denied based on a 3rd party credit score (however, I have a very good credit history according to Experian).  This 3rd party company can't tell me why I was denied because it's a property management parematers. The property manage meant company can't tell me because it's based on the information they get from this 3rd party company.

Based on the history of our conversations, though a lease was not signed, I was led to expect to move in.  I have let my current landlord know that I will be moving, my child is transferring schools and now the new tenet is due in my unit very shortly.  I am essentially left in a place of homelessness.

I've found their lack of communication and action appalling in general.

What can I do?

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ETA: Thanks for the responses everyone!

I realize that I made a huge mistake in jumping the gun without documentation. I won't be doing that again.

While I realize that what they did was completely legal, it doesn't make it right and I will make their name known.

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DeliPaper t1_je5a4wr wrote

>Based on the history of our conversations, though a lease was not signed, I was led to expect to move in.  I have let my current landlord know that I will be moving, my child is transferring schools and now the new tenet is due in my unit very shortly.  I am essentially left in a place of homelessness.

>I've found their lack of communication and action appalling in general.

>What can I do?

Call a lawyer. This is called promissory estoppel. You made choices any reasonable person would have based on the discussion. You may be able to force them to give you an apartment.

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warlocc_ t1_je5khqr wrote

It has to be documented pretty well, though. A promissory estoppel case is hard to pull off.

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Yanosh457 t1_je5aakg wrote

First and most important is to get a roof over your head asap, even if temporary. Don’t leave yourself hanging.

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BasementDweller3000 t1_je5o229 wrote

I applied for a place last week, was told I was approved. Waited days for the paperwork. Then the property manager decided to rent the place to a friend instead. Thankfully I don’t have to move for a few months but it sucks.

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[deleted] t1_je5id9z wrote

[removed]

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steelymouthtrout t1_je68k81 wrote

I bet you have a very punchable face and ur a fucking creeper.

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mehkindaok t1_je6f5ue wrote

Show us on the doll where the landlord hurt you.

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SLEEyawnPY t1_je6oqjo wrote

Landlords do seem to white knight for each other, but it sometimes seems to me like a kind of trauma-bonding.

The kind of trauma I figure often tends to inherently come with going in to the discipline believing that combining the fields of of real estate speculation, with a side of human psychology, was going to ever be anything like reliably easy money.

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Jimmyking4ever t1_jeev6zj wrote

They say they are "innovators, independent go getters who take risks and earn that money" but are the first to go "daddy guvment please bail me out from by risky behavior the property I ran into the ground isn't making money and COVID stuff happened!"

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mehkindaok t1_je6s5yp wrote

I see you need a place to live and landlords are banned - got a million or so for a condo?

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SLEEyawnPY t1_je6tkj3 wrote

I'd be less disappointed if you said you were strictly in it for the cash, martyr complexes don't tend to be appealing in anyone.

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mehkindaok t1_je6uzne wrote

Oh, I'm not a landlord, I don't want to deal with mao-worshipping deadbeats like you. When time comes to move I'll just sell my place to the highest bidder who has the resources to boot you to the curb as soon as you stop paying, be it some large local slumlord or BlackRock. Funny thing is I got my place cheap and could rent it out cheap because it m not hurting for money but since MA loves deadbeats you'll be renting it from some slumlord and having your wallet raped instead.

Also my other question still stands - got a million for a condo? Or $300 per night for a hotel, perhaps?

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SLEEyawnPY t1_je7owy5 wrote

>I don't want to deal with mao-worshipping deadbeats like you

My professional title is "Mixed-signal integrated circuit design consultant." Mao-worshipping deadbeat is just a hobby.

>Also my other question still stands - got a million for a condo? Or $300 per night for a hotel, perhaps?

You could at least offer to take me out for a nice dinner first, I'm kind of old-fashioned and like to get to know a person..

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mehkindaok t1_je7r8ri wrote

But there’s no dinner my mao-loving friend, just the need for a wheelbarrow full of cash if you need a place to live. Landlords are banned, what do you along with everyone else new to the area do - buy a place for a million or so each time you need to move and lose a cool hundred grand or so in selling and re-buying expenses each time you need to move elsewhere, or spend more on a couple days at a hotel than you would have spent on a month at an apartment owned by one of those rent-seeking parasites? Use that gray squishy stuff between your ears, it’s got to be at least somewhat functional with that fancy title of yours!

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SLEEyawnPY t1_je803q8 wrote

The scenario of "landlords are banned" seems so unlikely to happen in the forseeable future that what happens after hardly seems worth fretting over. Is this a possibility that regularly concerns you?

But the thrust of my observation (and it was just an observation) was more along the lines that some aspects landlording seem like their own worst punishment - not exactly a Mao-inspired call to arms.

Anyway, not sure what it is you do/did in life but I'm glad I didn't do whatever it is, you seem unhappy.

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SLEEyawnPY t1_je6rakz wrote

>it needs to be impeccable along with equally impeccable employment history and landlord references.

IDK how old the joke is that goes something like "if landlords only had other landlords to pick from as customers then they'd have no available customers" is but it must be pretty old..

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mehkindaok t1_je6tfsn wrote

Given the current housing shortages caused by rampant NIMBYism and downright idiotic housing policies which make new construction incredibly expensive landlords get to be very picky when choosing tenants - why take a risk on a single mother with spotty employment history who is quite likely to fall behind on rent when there's 10 well-paid professionals with no kids and perfect credit score fighting over a pen to sign the lease?

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SLEEyawnPY t1_je72r52 wrote

>why take a risk on a single mother with spotty employment history who is quite likely to fall behind on rent

Yes, it seems unlikely that a market-rate rental in Brookline(!!) is what's being discussed, if all that's true and yet this particular firm had already been working with OP for a month, regardless. "Spotty employment history" but they get denied on their credit so their single-mom income is fine, I guess? for a market-rate rental in Brookline? ????

But if it's not market rate situation then where all the "well-paid professionals" fit in to the story is anyone's guess. Maybe they are a product of your imagination.

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