If you don't want someone to have the money then you don't write the check.
I don't quite understand what the check was for. It's not uncommon for there to be a non-refundable application fee (it DOES cost the landlord money to do background checks, etc.) but it's not $500. And if you are accepted THEN you pay a deposit for the apartment when everyone signs the rental agreement or lease.
Sure, you can try to convince her to give the money back. But it's pretty much a he-said she-said situation now. She can just say the $500 was an application fee and you changed your mind (which indeed you did). After all, who would pay a deposit before they were offered a lease or rental agreement?
I suspect what happened here is that you said, "Yes, we want the apartment. Here is our deposit. After you get our credit checks and approve us, we want the apartment." And then you changed your mind.
I mean really....why else would you give someone $500 for an apartment?
No, you didn't sign anything...oh wait...except for the check.
Well, you were approved for the first unit, so the LL cashed your $500 check. Read the paperwork you have - if that $500 was called a "holding fee," you are not entitled to get it back. The reason is because the LL took the unit off the market for you. That money would have been applied to your move-in fees when you signed the lease. Since you backed out of the deal, you don't get it back.
You gave permission for her to cash the check when you handed it to her.
You can argue she had no reason to cash it, no permission to cash it or anything else till you are blue in the face. None of that will ever change the fact she had every legal right to cash the check the minute you handed it over. She never had any legal obligation what to ever to hold onto the check. You would have to sue her to get it back and then it is her word against yours if you are even entitled to it back.
All you can do here is take this as an expensive lesson learned. NEVER ever ever give anyone a check that you intend for them not to cash without a written & signed agreement to that intention.
A person doesn't need permission to cash a check that's written out to them. You also don't give someone that type of money with nothing in writing and then refuse to complete the application. That said, she very well may be required to refund it, but if she refuses to do so willing, you'll have to sue.
A credit check costs no more than $50. You are obviously too immature to be handling transactions. If the check says holding deposit on it and you change your mind, you are out $500 because you did not bother to learn the ins and outs of renting.
That's what I thought but I tried looking it up and some say well if you give them a check you are stupid and they can cash it and say it was to hold the place. But we never confirmed anything. And we really can't afford to just let her have the money.
Checks are not meant to be held or pre-dated. You gave a check and LL cashed it, that is what LL was supposed to do,.
She owes you the money if you didn't actually sign the lease
whenever you issue a check it is assumed to be good and okay to cash. You gave permission when tou gave her the check
Recently my fiance and I went to look at places in arkansas, as we will be moving there soon. We saw one apartment we particularly liked and asked the lady the process. She said since we were from out of town we should leave a check with her and complete the application process. She said, if the application doesn't go through then you can come back and rip the check up. A credit check was part of the process and would need to be done in order to secure the apartment. Well, that night we saw a house that we really liked but weren't sure if we would get it. So we filled out the application portion but waited to approve a credit check, which is also part of the application process. We found out we got the house and didn't receive anymore contact from the lady from the apartments. No email, phone call, nothing. Now a week later she has cashed our check. Is this legal? Could we convince her to refund? We never signed a lease or signed anything giving permission to cash the check. We left it because we live in another state and if we decided on that apartment we would have no way to make the deposit. Please HELP!!
