Renting Your First Apartment in America: Lease, Deposit, and Credit Check
Renting your first apartment in America: lease, deposit, and credit check. Renting an apartment in the United States comes with a few terms that can feel unfamiliar if you have not heard them before: lease, security deposit, credit check, adverse action notice. The landlord may ask for money before you have even seen your keys, and a number you may not know much about, your credit score , can decide whether you get approved. This guide walks through the process in order: the application and credit check, the lease, the security deposit, and the move-in and move-out steps. Rules about leases and deposits are set mostly by state law, so I use New Jersey as a worked example, based on the state's official tenant guide, and I point out where federal rules apply to everyone. The details were checked against official sources such as the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in early October...
