Boswortha

Hi everyone,

I will be brief as I know there are countless posts on this topic.

We will be moving to NY in about 4 weeks and trying to get an apartment with no US credit rating. Our situation is I will have a job with a decent wage and an O1 and can provide a proof of employment letter however my husband who can't work on his visa (o3) has the savings account with a large amount in there in his name.

My question is, can his name go down on the rental even though he can't work so that we fulfil the criteria jointly of letter of employment and proof of savings?
Has anyone else been in this situation?

Thanks,
D.

Bob

It's going to depend on the landlord.

Private ones might be more flexible than corporate ones. You'll just have to ask them.

Good luck!

H Bomb

It all depends on the landlord. We had letters stating salaries and were set to pay 3 months rent up front - but some places still insisted we used insurent as we had no US credit history - which was just money down the drain in our opinion.
We were only looking at new builds that were no fee - and found our options to be quite limited. However, on the plus side we ended up in an amazing place so it all worked out well in the end.
If you rent privately you will likely have more choice - I know people who moved over around the same time as us who had no issues at all.

pejp

When I moved I brought bank statements and employment letter. We managed to talk them down to just 2 months deposit and first month up front, but it took looking at a few places. Our answers ranged from flat out 'no', to full year up front. As people have said, just you'll just need to ask and see what they say.

This is a controversial topic, but my opinion would be to use a broker. Yes, you'll have to pay a broker fee, but it makes it a lot easier and they'll probably have experience of dealing with expats. In my 8 years and 4 apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn, I used a broker, and so did pretty much everyone else I know. You can get lucky on craigslist, but I always found it to be extremely hit and miss. If you get a good broker, it can take a lot of stress out of the whole thing. Of course, people do find places by going direct to the building management or through craigslist, so there is do definitive answer, but I always had good experiences.

AlphaTangoMike

You may want to try some of the larger property management companies. They tend to have more experience with people from abroad. Our Manhattan rental was ownedby Related. It was the best managed building that I've ever lived in. If you choose to pay your rent electronically (ACH), they halved the security deposit (half a month's rent). You may find a similar setup with the other companies. (Stonehenge is the other that comes to mind).

PeterNem

We rented from a private landlord and explained our situation. He was happy to see copies our our UK credit reports, a copy of my contract of employment and screenshots of our bank accounts from online banking showing that we had savings. On the back of that the landlord was happy for us to pay the regular 1.5 months deposit and a months rent up front.

A private landlord will definitely be more flexible and as long as you're reasonable probably have a little more empathy than a corporate person just following policy blindly.

Boswortha

Hi PeterNem,

Thanks for sharing this.
Can I ask you where you were able to find your private landlord?

Bob

The usual sites, madmapper, craigslist etc....you're looking for something that isn't managed by a corporate entity, so usually those large condo complexes.

The flip side to a private rental being flexible, depends on the local market. They might not bother if they've had 30 people apply for an apartment.