Landlord wants banking account number??

Question

5 of us share a house. We just added the 5th person on our lease.

Our land-lady is asking for this persons checking account numbers.

is this legal?

She said her reason was so she "knows how much is in the account" so she knows that he"can make the rent payments"... but if i'm not mistaken, the point of a lease is so that no matter what, the rent gets paid. So even if this 5th person loses his job, its our responsibility to make sure we still get the rent paid for, on time.

He told her he was uncomfortable giving away that information and she said she would "take legal action" against him if he didnt.

Note that NO ONE ELSE on the lease has EVER given our land lady our banking account numbers.

What should our response be? Do landlords have a legal right to know your bank account information?

Answer 1

The landlord does have the right to have the bank numbers...a lot of leases require them so that if you leave and cause damage they can be reimbursed (that is if there is no deposit to begin with)...but they do not have the right to just check in on how much money is in your account when they want to.

Answer 2

This is ridiculous ,the landlord should run a credit check and do a check on emplyment and income.There is no reason to give out bank info and do not do it.The landlord has no right to know how much money is in a bank account .

Answer 3

Huh, I'm not sure. They certainly can't force him to give out that info, but if he refuses their only recourse would be to ask him to leave - she can't sue him for refusing to give out personal info. The rental application I use does ask for this info, and its the standard rental application used by realtors in my area so its not like its unusual to ask for this info. Still, the applicant rarely fills it in and I never cared (but I make danged sure some other parts of the application are filled in completely and correctly or no rental).

So, best guess here, but I am sure he does not have to provide this info. Still the landlord can probably turn him down if he does not provide it, but likely has no other recourse. The landlord should be able to amply verify their income and credit without it, and most landlords would consider that enough to rent to someone, but if this one is demanding the info I think your friend has the choice of providing it or not, but if they continue to refuse to give it they may have to vacate the property if the landlord so desires.

Answer 4

You are correct that the "jointly and severally" clause makes each tenant ultimately responsible for the entire payment, but a landlord wants to know the financial health of each signatory.

Both sides seem to be taking wierd stands in this. Checking account numbers are not secret, they are printed on every check. Every time you write one, you reveal your account number.

No bank will reveal the balance but they will say whether there is enough in there to cover a certain amount check. The way I do it is when I have a new tenant I accept their check and drive it to their bank to cash it immediately and ask "by the way, if I bring a check for the same amount tomorrow will it clear?" That tells me all I need to know about their balance.

If you'll notice, many rental applications contain credit card and bank account questions. If yours does and you refused to fill in those blanks I'd deny you tenancy, as well.

Shrieking "Gimme the account number or I'll take legal action!!!" could easily be replaced by "Excuse me, miss, you forgot to fill in this blank. I can't process your appilcation without a completed form."

Answer 5

Once the lease is signed, unless there is a requirement in the lease that she be told the bank account number, she's out of luck.

She certainly has no recourse for legal action unless the lease says that he must tell her that information, but can wait until after the lease has been signed, and then he doesn't sign it.

No, there are no states where landlords are implicitly given the right to know bank account numbers, social security numbers, etc.  You can imagine them refusing to lease to you without that information, but once the lease is signed, there aren't any laws that give them this right just because they are the landlord.

Note:  It is quite common for landlords to ask for a social security number to do a credit/background check - but again, that is BEFORE the lease is signed.

However, as I said:  The lease is the controlling document.  If the lease doesn't explicitly state that the landlord shall have this information, there are no states that give her this right.

Answer 6

YES - It is legal for us to ask for that and she CANNOT find out how much $$ is in the account. It is illegal for the bank to give out any information - they can only verify what information is given.

The point of getting this is to show stability and good credit, because not every one can get a checking account and you cannot get one if you have bad credit.

Answer 7

No they do not there is no legal action she can take as that is privileged information and does not have to be given out to anybody as in private information. Even if she has the number she is not authorized to check the amount in of deposited unless given expressed permission by the account holder. So even with the numbers she cannot check his/her account bank will not divulge that information. Sorry for her nothing she can do about it.  

Answer 8

Whoa, nobody is legally allowed to check your bank account but you. Even if she had your account and routing number, she could not check the balance of anyone's account without committing fraud.

I can't believe she would even ask that, that's incredible. Contact either your housing commission if you have one, or an attorney. Or just tell her to F.O.

Either way, DO NOT give her anything. Besides, if you've paid rent with a personal check, she'd have that info anyways. Somethings not right about that.  

Answer 9

Your checking account number is on each and every check you write. It is not some top secret information. If you write checks, you willingly hand over your checking account number to each and every clerk or cashier that handles your check.

If any of you have paid by check, you've given her your checking account number.

It is not illegal for the landlord to ask for it. The landlord cannot set up a direct debit with just the checking account number.

The landlord cannot get very much info on your account with the checking account number. She may be able to verify that the account exists, but not much more.

I don't ask for checking account numbers, I just make copies of tenant's checks and keep them on file.  

Answer 10

Don't give the account number to the landlord.

CALL THE COPS and ask them if its legal or not!!!!

Answer 11

Nope - not legal.  She can get a credit report (I believe), but should NEVER have the bank account number.  

Answer 12

no. don't give it.

she can spend her own money and do a credit check

Answer 13

Is it legal to ask? Yes.

Is the reason given valid? NO.

The ONLY reason the landlord would need a checking account number is if you were authorizing them to directly debit the rent from the account.

The landlord SHOULD request tenants to sign a form authorizing a CREDIT check.

I don't know if they can refuse to allow the person to be added to the lease if they don't provide the information, but I doubt they can require anything of the new person that is not required of everyone on the lease.

Answer 14

I would never give away that kind of info. If she wants to see if he has adequate funds to pay rent, just have him show her a copy of monthly statment with account number blacked out.