Originally Posted by
prawn86
Thanks for your advice. My co is a US one, so would payslips from them be sufficient as credit?
Ourt other office is in Woodland Hills, so i am not sure which office i will be stationed at, hence why we have been talking about it, no way i want to commute for more than an hr a day if possible
It depends on the landlord. Certainly showing income helps. Mom & pops, like myself, are normally more flexible/likely to rent to you. Corporate owned/managed can be more rigid in their rules and requirements.
I get a combined credit report that includes evictions. For some landlords, the eviction part of the report weighs heavily in their decision. Since you really won't have either, a credit history or (no) eviction (report), it may shy away some landlords from renting to you. Again, they can legally turn you down just for those reasons. Get a Social Security or TIN (tax identification number) as soon as you can when you get here.
MOST places ask for a 1 year lease and you haven't mentioned how long you will be here (if it is a year or more, don't worry about it). The reason for asking for a lease is it does cost me plenty to prep an apartment and I don't want to be doing it that often.
BTW, I ask for first month's rent and security deposit equal to the first month's rent. I don't see too many landlords that ask for first, last and security anymore. The MOST a landlord can ask for by law in California is double the amount of monthly rent for security deposit (with few exceptions such as you have pets or a waterbed, for example) for an unfurnished apartment, triple for a furnished apartment. I am open to negotiate payment of the deposit over a couple of months.
LADWP asks for a $200 deposit plus a new fee to turn on the electricty (or change the account into your name) for new customers. They refund the deposit after 1 year of service (as a credit towards your bill). My last tenant to move in was asked to pay a $100 Southern California Gas Co. deposit but I don't know what their rules are. Time Warner has most of the cable tv/internet in the region and only asks for pre-payment of 1st month's service. Installation can be had for free. They have plenty of promotions and bundling.
We have Verizon wired phone service/internet in my part of West Los Angeles (west of Beverly Glen). Although most of L.A. is AT&T, the coastal areas of the Westside are Verizon. No Verizon Fios in my area.