Can you rent an apartment if you don't have a job but have lots of money saved up in an account or are going to school?

You can often pay in advance for a specific length of time, but your rental will not extend past that unless you pay in advance.

Most people will run a credit check. If your credit score is ok, they will rent to you. In my experience, it does not show them your current employer.

Sure, though it depends on the exact apartment manager. Ask around and explain your situation to them.

That’s what my situation is and I have been renting an apartment for almost 3 years now.

I’ve lived in three apartments and never had a credit check run on me. But I have always had actual landlords, not rental companies, which probably would do a credit check and crap like that. Landlords are nice and if you get a good one they’ll be more understanding, but it’s not a big deal in the first place.

So, yes, definitely.

Are you under the impression the answer to this question is a written law? Each landlord may set his own guidelines as to what is required to rent one of his properties. You will just have to find out property by property. I will say there is usually a customary rule of thumb in a given market as to the ratio of income to rent. I have known it to be rent can be no more than 25% of gross, 25% of net, 20% of gross, and 20% of net. But a property owner can rent to whomever he chooses.

My suggestion to you is to have a copy of a financial statement to provide to prospective landlords if your income is low but you have liquid assets.

Also, a poor credit rating will be a negative for most landlords.

Good luck.

If your credit score is bad or non-existent, or you have other circumstances, you can usually offer them first and last months rent, or 2–3x the deposit amount, and work something out.

there is lots of housing for students. in most college towns.

You should be able to find something.

If you are on the pension, or something similar, you can. But you naturally need money in order to rent an apartment.

@bomyne – I have money saved as stated in the question, just not a job right now.

Then as far I know, as long as you can prove you can pay for it, estate agents and apartment rental places should be able to accomidate you :)

You’re better off with a private landlord (in other words, someone who may have an apartment in a house or smaller building) rather than a large building or complex that will probably utilize the services of a managing agent. A managing agent is probably going to do things “by the book” meaning credit check, etc. They have a lot of experiences with deadbeats who might make a nice impression, and then try to screw them by not paying the last months’ rent and leaving a mess, stuff like that. If you get a smaller landlord, like someone who has a unit in their private house or someone who owns a small building and does the renting himself, he may be more sympathetic and casual about the arrangement.

I would say regardless of whether it’s a rental agent or a smaller landlord, the amount of money you have will influence whether or not they’ll rent to you. If you go to a rental agent who may run a credit check and you have, say, $10,000 in the bank, sure, you’re a good bet. However, if you have only say, $1,000 in the bank, they might not go for it. It all depends on the circumstances (i.e. who the landlord is) and how much money we’re talking. You did not specify how much money we’re talking.

I agree with @Aethelflaed and others who have said that it depends on the landlord. Some don’t have any leeway to make common sense decisions because they work for a corporation – others own the building themselves and can make a judgement call.

Nice apartments in a nice neighborhood, generally require a credit check. They want to make sure you are here today and not gone tomorrow, leaving behind an unpaid rental bill.

Lower grade apartments may not require a credit check, since they probably are use to people skipping out on their rent.

This information comes from years of experience with skippers, landlords, and police experience and police reports.

Its a toss of the coin.

You, as a renter, might be better off if you go with a building that utilizes the services of a rental agency. If you go with a private landlord, and he wants to “screw you” by keeping your security, he might and he will justify it. If you use a rental agency, they are more likely to have rules in place and be less likely to want to screw you over, since they won’t personally benefit from keeping your money.

May depend on local law. Here in NYC, eviction is difficult so landlords are pretty careful with credit checks.

It seems in Philadelphia, eviction is fairly easy, so they don’t care that much. They just kick you out if you don’t pay.