Home Locators

Rental listing services generally charge their clients an advance fee for using their services. They offer listings of available residential rental properties, but frequently misrepresent their affiliation with landlords or their own ownership of the properties.

Complaints against rental listing services allege that the properties advertised do not exist or that the listings are not current and the properties were already rented, were never for rent or authorized by the owner to be listed, or do not meet the criteria of the person seeking the rental. Other allegations are that the properties listed were taken from ads in other sources, such as newspapers or Internet websites. Refunds, even if provided for in the contract, are extremely difficult to obtain.

California law requires companies offering rental listings to enter into a contract with you before accepting their fee from you, and the contract is subject to certain requirements. First, it must expire no longer than 90 days from the time you execute it. It must include, besides specifically what you are seeking in a property, a provision for refunding anything you paid over $50 to you if you obtain a rental elsewhere and a provision for refund if they do not provide you at least three available rentals meeting your specifications within five days after you paid your fee. It must also outline the small claims court remedy that is available to you.