The Rental Process in DR

businessdr

Member
Oct 8, 2011
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Wife's sister just got an apartment. She will sign the contract tomorrow. The landlord told her she has to pay the move in amount upon signing, and then the landlord will take the contract to be notarized. Should she wait until the contract is notarized to pay the move in?

Please shed some light on this.
 

ctrob

Silver
Nov 9, 2006
5,591
781
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What is being notarized? Just the landlords signature?

I would make plans to meet at the notary office and do everything at once. Or meet at your own attorneys office and have them witness it. And pay then.
 

cjp2010

New member
Mar 25, 2013
397
0
0
ctrob has good suggestions.

Notaries here are somewhat of a joke. Someone takes the document to the notary and the notary puts their stamp on it for all the signatures with no verification.

That aside, I have never given money for anything before I got the notarized copy and double-checked it to make sure it was still the same document with no changes. That includes my rental contracts which we renew every year because the landlord insists on putting the stupid 10% increase in there and every year I insist on not paying it so we have to start a whole new contract.

Bottom line, I wouldn't pay anything until I had the notarized copy. Not saying the landlord is being dishonest, but I tend not to trust anyone (not just here but anywhere) and this is too easy to get done the right way where your sister-in-law won't be in jeopardy of losing the money.
 

zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
8,367
842
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pay nothing up front EVER. In one particular circumstance its usual to pay first but everything else, no.