Tenant Reservation fee

[Chue Quan]

Hi all,

If a tenant pays a reservation fee in preparation of moving forward and getting ready to sign the lease and move in, then he backs out. Who keeps this reservation fee? The Property manager or the landlord? I would think it should go to the landlord to compensate him for time wasted since the listing was taken down since the tenant said he wanted to move in. Please advise, property manager is saying that fee goes towards marketing fees and they will keep it.