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If you sued the person in housing court then anyone who wants to know can go and look up the person's name.
True, but..I know of one person whose name was on the blacklist that didn't deserve it, due to housing court. A housing court case was initiated, not by him, but by his former landlord against someone buying the house. He only found out about it while applying for another apt, two years later.
His situation was very specific, as the landlord had issued him a cellphone and micro-apartment residency there, in payment for services as a domestic helper. His name continued to be associated with the cellphone account and address. That stuff is sticky. Perhaps it's also that way with gas-electric utility bills? I don't know. Point is: it looked like the tenant, not landlord, had filed suit.. and the tenant's reputation was punished when housing court automatically listed his name on that blacklist.
He had to work hard to get his name off the Blacklist. They wouldn't take his word, of course, so he contacted the prior landlord to write some kind of explanatory letter. It all took time to correct. Meanwhile, he lost one apartment he'd applied for, only because he was on The List. He readily got another after his name was cleared, because he was a good tenant.
Maybe for NYC renters it's worth checking you're NOT on it, although it'd sure be irritating to spend time on a phone like that. For landlords, maybe don't rule someone out ONLY because of this Blacklist, as errors occur.
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 11-22-2015 at 10:41 AM..
Reason: added para 2, trying to be a fair and accurate reporter
For the record there are scores of online companies that have searchable archives of public records. Whitepages, and all those "we know everything about anyone.com) simply put in central databases what previously required hours of in person searching at court houses or whatever.
In past LL wanting to know about a prospective tenant would have to go down to housing court in each borough person lived and look up records. Now that all can be done by a mouse click or whatever in seconds.
For the record by USC and all state constitutions court records must be made available to the public. This unless there is a *VERY* good reason why not, then they are sealed. Adoption records in whole or part are sealed. Divorce records can be wholly or partially sealed as well.
Each property management company probably has their own internal blacklist. I'm not sure they would rely on a centralized one because that would be more chance that they could get dinged for discrimination of some kind.
If you're getting declined for apartments not based on financials I would highly suggest speaking with a Housing attorney.
Each property management company probably has their own internal blacklist. I'm not sure they would rely on a centralized one because that would be more chance that they could get dinged for discrimination of some kind.
If you're getting declined for apartments not based on financials I would highly suggest speaking with a Housing attorney.
No, not really. There aren't any laws which state one *must* rent an apartment to persons who have criminal backgrounds, poor credit, past history of legal actions. Nor are such persons part of any federal, state or local protected class. Landlords just like those extending mortgages have every right to examine deeply applicants credit worthiness and history along with previous landlord relationships.
Only way discrimination *could* come into play is if someone brought a federal lawsuit claiming disparate impact to a protected class (blacks, minorities, women, etc...) as they were harmed by the screening process.
Even the city's vast and bewildering rules regarding those low income/affordable housing lotteries do not out right prohibit those with legal issues from being denied a unit, just it cannot be sole reason. https://ny.curbed.com/2018/6/19/1747...new-guidelines
Bottom line is while there *may* be a decent number of tenants in housing court due to landlord abuses or other issues which cause them to withhold rent or whatever; most times it comes down simply not paying rent because they don't have the money.
In a city where a good number of households are rent burdened, it doesn't take much for problems to start. Something small as a roommate moving out, loss of job or extra hours, etc..
Each property management company probably has their own internal blacklist. I'm not sure they would rely on a centralized one because that would be more chance that they could get dinged for discrimination of some kind.
If you're getting declined for apartments not based on financials I would highly suggest speaking with a Housing attorney.
Am sure larger apartment management companies and or landlords have internal blacklists; such things actually are more prone to legal challenges.
Using publically available information such as court records is unbiased. Things simply are what they are as records indicate. Relying upon any sort of internal database can open up a case of "he said, she said".
Am not saying such things don't exist; car rental companies for instance have internal "do not rent" lists. But information contained had better be non-biased and an objective record of facts.
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What is the link to the blacklist for NYC
