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I was a landlord for a few years. The best tenants I had just filed bankruptcy before moving in. They were very polite, fixed minor things on their own, paid on time and kept the place clean. Sometimes you have to go with your gut.
so true--refusing those that have a bankruptcy in their past is unfair as there are a variety of reasons that this happens such as one mandated in a divorce situation
As someone who just adopted a "foreclosure" dog, I commend you.
The List still bothers me.
So you really wouldn't rent to:
Martha Stewart (criminal record)
Francis Ford Coppola (bankruptcy)
Barack Obama (smoker)
????
Seriously?
This is why I think one needs to use good personal judgement vs. issuing absolutes and edicts. A little common sense goes a long way. So does listening to that "inner voice".
(I have to be honest though: small children, smokers and people who eat a lot of fried foods are "deal breakers" for me. Luckily I don't currently own any rentals )
You wouldn't believe the amount of filth left in a kitchen from tenants who fry food alot and fail to completely clean afterwards. Fried foods, really. However I don't know how to screen for this! Or if its a valid reason to decline a potential tenant. You don't know if they are the kind that do clean up or not.
Its not the frying of food, its the cleanliness habits.
i do not think land lords can dictate for tenants how to cook, had a tenant cry on a neighbor be cause the cooked a lot of fish and used a lot of garlic and the like both inside and on a grill outside path of action that was taken was telling the tenant to close their window so they did not have to smell it. one time with me had a neighbor call the cops then the land lord when the cops did not make me take down my deer i was cutting up because it caused her distress. the land lord told me i could let my friends hang and cut their deer on the property i rented. must have cut up 15 deer that year. my land lord told her if it bothers her then don't do it on the property that she rented.
face it some tenat complaints and ll complaints are a joke. i have delt with it on both sides.
I don't turn someone down because of a bankruptcy, in and of itself. However, if I look at the report, and the person has no medical bills, and I check the repository (free online local database of public court records), and no divorce is on record, and I can see a ton of credit card bills in the bankruptcy, that is a red flag. Or if they have more than one bankruptcy. I turned someone down a few months ago who had 2 on their report. It was obvious that they just pile up the bills for a few years, and then when things get out of hand, they file for bankruptcy and start again.
As for criminal record, I do check the Idaho repository on each tenant. If they just have some speeding tickets, I could care less. But I had one person recently who listed on their application that they had no criminal record, and upon looking at the repository, they had been in court as the defendant 12 times in 10 years (spread out about every 10 months or so, over the whole 10 years) for various things, from several DUIs to multiple domestic violence charges. Several of them had a guilty verdict listed. So we declined them not only for lying on the application, but also because we didn't want the drama that was sure to ensue.
On the flip side of that, we do have a couple of tenants who have actually served time. They were up front going into the application process, had served their time, and had obviously turned their lives around since that time. One of them has rented from us for 5 or 6 years now.
Let's see...I don't think the one about not agreeing with the terms of the lease is as obvious as a prior poster pointed out. It really does happen. I had a woman years ago who we were going to rent to. We gave her a copy of the lease to read through and made an appointment for her to come in and sign it the next day. When she came back in, she had changed about 20 things on the lease and wanted us to make those changes before she would agree to sign it. We told her to take a hike. She ended up signing the lease in its original form, rented for a short time and then broke the lease. In the short time she was there, I don't think her rent was on time once. She also called about once a week to complain about something. We learned that if someone ever does that again, we just turn them down flat.
Oh, and the last item listed, that if a tenant cannot meet with the LL personally or view the house, that is a red flag, I COMPLETELY agree with. We won't rent to someone we haven't met. Too many scams, and too many people who come across one way on the phone but are completely different in person. If I can't sit down and sign the lease with at least one member of the household, then the answer is no.
perhaps if you have a sheriffs website you can try to look them up if they had any warrants or pervious arrests for DUI or drugs...
I check that website for their previous address and outstanding warrants and check if their DL is valid...My tenants was valid when he moved in but soon after it was suspended...due to not showing up in court for outstanding tickets...
You can always do a simple google search on someone too. A simple search within quotes like "First Middle Last" or "last, first middle" works wonders most of the time on trying to find out criminal history. If the person has anything serious enough to be online for, then you probably dont want to rent to them.
"Perhaps tenants should have access to the same information about their prospective landlords?" ademas.
Tenants should check the tax records for the property and see who is paying the taxes and that they are being paid. This is all public records and easily obtainable.
Then there is the question of the the LL being a sneak and peek kind of person. Tenants should purchase some type of motion activated video device and set it up for when they are not there. There have been several LL's caught wearing female tenants clothing, masturbating, and extra caution should be used if you have a young daughter until you know for sure your LL is OK.
I think I read one post here that said bankruptcy was not an issue when renting to new tenants. The rest were just plain silly. The fact here is that people who go through bankruptcy probably did not create the situation themselves and were actually a victim of circumstance. Regardless, once their debts are discharged they have all their income to spend as they see fit. Paying rent would be no problem as they are debt free and after bankruptcy cannot run out and rack up tons of debt. Most important is that these same people are eager to prove their credit worthiness and I believe any LL would do well renting to them.
If a LL is really leery about renting to a person with recent bankruptcy then why not ask for the first month's, security deposit, and last month's rent.
If a LL is really leery about renting to a person with recent bankruptcy then why not ask for the first month's, security deposit, and last month's rent.
Isn't that the norm stateside whether a prospective tenant has a previous bankruptcy or not? Certainly is where I live and I'm in what's often referred to as a third world territory. Go figure.
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