I have an eviction on my record. Once paid, can I rent? (renter, deposits)

[Kim in FL]

Great tenants pay their rent on time and in full every month. It doesn't matter what's going on in your life...you always pay your rent in full.

[LifeIsGood01]

Originally Posted by Kim in FL

Great tenants pay their rent on time and in full every month. It doesn't matter what's going on in your life...you always pay your rent in full.

I agree, rent should be your first priority, having a roof over your head comes first.

[mathjak107]

it is just business as they say . my tenants problems shouldn't become my problems .

it is bad enough eventually job loss-divorce or illness gets all of us . but it is how we prepare for it and deal with it that separates us with different out comes . it rarely i the even itself that does someone in and pushes them in to financial suicide .

rather it usually is the case of a history of poor choices and bad decisions all along the way .

[Everdeen]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

it is just business as they say . my tenants problems shouldn't become my problems .

it is bad enough eventually job loss-divorce or illness gets all of us . but it is how we prepare for it and deal with it that separates us with different out comes . it rarely i the even itself that does someone in and pushes them in to financial suicide .

rather it usually is the case of a history of poor choices and bad decisions all along the way .

Even poor life choices don't have to equal unpaid rent.

I dropped out of high school. I had a child shortly thereafter. I had no skills and a major recession was in full swing. I worked up to three part-time, minimum wage jobs, depending on how many hours my primary employer was giving me. I babysat. I cleaned people's homes. Whatever it took. There is assistance for food if you are out of a job or low income.

Rent was always paid first. I had no car, but always figured out a way to work in a town with a semi okay bus system.

When people see that you have made poor life choices but are doing your darnedest to turn your life around, they actually do want to help.

I value that experience.

[Briland]

Originally Posted by randomlikeme

Evictions are tricky. I used to work in property management and a lot of time an eviction can show up as long as eviction paperwork has been filed. A lot of things are different from state to state, but I've seen this a few times. Is there a way to contact your old management company's landlord tenant department to see if they will agree to get the lawyers to change it? Or if there's no landlord tenant department, contact the regional property manager who manages the onsite management teams of a bunch of properties.... Sometimes, they are more responsive.

So it is possible to get the landlord to change the eviction. In my case our family was hit hard with several situations and I could not pay rent for several months. I asked before the court date if I paid if things would be okay, I was told yes. I paid and did not bother to go to court because I was under the assumption that paying made it go away. The grounds manager said it just stopped actual eviction. Meaning that when the sheriff came they would not be allowed to serve the eviction. Now I have an eviction on my record and I am trying to take my family to a better place and feel this will harm us.

[yspobo]

It's not always failure to pay rent that gets you evicted. When I lived in subsidized housing I knew of women who were evicted because an abusive ex busted windows or busted down a door going after her. The women had done everything right, but they couldn't prevent the men from continuing the abuse. The men might've gone to jail few days tops for violation of restraining order, but usually the courts just tell them not to do it again and let them right back out. The perps get a slap on the wrist. The women, who were the victims, get to have their victimization follow them around for the rest of their lives.

[4heartsN1]

Can anyone verify? When you know your getting evicted should you leave immediately or wait til you get the notice to tell you how long? Please help because I'm confused?

[jogueva2010]

I can fully understand landlord's concern, but just like many other larger companies, you get all the breaks. You can check every single thing on us, and since apartments and such are generally corporately owned, you can't even make any exceptions. In AZ, you can be a very responsible employee of a company and still be fired without cause. That's how protective our laws are here for our citizens. The only reason I don't leave here is because all of my family and my fiancé's family live here. Now, I had an eviction 1.5 years ago, and of course, I will probably be denied pretty much anywhere I can afford for at least the next year and a half, but my family does not want me to live with them, regardless of how much rent I do or don't pay, because that is just how they are. So... I am facing being forced to move out of my aunt's house by the beginning of next month...

My fiancé and I lived in an apartment complex for well over a year before we were evicted from it. The economy at that time was horrid here, and he was out of work and applying for jobs while taking some college courses on a PELL Grant. I was a court recorder for the disability courts in Phoenix. It was a skilled job, but very part-time. I averaged $400/month income, and my fiancé got about $2000 FOR THE YEAR with the school. We made an income of only $7,000 for the year. During that year, an office manager decided she didn't like me, and kept sending emails to the staffing agency, which was based in Tucson, and had no on-site supervisors or even other employees. She told them all sorts of fibs, and was able to get me 'let go'. When the staffing agency director called me, she said, "I can neither confirm nor deny any of the alleged occurrences, but I have to stay loyal to my contract". Well, thanks to the fact that this state allows a person to be fired without cause, and the fact that the court pays her salary, there went my income. Remember that $400/month I was making all the bills and keeping food in the fridge on... well, believe it or not, despite the economic disadvantage of being way below poverty level, I actually had enough savings to hold onto the apartment for 3 more months! I could have held out another month. Amazon was about to start hiring, and I would have worked there. Before the eviction month, I had paid every single month on time, never, ever late. I was only 23 when we moved in, and I had already taken care of myself at other apartments, and had never, ever been late. They would not give me any breaks. They stated that I had to pay every single fee. They wouldn't wave ANYTHING, not $1. I know rent is to be paid on time, but when you have no ounce of humanity left, of course people will not be able to pay everything they owe. I had enough to pay all but a couple of the fees, but they said, even if I paid the initial amount, plus most of the fees, late fees would accumulate on the late fees I couldn't pay. I was barely going to scrape through, and I 100% could have, if they would take the payment and stop accumulating fees, but no. No mercy. No reward for being a good quiet tenant who was always on time.

This is why I won't be able to move anywhere now. I can't afford a house and all the utilities of a house, and all the apartments that aren't full of criminals and/or roaches in this city will see the eviction and deny me. Roommates are not usually a very good option. I know how that goes. The place I want to move is $633/month. The place we lived before was $323/month, but... our monthly income (while making rent on time, EVERY month) was $400 then, it is $1400 now. We aren't like other people, who need $2000/month just to make $800 rent. Our cars are paid off, and fuel efficient. We coupon for things we need around the house and food. These apartments are furnished, and any furniture I have was free or nearly free anyway. We were often paying 95% of our money to rent, and still not going hungry, and having everything we needed. The economy is much improved now. My fiancé is with a decent company. In fact, the store he is at is transferring him to another store because that store manager was begging for him to come to that one and work with him. He is also in training to move up to a higher position. I have a part-time job that isn't going anywhere anytime soon now as well. Our income is probably more steady and reliable (even if not as great) than most people with a college degree, dare I say it, but because a couple of corporations decided to kick us while we were down, we are screwed.

So, to all of you who say, "I would never rent to someone with an eviction." Remember that renters are people too. Yeah, there is a risk for you, and you should not just approve everyone, but sometimes renters are responsible people who were just in the wrong economy at the wrong time, and they haven't had enough time to recover from the record that was forced on their name. We are going to apply for the place we want to live anyway, because we have to live somewhere, but if the court filed it's paperwork properly, we will be denied. Here is the type of tenants that we are: we pay every month on time, except for that one time in our lives where a job was lost with no way we could have avoided it during the worst of the economy. We don't touch cigarettes, alcohol, weed, or any other substance that could be abused. We don't yell or destroy things like a lot of people in cheaper apartments. We don't party. My family doesn't party, and his family doesn't act stupid when they throw a party, and they wouldn't have a party there, since his brother's nice big house with a huge, pretty backyard is a block away. Not only would there be no parties at all there, there would be almost no one going in and out to visit due to location of complex and size of apartment. So, a corporation is about to deny perfectly great tenants based on the merciless of their policy and of the policies of other companies. This is one of the things wrong with America today. You landlords and corporations get so mad when people are dishonest with you, and yes, sometimes they are hiding something bad, but sometimes you leave them feeling like they have no choice.

[reenzz]

If you can't pay rent....move out. The fact that you couldn't pay and refused to leave voluntarily is the reason I would deny a tenant with an eviction. You forced a landlord to take you to court instead of just doing the right thing and vacating. Landlords are running a business...not a charity. My mortgage company does not have "mercy" on me if I am late with my mortgage payment...nor do they waive the late fee. My county will foreclose on my home if I don't pay the taxes or the late fees....no "mercy" there either.

[jogueva2010]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

it is just business as they say . my tenants problems shouldn't become my problems .

it is bad enough eventually job loss-divorce or illness gets all of us . but it is how we prepare for it and deal with it that separates us with different out comes . it rarely i the even itself that does someone in and pushes them in to financial suicide .

rather it usually is the case of a history of poor choices and bad decisions all along the way .

But what if the person was young when economic problems hit, and they had not had enough time to save up or plan ahead because they were just figuring out how to survive as an adult?

For example, I turned 18 in mid-2008, right when everything was at its worst. My parents didn't allow me to get a job so I could save, because they wanted all my focus to be on school. They wanted me in a private school so I wouldn't be around 'poor influences'. There were no scholarships at a school the size mine was, so I couldn't get housing by obtaining a scholarship and just up and studying and getting a career started. When I turned 18, I was kicked out of my parents' house. We're talking about an 18 y/o girl who has never been allowed to even have a real job at this point. My parents didn't give me $1 when they kicked me out. I had to find a way to make it, and I have done pretty damn well, I think! I have never lived on the streets. I have kept a running vehicle for all but a few months of the last 7 years, and I am now engaged, employed, and have over a year of college studies completed. I pay everything I need to, and I have held skilled positions, such as that of a court recorder. I have 0 criminal records, 0 traffic tickets, I don't cheat the system, I don't steal, I don't party, I don't waste my money smoking or drinking, and I have survived this economic hell mostly by myself. The reason I am about to be denied is because I have one eviction from a year and a half ago that wasn't really my fault. I was let go from my job (court recorder, disability court) through no fault of my own. The director stated, "I can neither confirm nor deny the alleged occurrences, but I have to stay loyal to my contract." An office manager at the court I worked at decided she was jealous of me and kept sending emails to the staffing agency director, stating that I was late and not following policies. It was all falsified, but there is no protection in AZ against this. Sure, I could claim discrimination, but how would I have proven it? In AZ, you can't record stuff, especially in that type of position. What was I going to do...bring a camera into a disability courtroom to record everything that occurred off the record...? That's grounds for imprisonment! I had been paying 85-95% of my paychecks to rent, because that position was very part-time through a staffing agency. What was I supposed to save for when that bullcrap happened? The apartment complex that evicted me was accumulating fees on top of fees, and even though I had enough to pay off the initial rent amount, plus the majority of the fees, they would not stop accumulating fees on the few fees I couldn't pay off, and they wouldn't wave a single thing or just let me pay it the next month and stop accumulating, so despite losing a low-paying job that was already barely enough, I was given no leeway whatsoever after being a good, reliable, quiet tenant. That is the ONLY reason I am in a mess. Income is over 3X what it was then, and I won't be able to get a clean place I can afford now for another year and a half. I am at my aunt's house now, and I must move out by the beginning of next month. So what about these types of situations? I don't mean to sound like I'm asking for a pity party (I'm not), but I just want people to understand that there are some situations in which people did not just fail to plan ahead or save up, and people should not be so quick to judge.