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Hi,
I am considering moving within Indiana for family reasons. I've been looking at landlord/tenant laws but can't find an Indiana specific answer here.
Basically my question is: are there laws within Indiana that prevent a landlord from searching more than a certain # of years back in a criminal record? And do they do state only or federal searches? Basically will they find the two out of state nonviolent misdemeanors I have that are 12 years old? (They are alcohol but not drug related) And if they only search in state or only within 7 or 10 years, can I just say I have nothing?
My credit and rental history are great so I am not worried about that. The first place I rented from did ask about records but didn't care about my convictions. The others have only asked about felonies so I said no on everything. But I am in a college area where I think they are less strict about income and records. This new area is not a college area and it looks like companies have stricter requirements. The other issue is that I am a contract worker so it's hard to verify an exact income from year to year, though I have savings and live comfortably.
It's also possible that I could move in with family members and avoid this whole thing but that could cause some drama and I'd like to get a place if possible. Would love your advice. Thanks.
I can't speak for Indiana-specific laws, but I think all the applications I've seen have asked about felonies, although it wouldn't surprise me to find out some do ask about misdemeanors.
When we do our credit and background checks, it is through a company that does it for landlords, so it is just whatever shows up on their databases (which they probably get from some other company so who knows how that is compiled, how long something stays on it, etc.).
If I found something like that from that long ago, I would not be bothered by it, especially if everything else looks good.
As for income, most places will want pay stubs to verify income. If you can show checks you've been paid in the last two months or so to show steady income, that may be sufficient. If not, you may need to actually provide your tax return to show how much you made last year and/or a bank statement showing you have the cash on hand. None of that would stop us from renting to someone if they could actually show the income or cash and had good credit to back it up.
Have you actually filled out applications with these places? What makes you think they are more strict?
The good news is that if it does show up and bother someone, that's just an application fee and some time lost, not too bad.
I can't speak for Indiana-specific laws, but I think all the applications I've seen have asked about felonies, although it wouldn't surprise me to find out some do ask about misdemeanors.
Have you actually filled out applications with these places? What makes you think they are more strict?
I haven't filled any out yet because it's not a sure thing that I am moving (yet). But I did open one application and on the page was a question about all convictions, all arrests, and even all crimes you were arrested for but acquitted/not convicted for.
The service that I use to do criminal background catches some pretty obscure stuff, including records that applicants thought had been expunged.
Mostly, landlords are concerned about felonies and drug related charges. It might depend on what the exact charges were, but it couldn't have been too bad if they were misdemeanors.
Research can go back as far as landlord wants to go. Some states don't allow felonies older than a stated number of years to be used to reject.,
Most landlords don't spend the money to actually do a criminal check. I'd apply if I was you. Worst case scenario, they don't rent to you, but nobody will ever know or care.
It costs more to do checks outside of the area, and most don't spring to spend the extra money.
When I was a manager, the owner I worked for complained about me ordering criminal checks that cost more money, and told me to stop ordering them. Saved him maybe, oh, $30 per month. Crazy risk taking, but that's the reality.
There is no Indiana law about how many years in the past a landlord can search for a criminal record. What they look for will vary by landlord and the background check service they use.
I had a DUI in my twenties. I worried about it for years whenever I applied for either a job or apartment. No one ever held it against me in either instance, but I did sweat it.
In my instance, it was good because the consequences scared me enough that I never again got behind the wheel of a car if I had anything besides coffee, tea or water in my system. That was 40 years ago so guess I learned my lesson.
What did matter was credit history & rental history for apartments, past employment history for jobs, all of which was good. I also think my honesty was helpful. I never tried to hide my background & I think the fact that no one had to really search it helped me.
My check would find a parking ticket from 12 years ago. I would not count it, nor count it against you for not disclosing.
I would be MUCH more concerned with credit score and income.
OK, thanks. What they actually are is an MIP and a lesser version of a DUI (terminology varies by state I think). I also have a fender bender and a speeding ticket, unrelated, from a few years later. All outside of Indiana. What do you think?
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