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Good case for faking your older landlord. By making this difficult I can see people asking a friend to pretend. But in your case with just a few months of air bnb I can see needing to reach back to when you had a yearly lease. I would think credit reports would be the most revealing.
I don't want to fake anything. I just want to be honest. It's really a shame that this system relies on former landlords who can be unresponsive.
From what I was told, they need my former LL to complete a form that has the dates I lived there and asks a few questions like if I paid rent on time.
The former LL spoke to the new LL on the phone and said that I paid rent on time, so I'm not sure why the new LL needs anything else. The form seems a bit intrusive and I've never heard of that happening before.
A few months at an AirBnB can be used as a rental reference. Not a great one, but better than nothing. The AirBnB landlord can tell about your payment habits and if you have been there for a couple of months, the landlord (or are they called an Inn Keeper?) will know how well you are taking care of your room.
I've got an application in on an apartment and I've never dealt with this level of thoroughness before. I've lived in about 8 different apartments over the years and usually I just send over a copy of my ID, one or two recent pay stubs and then they call me in a day or two and say it's approved.
The landlord is requesting an employment verification from both my current employer AND from my previous employer 4 years ago (no idea why they even need this since I don't work there anymore). They are also requesting rental history forms to be completed by my previous landlord and the one before that. Apparently they check rental history for the last 5 years.
I've never had a landlord contact my previous landlord before. Usually they just do a background check that would include any court processed evictions.
My only guess is that with COVID and landlords not being able to evict for so long, they are doing an extra careful job of screening out people. I guess the bright side is that this level of thoroughness means there won't be any riff raff in these apartments.
I don't want to fake anything. I just want to be honest. It's really a shame that this system relies on former landlords who can be unresponsive.
From what I was told, they need my former LL to complete a form that has the dates I lived there and asks a few questions like if I paid rent on time.
The former LL spoke to the new LL on the phone and said that I paid rent on time, so I'm not sure why the new LL needs anything else. The form seems a bit intrusive and I've never heard of that happening before.
If you feel that they’re being too intrusive, and I don’t think they are, then don’t submit an application.
All good landlords and management companies in my old area in Florida asked for the same type of things.. it’s the easy way to weed the applicant pool.
Never once had or known anyone who had a prospective landlord want to verify a previous employer or wanted previous landlords to fill out any sort of form.
I'd just provide the contact information of your previous employer and previous landlords and tell them that they're free to check the references as they see fit. No reason you should be doing the work for them.
For the record, I wasn’t really trying to suggest you fake your history. Was just pointing out that unusual demands might not get the potential landlord the security he’s hoping for.
For the record, I wasn’t really trying to suggest you fake your history. Was just pointing out that unusual demands might not get the potential landlord the security he’s hoping for.
Ah gotcha, I see. It does bring up the question about what to do if you have a really bad landlord. If you've been renting for 5yr at the same place and have always paid rent on time, but your landlord refuses to answer any requests for reference, what do you do? It's not like a job where you can have coworkers or other colleagues give you a reference.
I guess this is why many landlords don't even bother to check with the previous landlord. Like I said previously, I don't believe I've ever had someone require my previously landlord to complete a form. Maybe there was a phone call I didn't know about, but I doubt there was a form.
Anyways, I guess we can blame the eviction moratorium for this. Landlords are of course going to be more strict if they legally have to provide free housing to people for a year.
two of my exll would be real hard one died 11 years ago the other 6 years ago. been at current adress for 12 years. but i like the fact my LL are picky only 4 apartments and a business in bulding but almost 2 years ago for 5 months i was only one renting cause they are picky but the building is peaceful no bs. all my past LL are passed away. so they would be kinda hard. currrent one love me,
So apparently my former landlord isn't responding at all to their requests. Not surprising considering my former LL was a mom & pop operation with very limited English skills.
I'm curious to see how they will handle my application if the landlord doesn't respond.
That seems pretty bizarre and quite frankly, overkill, to require previous landlords as a reference. OP, just have a friend or a relative fill the form out and say they were your landlord, it is what I would have done had I been in your position. Maybe it can be traced back or maybe it can't.
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