Criminal, what to do - Landlord Forum thread

Criminal, what to do by Anonymous on July 19, 2012 @11:04

Should I allow someone with a felony conviction from a long time ago? Or no felonies ever? Or does the type of neighborhood and tenant pool dictate that?

Also, is no more than 2 misdemeanor convictions in the last 5 years a good set of criteria for misdemeanors? Thanks.

[ Reply ] [ Return to forum ]

Re: Criminal, what to do by Micah on July 19, 2012 @11:13	[ Reply ]

What do your other tenants and neighbors want next door, a felon or a law abiding citizen? Allowing felons and ex-cons lowers your rental and property values in the long run. The whole purpose of running these criminal checks is to exclude them!

Re: Criminal, what to do

Re: DWI

Re: Criminal, what to do

Re: Criminal, what to do by Jake on July 19, 2012 @11:24	[ Reply ]

Make it a practice to deny all who have even one misdemeanor. What makes it into the criminal record is only the tip of the iceberg. There is also junvenile record that is not posted and many charges are dropped when the arrested informs on others. If you rent to these people their psycopathic, criminal behavior will spill over into your life. You are not running a halfway house.

Re: Criminal, what to do by OK-LL on July 19, 2012 @11:51	[ Reply ]

Just keep in mind that people don't change. This person is of the same moral and legal character that got popped on the felony years ago.

Re: Criminal, what to do by Nicole (PA) on July 19, 2012 @12:06	[ Reply ]

WOW, you guys are tough. Again, I think it depends on your type units. If I excluded everyone w/something in their past, I wouldn't have many to choose from. It totally depends on the situation. Why in the world wouldn't you rent to someone who was stupid at 21 years of age and now at 31 has a responsible job, is married and has children? In my area, a misdemeanor can be something as silly as two neighbors arguing over a tree limb and if someone calls the police, they're both getting fined. I had a guy years ago that was arrested for stealing a car - it was a fight between him and one of his sisters but was technically a crime. I look for drug sales, RECENT drug possession, ANY type sexual violations. I also look up their payment history and if they're not paying their fines regularly, I won't rent to them because to me that says they're not serious about moving beyond their past.

Re: Criminal, what to do

Re: Criminal, what to do by Anonymous on July 19, 2012 @22:16	[ Reply ]

Do not rent to a known criminal, no matter how long ago it was....They are not a protected class and you have no obligation to accept them as renters. Why take the chance?

Re: Criminal, what to do by Stephen (WA) on July 20, 2012 @12:56	[ Reply ]

I exclude persons with a record "involving violence against persons or theft of or damage to property indicate that the applicant most likely poses a danger to other tenants and/or to the property." With these criteria and the general review of whatever pops up on the criminal report we have (1) rented to a ex-felon who was turning his life around (we got good references from his former parole officer) and (2) turned down a young man who had multiple driving w/o license citations in a short recent period. The ex-felon was a great tenant. Stayed w/us for a couple years. We turned down the young man w/the license issues because we believed he showed an attitude of "the rules don't apply to me." Definitely not my idea of a good tenant. I agree that felons are not a protected class and that many take an attitude that the rules don't apply, but if we are going to re-integrate ex-felons back into society we can't hold their errors of long ago over their heads forever. Now their recent errors do count. The ex-felon we rented to approached us and was up front about his record. That counts something to us because he wasn't trying to hide it. We then did a little more screening than usual to try to get an accurate picture of who he was now.

Re: Criminal, what to do by Anonymous on July 21, 2012 @02:53	[ Reply ]

I think you have to look at the person and circumstances. Recent drug arrests, no. Minimal DUI, no priors, OK. One of my best tenants, who later worked for me for awhile got hit with a felony DUI for blowing .09 with his kid in the car. He wasn't a criminal any more than I am. Just screwed up once. His wife couldn't get to school to get the kid and he'd had two beers after work and didn't think he was impaired. This was a special case. I would say 2 misdemeanors in 5 years is one too many. One arrest 20 years ago is a different story, unless it was for something really bad like rape or assault or armed robbery.