Help! Bad Tenants With Good References Want My Apt!!!
I am in a tough situation and am hoping to get some advice....We have a couple interested in renting one of our apartments who seem like they would be good tenants. Their references check out (employers and current and previous landlords). However, we have heard through one of our other tenants (it's a very small town) that this couple deals drugs and have bad domestic violence disputes. Also, our maintenance man (who showed them the apt) is related to them. He is excited about having his neice live across the street. We have no other interest in the apt at this time and if we tell the tenant that someone else was better qualified, etc., they'll find out since the maintenance man will tell them we didn't rent it. Also, since it's such a small town, I don't doubt that they will find out we heard about the drug use, violence, etc. I don't think the tenant who gave us this info was lying. She has small children and doesn't want drug use in the building... I don't want to be accused of discrimination, but I don't want a bum tenant, either...I should also say I'm not 100% convinced the previous landlord I spoke to was actually the landlord, it could have been a friend. The current landlord would say anything to get rid of them if they are bad. This is a mess.....Any suggestions??
Maybe a criminal background check will bear fruit, if that is legal in your area.
You did not say if you did a credit check. Not a direct indicator of the drug use but a valid reason for accepting or declining someone.
Definitely do not discriminate.
Can you speak with the maintenance man to see if he knows anything about the family problems? Tough, yes. It might also help deal with things if he knows before move in if that is the way you go.
As to the other tenant, you risk losing her if there is a drug issue when the couple move in.
Check with the police reports. See if there have been call outs to the prior address. You can not make a decision based on that but you can then ask about why the call outs happened.
Bottom line is if you have no hard evidence and they meet your published criteria (you do have published criteria don't you) you have to take them. Yes, HAVE TO.
You might be able to say the references do not check out. The reference being the other tenant. Not sure if this is legal so check with someone who know the laws in your area.
John
[addsig]
I don't want to get too legal (since I'm not a lawyer, but am in HR), but if this couple is white, not physically or mentally challenged, and isn't over 45, then they are not in a protected class. As long as you did not enquire about their citizenship, religion, ethnic background, marrital status, or sexual preferences, you're okay.
As for what to tell them, speak with your lawyer to clarify what possible explanation you could give for not accepting them. Double check to make sure that your lawyer is not one of their relatives.
If nothing else comes to mind, tell them that you've implemented a new policy whereby you require 6 months security deposit from all new tenants, plus they'll have to pay all the utilities and their share of the property taxes, mowe the lawn and shovel the snow. If it looks like they're going to agree to that, tell them that you also need a $1,000 deposit for the fridge and an equal deposit for the oven. Finally, tell them that you intend to do monthly insecticide spraying and will need for them to vacate the property for three days each month. Anotherwords, make your demands completely unreasonable but perfectly legal. After they have refused, you can of course change these requirements and make a very valid argument that you couldn't seem to find any interested tentants who would be willing to rent under these terms.
Good luck.
Run a criminal report and a credit check. You could also find out if the cops were called out to the residence (I think). You can always find something.
Ask the tenants for cancelled checks written to the landlord. Tell them this is policy if they are not renting from an professionally managed apartment complex.
I believe the protected classes are family, heritage, disability, recovering addiction, religion. So you can refuse to rent to someone who is a lawyer, or someone who wears red shirts, or because you heard that they had loud domestic fights.
Brenda
Why not try honesty? Say that there are rumors they are drug users and you cannot take the chance.
I just finished evicting some drug dealers from my mobile home park. They trashed their unit, and I had to file 2 evictions before I could get them out. The entire town held a meeting and blamed me for their drug dealing. The stress of dealing with it was terrible. I lost about 1500 in rent and damages.
While they were in the park they got another one of my tenants hooked on drugs and they were not able to pay their rent either. They left on their own and the loss there was also about 1500 in rent and damages.
I am lucky that some of my good tenants did not leave. I think there were one or two that were getting close to leaving.
I used to believe in "Live and let live" and "Its none of my business what other people want to do with their bodies". Now I believe in large security deposits and if I even hear a rumor I pass on them.
Better to pass on them because of the fighting. Recovering addicts is a protected class. If they say that they no longer do the drugs, then they are protected.
Brenda
I had a case like this about a month ago. She had a good cosigner, decent job, and was calling me everyday to see when she could move in. I started talking to people and it sounds like she was an active drug user. I told her that we'd need to include a drug test as part of her rental application because of what we'd found. She said that she'd be happy to and then never called me back. Dealers are not always users, but it reminded me of that.
I'm assuming that you've done your homework and decided that you don't want to have them as a tenant.
Call them back and say "I'm sorry, you weren't approved". It may be easiest to send a letter or call when they're not home and leave a voice mail message. If you do talk to them and they ask for an explanation, simply say "we do thorough checks and you weren't approved." If they push you indicate that you're not willing to disclose the reason.
This is YOUR BUSINESS not theirs. You make the calls, not them.
YOU CAN AND SHOULD DISCRIMINATE!!!....just not against any one of the 7 protected classes (race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and handicapts) that were designated (and ammended) in The Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Fair Housing Amendments of 1988. You believe they are dealing drugs. That is a very good reason NOT to rent to them.
In the event that thy are a minority, gay, handicapt, etc, then you'll want to take extra precautions to protect yourself.
I discriminate against drug dealers, pet owners, smokers, pedophiles, individuals with criminal backgrounds, people who smell funny, people who don't make enough money, people who drive crappy looking cars, people who litter, don't keep a clean house, etc. You can and should descriminate. Discrimination is ESSENTIAL in this business. The word itself has become so politicized that people think it's a bad thing to do. You must wisely discriminate. Discrimination is simply judging wisly.
I'm going to have to VERY STRONGLY disagree with active_re_investor.
"Bottom line is if you have no hard evidence and they meet your published criteria (you do have published criteria don't you) you have to take them. Yes, HAVE TO. "
You can turn down dozens of qualified people until you find a redhead to rent to if that's what makes you happy. You are NEVER under any obligation to rent to someone. If a handicapt gay pakistani islamic black woman wants to rent your apartment, you can turn her down because she's a lawyer if you don't, never have, and never will rent to lawyers. You can discriminate against lawyers. It's not a protected class. You can prove that you don't like and don't rent to lawyers and she'll have no case against you (although it would probably go to court). Or Gemeni's for that matter.
Double check employment carefully. Many times drug dealers will have part time employment or cover stories (you'll call a friends company, etc).
Lastly....you may want to drive over to their neighborhood and start talking to their neighbors. It is possible that you've been misinformed.
Ask if there's a lot of traffic to and from the home. Lots of shady people coming and going. Lots of people that don't look like they'd have any business visiting them. Lots of people there for 5 minutes at a time. etc. Ask how they are as neighbors. You'll be surprised at how open people are.
You may tell them that you have 0 tollerance for illegal activity ESPECIALLY dealing drugs and that you immediatly notify the police if you ever have a suspicion of drug activity.
As was mentioned above, call the police station and get a report of the activity that's occured on their block in the last 2 years.
Keep us posted and let us know what happens.[ Edited by hibby76 on Date 05/25/2004 ]
Never, ever never be the owner, be instead a manager, general manager, or something other than an owner,
Be like a bank when applying for a loan, take their information, advisinf then you will submit the application to the board for approval. Even if you are the sole member of the board. Do your checking, if you want the tenant or not.
If not, the board did not accept their application. They did not give you a reason. They are tough, mean, and selective. Your a good guy/gal and thought they'd be good tenants. Just that mean old board is bad.
Those of you who are noting certain protected classes should also check your local ordinances to see if your local jurisdiction has also added other protected classes to the list.
I am aware of one jurisdiction in MD that has a local ordinance that makes "source of income" a protected class under their Fair Housing ordinaces. The intent was to prevent landlords from refusing to consider Section 8 applications solely because of their participation in the Section 8 housing assistance program.
If your jurisdiction also has included "source of income" in its protected classes, you might be sued for discrimination if you refuse to rent to the lawyer solely on the basis of his profession (source of income is the practice of law).
DaveT & Ozzie....good points.
Well, here is what I do. I haven't run this by my lawyer so I can't give you legal advice, but I was told this many years ago by a PM who managed hundreds of apartments. From what I understand, you don't have to rent to anyone you don't like. If they ask me why I don't want to rent to them I just tell them straight out
" I don't like you". Seems to do the trick. I can't think of any law that says you must rent to people you don't like.
Hey,
Some of the posts on this website scare me to death and this is one of them. If you followed the advice given on many of these posts, you are setting yourself up for a BIG lawsuit.
In a nutshell, you have a written set of minimum requirements (that do NOT change every hour!) and an application that allows you to do a full backgound check (legal, credit, employment, etc.). Once you complete your checks, if the applicant passes all of them, you offer them the unit. It is that simple.
If you deviate from this, you have taken the first step on a road to a whole world of pain.
A short word on the set of requirements you establish for your tenants, and specfically to you who think no red shirt/no lawyers/you smell funny /you have a junk car type of rules are clever, by VERY careful in establishing your rules. Courts have ruled, in many, many, many cases, that if the EFFECT of the rule/regulation/requirement is illegal discrimation, then it is illegal. So for example, if your rule is a tenant can not wear a red shirt, and you turn down an applicant and they turn out to be a member of the "Red Shirt Only Church of Salvation", you just broke the law. Don't try to be clever with your rules, make them real rules.
If you change your rules to purposely turn down one applicant, just deed the house to them and hand them the keys, it will much faster and cheaper than the lawsuit.
didn't you say the toliet was leaking at the seal and you have to take it up and replace it . surely you have some work that legally needs to be done that makes it temp. inhabital....just a thought...if your not sure check with an attny.......kenmax
This should be a quick call to your atty. Verfiy how you can legally deny them and protect yourself. Your atty should let you know if you can run a background check or how to proceed. I wouldn't consider renting based on the info you have, you just need to see if there are any repurcussions to denying them. Your atty is your best bet. Let us know what he/she has to say.
There is certainly a way around this problem. No one in their right mind would rent to someone when they had that many reservations about them. Just make sure to ask your attorney a lot of questions. I've found lawyers to be very bright, knowledgeable people, but not the kind of people who are good at thinking outside of the box. There have been many times when I (of limited creative ability) have asked lawyers what I should do and they would give some advice that really left a lot to be desired. Then I would ask why I couldn't do so and so and they would say "Gee, I never thought of that! That would work fine! ". This will be a lot easier as soon as you have a large number of tenants. They can't say you are denying them because they wear red shirts when all you have to do is say " Well look at my tenant in 101A. He wears red shirts and I even heard it rumored his undershorts are red.