In a rental world where public records and other information are used to approve potential tenants or evict them, it can be devastating for this information and/or reports to be wrong or inaccurate. Also bad luck doesn’t help either. Either way evictions happen every day to thousands of people across the country. There are a variety of reasons for evictions, some good and some questionable, but they happen nonetheless. Landlords and/or property managers utilize eviction reports as a key tool in the tenant screening vetting process.
No one wants an eviction. For landlords they can be costly and take months, even years, to finalize. And for tenants eviction is a black mark on their rental history, one that may make it difficult to find another rental unit.
Evictions can occur for a variety of reasons.
In Hendricks County, Indiana a woman almost lost her apartment due to a stolen check.
From theIndyChannel.com (Dec. 05, 17):
A Hendricks County woman said a stolen rent check almost caused her to be evicted from her apartment.
Elizabeth McKee says she’s lived at the Bradford Park Apartments for three years and has always paid her rent on time. theindychannel.com/news/local-news/hendricks-county/woman-says-she-was-nearly-evicted-after-someone-stole-her-rent-check-from-apartments-dropbox
A few days later McKee received notice of non-payment and was told the eviction process would begin if rent did not get paid by the 10th of the month. Eventually the rental company realized that other checks appeared to have been stolen and put off eviction pending second payment.
In Las Vegas a family was evicted due to a faulty tenant background check that utilized a criminal history report. Upon review, and after the eviction, it was discovered that the criminal report did not include any felonies, but only minor violations that had been dismissed years prior. The family has the option of filing a complaint with HUD, but does have to find other housing arrangement. ktnv.com/news/make-a-wish-family-forced-out-of-home
From KTNV.com (Nov. 21, 17):
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets guidelines when it comes to housing providers using criminal records. A memo issued in 2016 states, “Policies that exclude persons based on criminal history must be tailored to serve the housing provider’s substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest and take into consideration such factors as the type of the crime and the length of the time since conviction. Where a policy or practice excludes individuals with only certain types of convictions, a housing provider will still bear the burden of proving that any discriminatory effect caused by such policy or practice is justified. Such a determination must be made on a case-by-case basis.” ktnv.com/news/make-a-wish-family-forced-out-of-home
It is unfortunate when a family is evicted due to poor tenant screening, but it does highlight the need for landlords and/or property managers to work with a well-qualified tenant screening agency in order to provide legally compliant tenant checks.
Often time’s evictions are utilized to clear challenging tenants, those not necessarily complying with the rules.
A property in Zanesville, Ohio received an abatement warning and the landlord began to take steps to clean up the property through the eviction process.
From ZanesvilleTimesRecorder.com (Nov. 08, 17):
Following an abatement warning, the owner of an apartment complex located at 1252 Edwards Lane issued residents a zero tolerance notice for illegal activity and nearly doubled the rent. zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/2017/11/08/landlord-doubles-rent-evicts-nuisance-tenants-improve-property/844579001/
By increasing the rent some nuisance tenants could not pay and were either evicted or moved.
Policies need to be the same for all tenants. Everyone must be treated fairly and in an equal manner otherwise legal problems could arise should a tenant be singled out and treated separately. A best practice remains that landlords and property managers should work with a well-qualified tenant screening agency.
To learn more about how near miss evictions and actual evictions could have and did devastate some renters due to poor information or bad tenant background checks and how using a professional tenant screening company can help resolve this issue as well as being compliant with HUD guidelines read recent TenantScreeningUSA.com press release: Near Miss Evictions Due to Bad Luck, Bad Information, and Bad Tenant Checks