Screnning, not truthful. WWYD?

Question

I've got an applicant who told me he has no record or background of violence. Background checks reveal several felony and misdemeanor charges, all from one date in his home town. I'm assuming they are related to his divorce. He plead guilty to lesser misdemeanors on all counts, served time, payed fines and finished probation. This was three years ago and there's nothing since. Our rental policy currently excludes violent felony convictions so he isn't excluded on the misdemeanors however I'm concerned that he was not forthcoming with this information. Would you consider this a red flag and if so, how big? Everything else related to screening looks pretty good.

Ryan Dossey · Answer

Lying is no way to start a relationship. I bet this guy is going to come up with some very creative stories when his rent is late, when he punches a hole in a wall, and when he violates other terms of your lease.

His income looks great? Is that what he told you or did you verify it?

Personally I'd tell him to pound sand. If you have an issue and are upfront about it I'm open. If I found out you lied... See ya.

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice... Shame on me.

Peter MacKercher · Answer

A rental application gives you insight into who that person is. If you find something that doesn't jive with the kind of person you're trying to rent to don't set yourself up for failure by ignoring it.

Sylvia B. · Answer

I won't abide a liar.

Ariel O. · Answer

@Donald Crockett

He lied. He could have said yes, told you about it, and that would be that. Lying on the app is an immediate denail.

Donald Crockett · Answer

Yeah early on I thought the screening company would verify all that. I now tell applicants I need a land line, a company phone, to verify employment, talk to a prior landlord, and so on. Prospects will say "OK" and still give a mobile phone number and later say that's the only number they have and they thought it was a LL. It's harder today because many companies do issue mobile phones to managers. I have in the past searched out companies phone numbers and called but that just adds time to researching applications. It kind of makes me wonder why I pay for tenant screening if I have to do it myself anyway!

edit; Ariel I just realized you do screening. I didn't realize that when writing the above. I will check out your website.

Donald Crockett · Answer

On a similar subject, we use a lawyer whom we like very much. Fortunately we don't have to use him often! I went to a talk he gave to a REI group about fair housing. One thing he said is this; the time is coming when a rental policy that excludes individuals convicted of felonies will be considered a racially discriminatory policy. The reasoning is, if one particular racial group has a higher rate of felony convictions as compared to another racial group, even though the basis for your policy is not based on race, the effective result is your are discriminating against a particular group. I'd be interested to know if anyone else had heard this.

Donald Crockett · Answer

Spoke with him yesterday, mainly because I wanted to hear what he would say. He said It was a one time thing, not who he is, and he is embarrassed and has a hard time owning it, all of which is probably true.  He began to explain the incident and I stopped him and told him the issue is, he checked a box on the app stating he had never been arrested for a felony and untruthful information on the application is an automatic disqualification. So that's that. It's not that I don't think a person could make a mistake in the past and move beyond it, it's the issue of truthfulness.

Joel Owens · Answer

It's not just about how much money they make. It's how they honor their debt obligations with what they have.

Plenty of people with money who are crooks and never pay anything. They will spend tons of hours trying to weasel out of something as a game then honor their commitments.

So income level Is only one factor of a tenant screening.

I wouldn't want the risk to rent to someone who may not be reformed and have a relapse. It opens yourself up to liability.

An attorney will have  a field day with something happened and you the landlord knew the history but rented to them anyways. Unless you are in a war zone and this is the cream of crop for selection then it really doesn't make sense.

No legal advice given.

Cal C. · Answer

liar and possibly a wife beater?  Are you that desperate for a tenant?

Colleen F. · Answer

See how he responds to you calling him on it.  It may be he hid it intentionally or it may be that he did not get convicted of a felony so he assumed it would not show as a felony and only as a misdemeanor.  Approach it by   saying  I found an incident on x date  can you tell me about that?  Don't tell him what you know, make him tell you the story. Only then should you confirm your details and make a decision.

If you were very clear on asking if he was arrested and he said no never then I would have a different view.

Screnning, not truthful. WWYD?

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