Renting to sex offender
I am in the process of screening a potential tenant, he told me he had a felony from 15 years, he offered to explain but I didn't wanna push unless necessary. After doing a background check on him I found out he is registered as a sex offender for "lewd conduct with a minor."
My question is, he's been clean for the past 15 years no criminal record before or after that incident, has now a fiance and has been living with her and her 2 children for the past 5 years, has a good income and good credit. I know it's a very personal question, but would you rent to someone like that?
For me, it would depend on how old he was when it happened, if he was <25, I'd hear him out. Could be that he was 18 she was 17, etc.
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The potential consequences of him ruining my business are just too great especially if I knew and rented to him anyway. He might be rehabilitated; but for me, it is a no.
@Bjorn Ahlblad Good point, although I'm failing to see what the potential consequences could be, maybe I'm not thinking beyond what i saw.
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Daniel if he offends again you will be sued for a crazy amount and become famous!
That's tough to answer without knowing the details of what happened. I'm hoping it was just a "he was 18 she was 17" type thing because his fiancé is allowing him to live with her two kids in the house. But, I would imagine he'd be a pretty good tenant because I'm sure it's pretty difficult to find a place to rent being a sex offender. I don't personally think I would rent to him though because I wouldn't want to be known as the LL who rents to sex offenders.
Has the unit been vacant a while or do you have enough interest in it to maybe hold off for a good tenant who is not a sex offender?
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I would get the story from him before making a decision. You should be able to confirm when you do his background check.
His fiance trusts him to be around her kids. That says a lot to me, as long as she is aware of his past.
Originally posted by @Daniel Suarez:
@Bjorn Ahlblad Good point, although I'm failing to see what the potential consequences could be, maybe I'm not thinking beyond what i saw.
1. He offends again
2. A neighbor finds out he is living there with a simple online search and burns your house down
3 A neighbor tells the local news channel and they show your house on the nightly news
4 A neighbor find out you are the owner with a simple online search and they begin harassing you and your family where you live.
I’m sure I am missing a few more
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The problem arises when other tenants or neighbours find out he is a registered sex offender. Others do not care about the details. You will be judged for having rented to a offender and will be viewed as placing others in danger. There will be a reaction.
Thanks everyone for your responses. I also talked to a property manager in the area asking for advice. They said they accidentally rented to a sex offender, and got the neighbors harassing him all the time almost getting his lisence revoked. It's sad because because I feel people pay for their mistakes but can be held accountable for life even after living a normal life for more than 15 years.
Can I just deny him on the sex offender account alone? or would that be discriminating?
If he offends again, you may be held liable. If your other tenants find out about it, they may feel unsafe and decide to leave and you would have to let them based on current law.
As with all renters, you have to identify your risk and then mitigate it. The rate of recidivism (likelihood of repeating a crime) is significantly high with sex offenders. It could be an issue where he was young and made a mistake while under the pressure of puberty, which may be a different story. If he were an adult, perpetrating a crime on a child under 12, I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. It's hard to say without knowing the details.
As an aside, the fact that he's living with a woman and her children today means nothing. Many women fall in love with sexual abusers because they seem completely normal (when not abusing).
In my opinion, you need a standard (eg. no felonies) that is written and followed consistently to avoid fair housing issues. Our attorney is very clear about what we can and can not communicate related to criminal background and that is why self-managing can be a mine field when it comes to application qualification criteria. As a management company, you avoid liability if you follow fair housing...not against being sued but against losing.
I know this post is a couple years old but i would say it depends on the situation. I have been married to my husband for 10 years we have 2 girls together and he has 2 adult girls and i have 2 teens all girls .but my husband got that title when he was 20 now he is 44 but i can tell you from my experience its been rough over the years cause people love to judge but forget how easily something like that could happen to themselves or there own kids .i am currently looking to find a place for my family cause the lady i rented from for 10 years decided to sell. Just cause you hear sex offender dont mean that he goes around messing with kids. So yea i would do background talk to that person and than decide.
I would say it depends as well. My husband got hit with being a sex offender while he was 19 and she was 16. It happened 11 years ago and it happened to be with his baby moms sister and she got mad and called the police as revenge. Just because someone messed up one time doesnt mean they have to be that label for the rest of their lives. He did his time and he got off parole and has no restrictions. My husband took on the father role to my 5 year old daughter. We both have jobs and we both are members of a church. He isnt a repeat offender and he isnt a predator either. I know its hard to look past but I feel like they should be able to explain their story and then the landlord should be able to make their decision. I dont think its fair to just say no. Theres girls out there screaming rape over a breakup and ruining peoples lives.
Just curious - why would the landlord be held liable if a tenant commits a sex offense ?
my ex tenant was picked up for smoking pot - I wasn’t held liable for that.
The potential consequences of him ruining my business are just too great especially if I knew and rented to him anyway. He might be rehabilitated; but for me, it is a no.
Okay I know that this was posted a long time ago but what people are not seeing is this. Here are the facts about sex offenders. In Arizona the amount of people that go back to prison is 85% or about. That is your drug dealers, murders, thief's, ect. Now S.O. on the other hand are at 2%. Yes 2% and most of those are NOT reoffenders it is a simple thing of being a day late to reregister (and yes they will send you back if you are a day late) The whole registration thing has NEVER prevented a sex crime from happening. The only that it has done has caused people do be harassed. Most of the people that are in prison for a sex crime are a young guy that had sex with his gf that happened to be 17 or 16. Not this crazy stuff you see on TV. 90% of S.O. that are looking for rentals specially if it is a higher price like say $1,000 or more are serious people that are trying to rise above the muck and be a better person.
Sex offenders do not have a re offend rate. While there are sickos out there that re offend there are those who were " he was 18 she was 17" category. People judge before they know the full story and the facts. There. Is one on here who said that all sex offenders re offend. Get your facts straight.
Quote from @Bjorn Ahlblad:
Daniel if he offends again you will be sued for a crazy amount and become famous!
That is so unfair. It's like.yall.think SO are sick people. Y'all don't want to learn what or how it happened, all y'all do is look at the title and beat a SO over the head with it. You need to sit down with them and heat them out.then you wouldn't be so judgemental. They are humans just like you. For the guy talking about they Will sue. That's a bunch of bologna. If.you rent to anybody and they don't live to your liking you going to be put out..You.are.a slumlord and a shallow guy. May God continue to work on you
@Daniel Suarez
I’d take him. I have a sex offender and he’s been my best tenant. I’ve taken in people with felonies and prison time as well and they’ve been excellent. I don’t rule out anyone. Their job history tells me a lot.
Quote from @John T.:
The answer is NO. NEVER RENT TO SEX CRIMINAL. Don't waste your time trying to explain or justify the applicant's behavior. You're in business to make a reasonable profit without exposing yourself to liability.
Ok I see your point but how many drug dealers live in your neighborhood or how many murders or people who break into other people houses and steal from them or prostitutes do you know of. It’s not fair that those people don’t have to register so everyone knows where they live but because sex offenders do it means they don’t have a right to live in nice places when all they want to do is get their life’s back on track but the rest of the world blacklists them or tries to hunt them down when it’s nobody’s business but the police and they should be the only ones who get to know where they live but the government has ruined that and put sex offenders lives at risk by putting their info out for the public even after they served their time. So yes sex offenders should have every right to have equal opportunity to live there just like the next person..
Where are they living fast forwarding to the future....where d that end up ,not renting to none ? No camps no jails ,..just not renting to one ? Yet deep secret s inside places ud never hear about yet they live tight next to you ....this is only because you know and can point 👉 ...it true , it's double punishment and does put lives at risk ..people they live with when vigilant groups do this type of stuff,...yet the guy who killed 3 people cause he likes to drive an drink is watching it all go down next to u waving at u,...just saying ,..u still being punished for what u done ? Reset needs to happen in my opinion. People are just to involved in others lives that that can't manage their own respectful and dignity is out the window in this time of humanity,..we should just stop pointing and be right in doing so if we have to be such ruthless running to the top for that reputation and greed of money ...it will all be gone and by then who s helping u and yours cause it will only get worse with that attitude.
I would have to say after what happened to me I would say give him a chance. I never thought in a million years I date someone that's a sex offender. But I am he's the most sweetest kindest guy ever. People judge him because he has a lot of tattoos. But he works hard and he takes very good care of my 2 kids. So recently my boyfriend/fiance I call him both was not living with me fully just staying every now and then and came over to visit a lot . I live in a trailer court a mobile home trailer house I own just pay lot rent so other night we minding our own business he came over to stay the night because it was day of work and management was drunk didn't know to later but she was knocking on my door I didn't hear her as I was cleaning up a mess in bathroom my son made my older son said someone at door it was management she yelled screaming call my man all kids of names yell at me about my disability saying things about his sex offender registry and such in front of my kids made a much of threats and bunch of other things were said but problem was she did it drunk and had most of the neighbors on my street gathered together to watch or do this and then gathered around gossiping about me afterwards. I understand her concerns and her thoughts but she could have done it in a professional manner. The crime was 30 years ago. He didn't deserve that and I do think people like that need second chances in life to get on his feet because if they don't ever get a chance to rent a place where are they supposed to live they can't just be homeless for the rest of their days. I do think that someone needs to give these people a chance if they are truly trying to stay out of trouble behave and really turn their lives around they deserve that opportunity just like anyone else they shouldn't have to pay for their crime for the rest of their days. People deserve love happiness kindness no matter what they have done I look at it in the aspect of of yes he did that even if he didn't do it installed his record he needs a second chance you can't just put him down for the rest of his days.awesome people should look at it as someone needs to give these people an opportunity so they can make something of ourselves and actually prove to people that they will be rehabilitated and do better. If they never get that opportunity then they're just going to continue to be scum of the earth maybe not be a sex offender again but they will be on the streets they'll be more vulnerable more chances for people to take advantage of them and make up lies about them and to get hurt because a lot of people want to hurt people with these type of crap I think people should get to know somebody and truly see how they really are before they judge them they should take the approach as everybody deserves a second chance. What would Jesus do he wouldn't put these people up aside he would forgive them and give them love kindness and give them time to repent and make make it right in the world. My boyfriend/fiance would never hurt a single soul unless you absolutely had to like life or death situations or he sees somebody hurting and innocent person or woman or defending someone he's not like that he never would be like that. He was 17 when it happened and he got charged with some bs yes it may have happened but he has proven time and time again he's a good person. So I say you should rent to these people because it seems to me he's trying to make a life for him and those children those children probably love him to death and they don't want to see anything bad happen to them it will be more harm to those children to have him gone and out of their lives then do see somebody stable and doing good.