What am I allowed to ask a potential tenant about a past felony?

Question

I have a potential tenant inquiring about my rental but stated they have a felony from 2017.  He claims he meets all of my other minimum requirements but wants to confirm his felony wont be an issue before they apply.  I want to ask what the charge was or at least was it a violent or non violent charge but I want to make sure I'm not overstepping any legal issues by asking that.  Located in Arkansas.

Patricia Steiner · Answer

Don't ask anything and don't allow yourself to be pulled into this conversation.  Give him an application and let him know that a host of criteria will be reviewed in making a selection.  Tell him that you're not in a position to have "preliminary conversations."  The second you step into that discussion, you put yourself at risk of being accused of discrimination. The biggest and newest legal play is in charging landlords with discrimination against someone who has served his time and paid his debt to society.  HUD has issued a statement that states " Federal Law Bars Housing Discrimination Against People With Criminal Records."  A single law firm in Florida has filed 48 lawsuits against landlords under this code in one year alone.

Fun, huh?

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Adam Martin · Answer

Before I take an application I tell the person I am going to do a full criminal and credit check.  This is your chance to give me your story of what happened and if you are up front about it I may be able to work with you but if not it is an immediate rejection.  I have my standards I won’t accept and will tell them up front so they don’t waste their money and the cost out is sometimes I hear about stuff that the report doesn’t pull.  It doesn’t make sense to me that criminals are a protected class but they are in some places so you need to check so you are not discriminating.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@John Clark it partially depends on the state, but in most states you can ask questions about criminal history and it is perfectly legal.

What is your policy on renting to felons?

Asking someone for details is only beneficial if you have a policy. The fact that you are asking for details means you rent to "some" felons. Do you rent to only non-violent? Do you rent if it is over 5 years old? Are you ok with non-violent drug related? Domestic abuse?

If you are not evenly applying a standard, you can be accused of discrimination. Before you ask questions like this, have a policy. Be aware if your policy is non-violent felons, you need to consider applications from any non-violent felon.

Jill F. · Answer

Find out the jurisdiction and tell him you'll check out the court records and let him know. Ask him if he wants to tell you anything about his situation before you check it out.

Account Closed · Answer

@John Clark No felonies should have been on the list of requirements. Or if you’re willing to accept some criminal background it should specifically state it in the advertisement. For example “no felonies in the last 10 years”, or something like that. He probably singled your ad out because it didn’t say anything.

Ryan Blackstone · Answer

I bet you can find a different tenant. Typically, that information with come up in a background check. I'm not an attorney, but  I couldn't see why you couldn't ask something like, "Well, if I run a background check, what is it going to tell me about your felony?"

John Delano · Answer

""He claims he meets all of my other minimum requirements but..." Ask for their information and then verify it yourself. Don't give out your minimum requirements and ask if they meet them unless you are in a commie-leaning state that requires such a thing. I don't think Arkansas is that way.

You could always just rent to someone who you don't have a bad feeling about. If you have a good feeling about them other than the felony. Look up the felony on public records. There is often a public docket search available. Search your state or county and "docket". Do the same for any prior county or states where they may have lived. Pay attention to dates on cases to avoid the same name people.

Gordon Tanner · Answer

We use MySmartMove by TransUnion for background checks, and records would show up then we decide.

Tracy Streich · Answer

@John Clark Are you running a background check?   This should come up on the background check if there was a conviction.   Don't just take the word of the tenant

Dennis Wayne · Answer

I word things like this

We do standard background checks , what sort of things will I find on your history when I do that ? And can you explain ?

What am I allowed to ask a potential tenant about a past felony?

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