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Renting an apartment with Bad backrounds

dirtyfrenchman83

dirtyfrenchman83

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
205
My girlfriend and I are trying to find an apartment asap, we have to be out by oct 13th. A lot of the apartment places do criminal backround checks. or say they do. We are just having finding a place that will accept us, we both have been on probation. I have never violated or committed any crimes since my original, sentence. Basically I was in a black-out and got railroaded with some non-sense crazy charges, but they look really bad on my record. So basically we are scared about not finding a place and being homeless. Man idk if this is the right forum but any advice is appreciated. thanks
 
I would say just say nothing unless they ask. If they do, state your case, as being dishonest about it would only look worse if they do run a background check.

I would wager a guess though, that most places say they do a background check in the contract, but it hardly seems cost effective for them to actually follow up on it. Just look sharp, and act nice towards them, have your first months rent available if at all possible. If you look like you're going to be a reliable tenant, I really doubt they will look further.

Best of luck, and I don't think anyone can say for sure, but let us know how it turns out.
 
in PA it's free to check the court systems, so it's totally cost effective. add in google to that and you'll catch a lot of people for free.
 
We used to run criminal backgrond checks even at the homeless shelter. But since many folks have something in their past criminal, the only ones refused entry were repeated violent offenders (assault on LEO, domestic violence, robbery or assault with a weapon) I have found the larger complexes do follow up with the background checks. If you're dealing with a private person maybe renting a duplex, they may not check but ask for references at least. Just keep looking and the worst they can say is no. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
I feel your pain. My wife and I are looking to move and almost all places do background checks. These places charge $100.00 nonrefundable for the cost of the background and credit check. My wife is ok she is 32y/o and has a clean record and great credit.I on the other hand am 48 and have a felony and 2 misdemeanors. My felony is from 1983 when I was 19y/o and a bunch of us were camping in the Smoky Mountains. We were smoking weed and chilling when a forest ranger walked up on us.Bang!! Possession of any amount of marijuana on federal land is a felony! The misdemeanors are simple worthless check (1986) and trespass (1991). I tell them right up front I have a felony and they ask what it's for,I say marijuana and they tell me they don't want drug dealers in the neighborhood!!I don't have any answers for you but I know how it feels. I am a law abiding citizen now and commit no crimes but I'm still paying for mistakes many decades ago. If you find an answer let me know. Good luck to you and your lady. P.S. I already asked my wifes company lawyer and this is not discrimination.
 
I was apparently woefully unaware of how strict places are before letting tenants move in. Perhaps it's because I'm from a small town. Really bull they can look that far back too. No consideration to the fact that people CAN and often do change. :(
 
thanks BL'ers I think this one we went to today just says he does, to weed out the felons, I'm gonna apply anyway I have a four name, name so just gonna change a hyphen, then idk if i should just put real social security number , or maybe one number off? idk maybe i'll put my real one with the different hyphen in the name....anyway wish me luck
 
dirtyfrenchman83 said:
thanks BL'ers I think this one we went to today just says he does, to weed out the felons, I'm gonna apply anyway I have a four name, name so just gonna change a hyphen, then idk if i should just put real social security number , or maybe one number off? idk maybe i'll put my real one with the different hyphen in the name....anyway wish me luck
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I would advise against that. The letter of the law says this is identity fraud,another felony on the list. Good luck dude
 
dirtyfrenchman83 said:
thanks bl'ers i think this one we went to today just says he does, to weed out the felons, i'm gonna apply anyway i have a four name, name so just gonna change a hyphen, then idk if i should just put real social security number , or maybe one number off? Idk maybe i'll put my real one with the different hyphen in the name....anyway wish me luck
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don't. Do. That.
 
I had friends who got kicked out of an apartment over a misdemeanor pot conviction. Its bullshit and a good reason to fight even minor drug cases as if your life depended on it. regret pleading out my case now.
 
ever notice how job apps always say have you been convicted of a felony, what if you plead guilty, could you then say you were never convicted , without lying, because you were never convicted by a jury of your peers...anyway that doesn't help the apartment situation out dang. Man you try and get your life back together and do so but your past just haunts you no matter how well your doing, can't stand it! I got railroaded so bad on these cases too, it was unbelievable..god our country needs to give a man a fresh start sometimes geeez..
 
dirtyfrenchman83 said:
ever notice how job apps always say have you been convicted of a felony, what if you plead guilty, could you then say you were never convicted , without lying, because you were never convicted by a jury of your peers...anyway that doesn't help the apartment situation out dang. Man you try and get your life back together and do so but your past just haunts you no matter how well your doing, can't stand it! I got railroaded so bad on these cases too, it was unbelievable..god our country needs to give a man a fresh start sometimes geeez..
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The key words are "have you ever been convicted of a felony" If you were not found guilty, then you're not lying technically right?
 
Let's just make an attempt to get this back on topic please, I don't mind the original questions posed. I just don't want to see it turn into a rant on the legal system. If I agree or not is not relevant, but legal discussion was an old forum that was removed from bL for a reason...
 
michael said:
pleading guilty = conviction.
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not necessarily true: most people who are in some kind of drug court scheme, or court mandated domestic violence counseling, et cetera have pled guilty, but upon completion, will have their case dismissed and maybe (or maybe not) their arrest expunged.


As for OP: consider looking for a house or a house share instead. Apartment complexes are big businesses, so it makes sense to do this kind of shit— when you rent a house, you're much more likely to be dealing with a smaller company that will be flexible or indifferent, and you may even get to speak to the owner directly and explain yourself if it comes up. Also, he'll be way more interested in looking past your history if you sign on the dotted line because your monthly checks represent a much larger proportion of his income than they do at a large apartment complex.
 
^ i echo this. we (gf and i) recently moved from boston to sacramento and we had to rent a house remotely without seeing it or meeting the agent/landlord. our situation is different to the op but we have a pit bull mix and agents/agencies wouldn't even talk to us when they found out. she's an 8-year old sweetheart:

bella02s.jpg


ferocious, huh?

we ended up focusing only on houses where the landlord was renting directly and spent a little time (to the extent than one can from 3000 miles away) building a connection so that the landlord could see were likely to be solid tenants and the dog a non-issue. we landed a sweet place and a cool landlord.

good luck, op.

alasdair
 
Pander Bear said:
not necessarily true: most people who are in some kind of drug court scheme, or court mandated domestic violence counseling, et cetera have pled guilty, but upon completion, will have their case dismissed and maybe (or maybe not) their arrest expunged.
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This is kinda true. My ex-wife accused me of assaulting her and domestic trespass. I went to court and the DA found she was lying and I had the case dismissed. BUT!! Pull up my criminal record and it has "assault with a deadly weapon and domestic criminal trespass" then in very small letters it says "VDWL" which means Voluntary Dismissal Without Leave,which means it was dismissed and charges can't ever be brought again on this case. Try explaining that to people who don't know the court system. I have looked into expungement but you can't do it on your own you are in need of a lawyer which as of 2009 was around $5000.00.
 
If you change you name spelling nothing will come up and it will look like a fake name.
My wife filled out an background check for a place and when I talked to them they said she had no credit history and that was very suspicious.. they sent me a copy and they spelled her name wrong. Luckily we did not pay for it.. they were very snooty so we told them to go to hell and flagged their CL ad for a couple of weeks.

I would just tell people before you pay for the check and tell them you want a print out of it. Then if they don't let you have the place you have the print out to show people before you pay for another one.
 
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