Reference for Bad Tenants?
I have nightmare tenants who I have all ready begun eviction proceedings against. Their lease ends in two weeks and I have obviously let them know I will not be renewing their lease. Their position is they will leave when/if they find a new place. They owe me two months back rent at this point….
I have nightmare tenants who I have all ready begun eviction proceedings against. Their lease ends in two weeks and I have obviously let them know I will not be renewing their lease. Their position is they will leave when/if they find a new place. They owe me two months back rent at this point. A woman just called saying she was thinking about renting them an apartment to them and asked if I could provide a reference. Obviously ethically I do not feel right about providing them a positive reference, but I do want them out. It’s a bit of a Catch 22. What do I do?
you could always ask for a fax number and send a few pleadings to the new landlord.
I am not convinced the tenants listed OP “as a reference.” Rental application probably required listing name/phone of current LL. It is the new LL who wants a reference. Don’t assume anything. Just make the call and answer questions truthfully and succinctly, without unnecessary characterization. If you have already started eviction proceedings and have an index no. such is a matter of public record. You can always fall back on “as the matter is currently in litigation, I’d prefer not to say more.”
I’m also a landlord and I would want to know the truth.
I am an attorney. Specifically, I am a real estate attorney. You will NOT have liability if your are honest with specifics as previously stated. Tell the new landlord that you are owed rent and they refuse to leave.
I’ve given great, and blah, and really bad references for plenty of people — from employees to dog walkers.
If it’s a bad one, I always say, “Let me begin by saying I’m SHOCKED they listed me as a reference” and in your case I’d say, “And we are currently in the midst of a eviction case, so I have to be extremely careful about what I say. But if you have specific questions, I’ll try my best to answer them”
You have to return the call.
I would have called the landlord looking for a referral and told them that due to an ongoing eviction case, you could not act as a reference. The new landlord understands that these are problem tenants, and you’ve said nothing that puts you at risk.
I think that the blacklist is an urban myth, if one existed it would be quickly regulated in the same way that credit reports are. Legislators would want to give tenants the ability to correct erroneous information and prevent landlords from submitting erroneous information.
That said, as a board member of my condo, I have had to review the odd tenant application. The landlord/board package that brokers have provided includes a housing court check, a sex-offender registry check and a criminal record check, in addition to all the financial information like how much money in the bank and credit score.
If your tenants are lackadaisical about paying their rent, they’re likely to be paying other bills late as well, which will affect their credit score.
If asked whether you would rent to them again, you can simply say no.
Similar to a job reference, you can’t state any opinion but you can tell someone whether or not you hire them again.
Problem is that, as a LL, I want to talk to the prior LL regardless of whether used as a reference, and i am not alone in this. One prospective tenant had problems with previous LL and disclosed as much, gave earlier LL as ref, and they turned out to be wonderful tenants. But other than that, I want to talk to previous LL. So insisting they don’t use you as a ref won’t solve the problem of LLs calling about your Ts.