Can You Rent a House To Someone With a Criminal Record?

Many landlords would not be willing to take the risk. Someone who has broken the law once may do so again in future. However fact is people do change. Would you rent a house to such a person who manages to convince you that they've changed or would you rather not take the risk and request them to find another place even though it means an apartment/room/etc will be empty for an indefinite period of time?

 

Basing a business decision on a personal opinion is never a good idea. I for one don't care if you have a record of not. Proof of income both in the past and the present is what I look at. What is the tenants' earning potential? If it's good, they have a place to live. If not, then they don't.

On a side note about convicted felons, businesses in certain states, if not all, can get a tax break if they hire a convicted felon. Not a lot of businesses know this, so if one were to approach me about renting a house I would tell him or her about this so they can tell potential employees in the case that they don't know about this. That would increase the persons' chances of getting hired.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/tax-breaks-employers-hire-felons-14421.html

 

Also, you cannot legally deny someone housing if their only felony conviction was for drug use. That is very important to remember. I think the reason being is that drug use falls under the addiction category which is seen more as a medical affliction that a criminal one.

 

True but as long as you have other potential tenants you can choose to give the place to them instead.
I'd say that for me this would be on a case by case basis. What conviction? How long ago? Any other tenants? Any reason to go with this guy with a record instead of one of the ones without one?

 

This is interesting. It's good news for ex-convicts who are heading for a fresh start. Going back to the topic, for me it also depends on the situation. Depending on what crime the person was convicted of and the availability of other potential tenants. I guess it's but normal to be initially cautious when choosing a tenant ex-con or not for the landlord's own protection too.

 

Of course you should. A felon is a person. People need places to live. Just because he's done time for something doesn't mean you need to rob him of a place to live, especially if he's got income, and you've got space for him to rent. If anything, a felon could end up being your most reliable tenant - most who get out want to stay out, and having somewhere to stay is part of that. "Don't crap where you eat," and all. Besides, you should have insurance on all your properties on the off chance somebody does wreck the place, and if he skips out on rent that's a risk you have to take with every other tenant you have.

Besides, you do proof of income and background checks on everybody - just because someone actually had something come up doesn't mean they should be discounted. It's just another road block that keeps people from becoming productive members of society again, and rejecting them only makes it harder on them to do the right thing when the wrong thing is much easier to do.

 

I think it depends a lot on the vibe that the person give us, like any other. If the person is free, their debt to society was paid so he/she has the right to start a new life if their intentions are good.

 

It all depends on what type of crime he was convicted of and what type of job he has at the present. Most criminals reoffend because they can not find a job when they get out. If the guy does not have a good job, there is a good chance that he will re offend. Also the nature of the crime is important also. If he was convicted of fraud lets say, that means most likely he has enough money to pay the rent, also fraud is a non violent crime so that means he will not damage your property.

By contrast if he was convicted of growing pot plants, it would be a bad idea to rent to him. There is a good chance he might turn your house into a grow op. This causes a lot of damage to your house and you will be unable to get compensation for it.

 

Personally I think everybody should be willing to give the benefit of the doubt in cases like this. Just because they've commited a crime, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll do it again.

Having said that it depends on the crime aswell, sex offenders or anything like that then it's obviously a big no. Your not going to risk getting involved with anybody like that.

 

So you would be fine signing a rental AGREEMENT with a guy who is know to do fraud? Dishonesty is the last thing I would want from my tenant... if he has a history of screwing people over then is it not possible that he will do the same to you?