I recently applied for a lease somewhere and was denied because of 1. Criminal Record, and 2. Eviction filing or judgement.

1. I have no criminal record unless you count some old speeding tickets, nothing outstanding though.

2. I've never been evicted. I did live somewhere for a bit where the lease holder broke the lease and then was evicted, but I never signed the lease or any other document that made me liable. I tried calling them to see if they have any record about how they handled it but they won't be able to get that info to me until next week. The lady on the phone did say that since I was a resident over the age of 18 that according to NC law I could be held liable for the lease and any outstanding debts or eviction notices.

Is what she is saying true? I was never served with an eviction notice or anything. This happened like 2 years ago and I never heard anything about it.

4/2/2010 3:32:09 PM

I would be more concerned about the criminal record than the eviction filing

4/2/2010 3:34:17 PM

You sure you were never listed on the lease of the place where the lease holder was evicted? They aren't gonna deny you based on speeding tickets.

4/2/2010 3:35:03 PM

^^I've never been arrested or anything, no way I have a true criminal record. I'm gonna look into that one more closely once I get the report back from whatever agency they used for their checks.

^I may have been added as an occupant (they're looking into it). I never filled out any paperwork or signed anything though.

[Edited on April 2, 2010 at 3:52 PM. Reason : ^]

4/2/2010 3:52:01 PM

It doesn't seem possible to me that you can be held liable for any of that if you didn't sign the lease. It kind of defeats the purpose of a lease.

4/2/2010 3:58:29 PM

they probably have you mixed up with someone else, at least for the criminal record

4/2/2010 4:02:34 PM

should have paid your parking tickets...

4/2/2010 4:31:26 PM

are you applying to live at Lake Johnson Mews? I tried to get someone to take over my lease when i bought my house, but they turned down literally 10 people who paid the application fee without a refund. shady ass company.

4/2/2010 4:32:07 PM

Quote :

"application fee"

Theres your problem. I dont apply to any company that charges me that POS without refunding it if they turn me down, or waive it (most will if you ask).

4/2/2010 4:41:22 PM

not lake johnson mews.

and I've paid/resolved any speeding or parking tickets I've ever had. If they're holding 3 year old resolved speeding tickets against me they can kiss my ass.

I'm starting to think that this AmRent agency they did the history check through just saw that I had a record of living at that address and that there was an eviction notice for that address during the time I lived there and just told the apt people to deny me.

4/2/2010 4:53:04 PM

Quote :

"just saw that I had a record of living at that address and that there was an eviction notice for that address during the time I lived there"

so you were evicted?

4/3/2010 7:56:53 AM

you you are more worried about finding out why they think you were evicted then why they think you were arrrested??

4/3/2010 11:57:55 AM

i know you're saying you weren't on the lease and that means you weren't responsible for the money which is probably true. but its also true you were evicted. renters can be evicted when the mortgage payers dont hold up their end of the bargain so you just need to explain the circumstances and hopefully you have some proof.

4/3/2010 12:51:33 PM

CRIMINAL!

p.s. omghi2u

4/3/2010 2:14:12 PM

They sent HIM an eviction notice, not me. I never received an eviction notice or was listed in any legal proceedings. Therefore no, I wasn't actually evicted.

Like I said I think the agency just saw that the dates for me living there and an eviction being on the property sort of coincided. To them that was a red flag and without looking into the actual details just told the apt complex to deny me.

I am concerned about the criminal record thing, but thats easier to track down.

4/3/2010 6:25:02 PM

If any action is taken against you based on a report they have to provide you with copies of the report for free.

If information on the report is incorrect and you advise them of that, they must delete it. You have legal recourse if they do not.

http://epic.org/privacy/fcra/

4/3/2010 10:07:08 PM

Quote :

"I did live somewhere for a bit where the lease holder broke the lease and then was evicted, but I never signed the lease or any other document that made me liable."

like i was trying to point out, despite these facts YOU were still evicted. the legal definition of eviction is removal of an occupant. that's it. not removal of lease holder or anything more specific. the part ive quoted sounds like you lived there as an occupant and someone else was given notice that he (therefore any occupants he allowed to live there, ie YOU) were being evicted. like i said it should be easy to dispute and it's something you'll just have to write a blurb about when trying to rent somewhere.

4/3/2010 10:12:12 PM

if you've been evicted, then your name will be on the writ of possession of real property

4/3/2010 10:49:13 PM

^ exactly, which it wasn't.

^^ I get what you're saying, the point I'm making is that legally no I wasn't actually evicted. I just want to confirm what the agency report says and what the apt complex records say. I agree I'll probably have to continue explaining myself every time I apply somewhere. What pisses me off about it is that the apt I applied to and/or agency just assumed the situation and denied me.

4/3/2010 11:51:18 PM

updates??

4/5/2010 6:51:28 PM

I've gotten my credit checks, they're clean. Nothing came up as far as rental history evictions or the like. I also had my current apt complex do their standard criminal background check using their service and it also came up clean.

I'm thinking either the place I applied or the agency they did the check with messed up somewhere, probably human error. I'm debating whether I want to actually go talk to them about it and still live there, or just say fuck them and look somewhere else.

4/5/2010 7:39:03 PM

i think i blockbuster some late fees from about 12 years ago

as far as i can tell, they've never gotten their 16 bucks

and now, thanks to netflix and the internet

they never will

4/5/2010 8:21:16 PM

Did you have a criminal charge expunged? I had an underage possession ticket that was eventually expunged, but it showed up when I applied for a job. The court confirmed it was off my record, and it was probably due to the background checkers having old information.

4/5/2010 8:56:36 PM

Nope. No criminal record other than a couple speeding tickets, none of them that bad and all of them resolved.

4/6/2010 1:04:01 AM

FYI, unless you got a misdemeanor, minor traffic tickets do not constitute a "criminal record". They would just be on your driving record. Exceptions would be something like a DUI or reckless driving.

4/6/2010 5:02:48 AM

thats the point, I don't have anything that would show up on a "criminal record"

4/6/2010 9:15:29 AM

Did you give them your SSN or just a name? Maybe someone that shares your name has a record and has been evicted, and they just did really poor investigative work.

4/6/2010 2:05:53 PM

my brother had a very similar situation when he tried to rent his first place. turns out some dumb bitch in the state records office mixed up my brother and some other kid with the same name and birth month & day. they were born 3 years apart. when the apartment complex called to check or whatever, no one bothered to verify the year of birth or social security #. it took a LONG time to be resolved. dad had to get the arresting officer on the phone w/ the records bitch & apartment complex for him to verify that the kid he arrested was not 6'2" with bright red orange hair. fucktards

4/6/2010 2:39:57 PM

they took my social.

At this point I almost don't care. I was more worried that there was actually something on my record. Since I've already proven there isn't, its their loss. I'll give my rent money to someone else more than likely.

4/6/2010 8:28:45 PM

I'd be pretty pissed off principal, if it happened once it can happen again.

4/7/2010 8:20:33 AM