I have a prospective tenant that a credit check shows a very large number of prior addresses, about 1-2 per year over last 15 years. I've asked the tenant for information about where/when they've resided having a lease. They've simply indicated that they've always stayed with relations and friends and paid cash, no leases.
Obviously, I cannot check that they havn't been evicted/didn't pay rent/broke a lease - I simply can't confirm with any particular existing or past landlord.
Ironically, the credit rating is good. Employer check is OK, too.
This is obvioiusly extremely disconcerting. Question is, on what grounds, if any, is there to deny the rental? Can you discrimiate against not being able to show a good "tenancy history" or having lived many places? Obviously, you can deny if you discover an eviction, etc, but what if you can't discover anything (except a bunch of past addresses)? What discretion is there in a case like this?
Thanks in advance for your replies!
potential tenant
Yes you can check if they were evicted. If you have prior addresses and landlord's information, not only can you call for a reference, but you can based upon which district they lived in go to or call that court and see if they have any Summary Process eviction actions against that person. The court has the ability to look up documents by the persons last name. These type of documents are avaiable to the public. This may help you to determine whether the tenant had an actual eviction action. However if they were only served a notice to vacate because their rent wasn't paid or because the landlord asked them for possesion of their property and they moved before an eviction action took place you can not see that. you may want to ask for prior landlord phone numbers for references. Some people like givernment people or people who travel for work might have several different addresses over a short period of time.