“…but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
Mark 3:29
“Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up
security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from
under you.”
Proverbs 22:26-27
Evictions are bad to have on the credit report in the rental
home game; I won’t try to gloss over that fact!
There is a reason that they are asked about on every rental application
worth its salt. Landlords do not like to
see a prior eviction come up on a prospective tenant’s dossier because it means
that things got about as bad as they could get with the tenant’s former landlord. It typically means that the tenant did not
pay, did something really against the rules, and/or would not move out of the
house. No landlord wants to have a
repeat performance; it’s a major red flag!
We like peaceful, nice relationships…
Now, there are two sides to every story. The narratives that previously evicted
tenants will tell are typically less confrontational:
My mom got really sick so I moved out of my place and
into hers to help her. My roommate at
the time stopped paying rent and my name was still on the lease so it happened.
I’ve never lived at that residence in my life! I have no idea what you’re talking about!
COVID happened.
Enough said.
I co-signed a lease for my friend so he could get into the
property. I guess he didn’t pay. I’ll need to ask him about that.
(Free advice: Please don’t co-sign for someone else. There is a reason they couldn’t get approved
on their own. The Bible even cautions
against it (see above)!)
It’s always some combination of best intentions paved with
unforeseen adversity. And I don’t doubt
that at all. But life is life and stuff
happens and will happen again. Landlords
just don’t want it to happen on their watch.
When a tenant doesn’t pay or follow the rules of the lease, experienced
landlords will try to communicate and work with the tenant to get things in compliance. There is often give-and-take and patience required
to right the ship. But sometimes the
tenant either cannot or will not do what they signed up to do. When backed into this corner, there is one nuclear
bomb that a property manager has-
filing for eviction. And this bomb is not
free. It takes a lot of human resources
to see it through, it costs the owner money while rent is not coming in (cash
flow double-whammy), and (when vacated) the rental house is usually left in
deplorable condition. It’s the downside
of real estate investment.
So when a prospective tenant claims that a landlord filed
for eviction “by mistake” or “on the 2nd day of the month after I
left for vacation when the check was still in the mail”, I’m skeptical. Filing for eviction is a last resort and one most
landlords would not take lightly. The
costs are just too high.
A “successful” eviction typically means that every rock was
turned over, every resource for payment exhausted, and nothing could be settled
outside of the courtroom. That’s not a
good reference for a renter coming in.
So, is eviction the unforgiveable sin? Is it an automatic rental application denial?
It really can’t be.
No matter how draconian the landlord, saying that a human being isn’t
worthy of having a place to live is a tough line. Bad things do happen to good people. And many people use these awful experiences to
change for the better. We all learn from
struggles and hard times and need another chance.
However, we do say that not disclosing an eviction filing on
the rental application when asked is an unforgiveable sin. If we don’t start from a position of honesty,
I don’t think differences can be bridged to make a tenancy palatable.
To determine whether a previously evicted tenant has a path for
approval, we try to focus more on the numbers and less on the story. The stories are usually compelling, but what do
the facts look like? We try to investigate:
What does their current debt level look like?
What is the length of the current employment and its real
income?
How long ago was the past eviction?
What do prior (non-evicting) landlords say?
Why are things different now?
How much cash do they have on hand to put down to mitigate
risk?
So, no, the “Rental Bible” does
not say that eviction is the unforgiveable sin.
But it is a very real red flag! Prudent
landlords will need to put in the research to determine if it is likely to
reoccur in their rental homes.
Happy Landlording!
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