Do I Have Any Rights???

What is the name of your state? Texas

I have rented various apartments over the past 5 years and have great rental history. However in the last couple of years my credit has become very poor due to financial difficulty I suffered when my company went out of business. I am currently living in an apartment and am looking to relocate to a new city this summer (in Texas.) Because my credit is so poor I am willing and able to simply pay my entire 6 month lease plus deposits up front. However, I am told by several different apartment complexes that they will not allow me to do this. If my credit denies my application w/ the apartment (which it will) they cannot "override" that and allow me to pay my entire lease upfront! The only thing I can do is have a co-signer sign for me (which I don't have.)

My understanding of them checking your credit is to determine what risk you are of paying your rent each month. If I am paying all of my rent upfront why should my credit matter? Do I have any rights? Can these apartment complexes just refuse to allow me to live there because of credit problems completely unrelated to renting....my money is just no good?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

[FarmerJ]

A few states may have regulations barring such a thing . But you know your free to try to go that route you just might have to try several LLs BTW you do realise that a few LLs will assume the money was Ill gotten . But keep trying you never know what you might find as you keep pitching pre payment .

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by jennyboo8
What is the name of your state? Texas

I have rented various apartments over the past 5 years and have great rental history. However in the last couple of years my credit has become very poor due to financial difficulty I suffered when my company went out of business. I am currently living in an apartment and am looking to relocate to a new city this summer (in Texas.) Because my credit is so poor I am willing and able to simply pay my entire 6 month lease plus deposits up front. However, I am told by several different apartment complexes that they will not allow me to do this. If my credit denies my application w/ the apartment (which it will) they cannot "override" that and allow me to pay my entire lease upfront! The only thing I can do is have a co-signer sign for me (which I don't have.)

My understanding of them checking your credit is to determine what risk you are of paying your rent each month. If I am paying all of my rent upfront why should my credit matter? Do I have any rights? Can these apartment complexes just refuse to allow me to live there because of credit problems completely unrelated to renting....my money is just no good?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

**A: the answer is yes. I have had offers from prospects willing to pay for an entire 12 months lease in cash. The applicants had a poor credit history and they were also drug dealers and hookers. So yes, it is legal to refuse cash based on an unacceptable credit history.