past eviction - what are options for moving?

My husband & I are trying to move from our San Francisco apt to a cheaper area in California. He's been in this apartment almost 5 years with no problems. In getting our credit report, he found out that he has an eviction from an apartment that he rented with an old friend - the eviction happened four years ago after he'd moved out. His name was not taken off the lease as he had requested. He was never told about the eviction & wasn't able to take any legal recourse at the time.

Bottom line - what are our options for moving? Will any property management company even look at us? Will this be an issue? What approach should we take.


Thanks - dmaraduey

Ahhhhh the joys of VERBAL agreements.......

Does he owe any money? if so then pay it today!

I dont think there is much you can do except ask the companies to accept a 100 word letter to be attached to your report stating he was not living there and the landlord agreed to take his name off the lease and lied. So when they sued the other roomate, they had to put ALL parties on the lease in the lawsuit.

In more and more areas of the country, there are speciality credit bureaus which make a point of gathering the eviction court data. They then sell the accumulated info to other landlords. Local landlord participation varies from 10% to 80%. CA is one of the tightest rental markets with most landlords using such a bureau.

The most professional of landlords will automatically reject any application with an eviction listed for the last 7 years. Before you pay a non-refundable application fee, you would be wise to ask if this is their policy.

A majority of landlords will want to know about the old eviction, up front at the time of the application. If you try to hide it, the hiding effort, by itself, will get you rejected. Otherwise, you will need to explain (as you have) the reason for the old eviction entry. The landlord will then look at your current rental status under a microscope. Pray that your current relationship can hold up under the intense scrutiny. If you’ve kept your nose clean these past 5 years, you’ll probably get the apartment (if no other applicant “scores” better, etc.).

For the lowest priced of places, the landlord will only want to feel good that you have a fighting chance to pay the rent. He won’t care about history.

So, the answer is mostly a function of how nice of a place you will try to rent. The nicer the place, the more professional the landlord.


Gene