Tenant lied on rental application regarding criminal history

[Divya Sosa]

Hello,

I had a unit up for rental (a townhome) and received an application from Zillow which showed that she has no criminal history and credit score was good as well. I did all my other due diligence like asking for paystubs, W2s, Tax returns, Employment verification, bank statements etc etc and did not see any red flags overall. I did not do a separate criminal background check as I trusted the info from Zillow (Big lesson learned never to trust the Zillow data again in life). We signed the lease and the tenant moved in the unit in Nov. After they moved in, we started to get some mild complains from our neighbors (for the rented unit which was our primary residence until we moved out in another house a few miles away).

1. Within a couple of days, our neighbor said that they smelled weed from the backyard. (Ok I get it that its 2024 and people smoke weed). I gently asked the tenant if she smelled weed in the backyard and she claimed that she does not smoke anything so she does not know etc etc.

2. Some neighbors also told me that there seems to be more people living in the house (on the lease its supposed to be the lady and her two kids 4 YO and 8 or 9 YO). But the neighbors feel that there are two more adults for sure.

3. And some other small but strange things. No complaints from neighbors about any loud noise or erratic behavior or anything. But they all seem to feel that their overall behavior is just not the best. 

I felt like checking a little bit more so I ran a proper background check on her and was shocked to find that she has multiple felonies including jail time. Starting from 2016 she has several things like giving false information to law enforcement officers, Shop lifting, battery and more giving false identity to law enforcement officers and then the felony for identity theft. The felony was as recent as 2020 so I am not sure how Zillow report did not show that but anyway. 

My question is - Shall I simply not take a chance with her and inform her that I have found discrepancy on her application and her background and just ask her to evict? Ofcourse I am planning to consult a lawyer first. 

One of my friend happens to be a RE agent, landlord and a property manager himself and he seems to feel that as long as she pays rent on time and does not create nuisance, not to worry much and just keep do a quarterly property inspection. If anything is obvious like a solid proof of more people living in the house or signs of smoking in the house or if she misses even one rent payment then start the eviction process. I trust his advise but I feel that its not worth taking a chance and I should ask her to politely leave based on the fact that she has lied on her application. 

Suggestions?

[Niyi Adewole]

Quote from @Divya Sosa:

Hello,

I had a unit up for rental (a townhome) and received an application from Zillow which showed that she has no criminal history and credit score was good as well. I did all my other due diligence like asking for paystubs, W2s, Tax returns, Employment verification, bank statements etc etc and did not see any red flags overall. I did not do a separate criminal background check as I trusted the info from Zillow (Big lesson learned never to trust the Zillow data again in life). We signed the lease and the tenant moved in the unit in Nov. After they moved in, we started to get some mild complains from our neighbors (for the rented unit which was our primary residence until we moved out in another house a few miles away).

1. Within a couple of days, our neighbor said that they smelled weed from the backyard. (Ok I get it that its 2024 and people smoke weed). I gently asked the tenant if she smelled weed in the backyard and she claimed that she does not smoke anything so she does not know etc etc.

2. Some neighbors also told me that there seems to be more people living in the house (on the lease its supposed to be the lady and her two kids 4 YO and 8 or 9 YO). But the neighbors feel that there are two more adults for sure.

3. And some other small but strange things. No complaints from neighbors about any loud noise or erratic behavior or anything. But they all seem to feel that their overall behavior is just not the best. 

I felt like checking a little bit more so I ran a proper background check on her and was shocked to find that she has multiple felonies including jail time. Starting from 2016 she has several things like giving false information to law enforcement officers, Shop lifting, battery and more giving false identity to law enforcement officers and then the felony for identity theft. The felony was as recent as 2020 so I am not sure how Zillow report did not show that but anyway. 

My question is - Shall I simply not take a chance with her and inform her that I have found discrepancy on her application and her background and just ask her to evict? Ofcourse I am planning to consult a lawyer first. 

One of my friend happens to be a RE agent, landlord and a property manager himself and he seems to feel that as long as she pays rent on time and does not create nuisance, not to worry much and just keep do a quarterly property inspection. If anything is obvious like a solid proof of more people living in the house or signs of smoking in the house or if she misses even one rent payment then start the eviction process. I trust his advise but I feel that its not worth taking a chance and I should ask her to politely leave based on the fact that she has lied on her application. 

Suggestions?

 Hi Divya, 

Lying on an application is frustrating and if it was caught prior to them moving into the home i would not accept the tenant. That being said they have already moved in, and this is the slow season for renting homes. As a landlord that at one point had 30 long term rental units, I agree with the advice from your friend. I would be prepared to file for eviction etc. if they are 1 day late on payment, but would not actively be working to get them out if there is not a blatant current violation of the lease agreement. 

Once renewal period comes up (if they've been paying on time and causing no trouble) you can decide if you want to keep them or move on.