Domestic Violence in Background Check

[Brad T.]

Hello Everyone,

  I have a house up for rent right now and some prospective tenants are interested in renting the house, but the husband and the wife both have domestic violence charges on their records.  They have been up front about their records.  I know that we need to treat all applicants equally, but what are your requirements for this type of issue?  Do you turn down all applicants with any type of criminal records?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Brad

[Michele Fischer]

We normally accept DV offenses, but we operate in low income properties.  The risk to you is that they damage the property if they get physical or that they disturb the peace if they flight loudly.  This is telling you that they are both volatile personality types and tend to let things escalate rather than being calm and rational, which could come across in their dealings with you.

If you are in a higher end market or have other less drama prone choices in tenants I would pass.  If you decide to proceed, I would ask for a bigger deposit to mitigate your risk, make your rules and expectations clear, and I would contact the police station to see if you can get notification of any police calls to the property.  Our city has this option if landlords opt in.

As far as fair housing goes, whether criminals are a protected class seems to fall into the "it depends" realm.  But unless you have local rules, you should be able to set your standards and as long as you apply them consistently, not have issues.   As you sort out what you want your standards to be, make sure you are consistent through filling this vacancy, making any adjustments with the next vacancy.  If you are collecting a screening fee you may have to have published criteria available so applicants aren't wasting their money knowing they will be denied.