renting with a criminal background

[Alexis W.]

my spouse has a felony where adjudication of guilt was withheld. theft in the workplace for a small amount but large enough to reach the felony threshold. It was so stupid; we fell out about it and then reconciled. This happened 2 years ago. Having owned a home for 9 years before hand, I had no idea how much this would be an issue until we relocated to a new city and had to find an apartment. Right now only my name is on the lease, but we are in a big complex. Rent paid on the first every month for the past 10 months but I want to move because this place was a quick move for a new job and we need something better.

What can I do to show that there we are good tenants? The word "felon" strikes fear in every property management company I deal with. I want to do things the right way and put both our names on the application but his background seems to be a huge barrier. As long as rent is paid on time and there are no hassles, do rental property owners really care about this? I'm not sure if this is the place to ask so I will try the landlord forum as well.

[Alexis W.]

As you all were kind enough to respond, I thought I was share the good news that we were able to find a place. We paid for our own background screening; the incident does show up. I put that together with our other court documentation and a summary letter so I could provide all that info when asked. The next place we applied accepted this.