Sharing Info Illegal?

[Catherine Angle]

Hey all, 

I've had this question in the back of my mind for a while. Many landlords say they wish they could share how awful/bad their tenants were for various reasons (not paying on time, trashing the place, leaving without notice, etc.)

Is it legal or illegal for landlords to share information of their tenants? And I'm just talking about first and last name basis here... no sharing S.S. numbers or anything like that. 

I looked into and read the Landlord Tenant Act for Arizona and didn't find anything about sharing that info or privacy. I'm not sure if I missed it or it isn't there. 

Would love some help on this. Thanks!

[Nick G.]

@Catherine Angle Nope, not illegal at all, and it's why smart landlords call a tenant's past landlord references. 

However, it's worth keeping in mind that if you are calling the landlord that the tenant is currently departing from, I personally don't think their testimony is as reliable as the landlords' before them. Why?

If a less-than-ethical landlord has a horrendous tenant, that landlord may tell me all kinds of positive things about them - whatever it takes in order to get me to accept them, since it means they get to be rid of the problem tenant.

Similarly, if a tenant upsets a landlord on their way out of a property, even if the tenant is totally in the right and the landlord is totally in the wrong - that landlord may feel spiteful and badmouth an otherwise perfectly good tenant.

I don't say any of this to discredit calling past references, I believe in it wholeheartedly and think it's a must-do. I simply just put a little more faith into what previous landlords say, as opposed to the one they're currently leaving, and never rely too heavily on a single avenue of diligence.