Credit Reporting Agencies no longer reporting judgement on renter

[Edward Briley]

I have a rental property in which my tenant stiffed me for more than $8,000 for stealing, damaging property and late rental payments.  My rental agent filed against the tenant and I received little more than a $4,000 judgement against the tenant, which I doubt I will ever see a penny of those losses. 

To add insult to injury, my rental agent told me that those kind of judgments are no longer included on credit reports.   I was told that just started in the last 3 to 4 months.  Matter of fact, the only thing they can do at present is to check into court reports to get that kind of information.  

I have some questions?  

Why could I not file charges against the tenant for stealing appliances?  I contacted the police about this matter, and was told it was a civil matter, and that law enforcement would not take a police report for theft?  The appliances were less than 10 years old, and the judge refused to include them in the judgement because of their age.   I did not get a judgement for the custom drapes either, that cost well over 2 thousand dollars.

Is the rental agent responsible for the tenant taking the appliances and draperies?  Someone told me that because I turned it the property over to a rental agent, that the rental agent was responsible for the property inside the home.

Has anyone heard that credit agencies no longer report late rental payments on housing or even judgments when it pertains to real estate leasing or rentals?  

It is hard enough at present to collect rents from tenants, how am I protected now from tenants not paying their rent or past rents from other landlords, when it does not effect the tenants credit score.  My agent does extensive background checks on every application, however, now it will be nearly impossible to check to see if they have been a good tenant in the past, paying their rent on time, or paying it at all. 

[Stuart Warsawsky]

....as a licensed mortgage loan officer I can confirm the judgments and foreclosures do not show anymore on the credit reports.   I have to ask the borrower if they "know" of any judgments etc....   In essence, I may qualify the borrower and get a loan moving just to find out when the Title comes back that I'm dead in the water because of judgments or liens on an existing or prior property that never were addressed.   

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