rental train wreck has $ but lousy history

[Pops Warner]

hi, my rental history for the last ten years or so reads like the story of a troublesome gaurd dog. i slept at night in the office of a check cashing business at a strip mall; i stayed in the show room of an antiques store; i lived in a warehouse without the owner's knowledge that i was sleeping there. for the last few months i have been living in a cheap hotel but they raised the rate. the owner of the check cashing place does not want to tell anyone that i was living there. the antiques store owner was literally insane and is now an unreachable transient. the owner of the warehouse learned of the situation as i was moving out and so is not a good spokesperson. the twist here is that a moneyed relative wants to pay my rent on a more permanent place. they will cover 2k/month no problem. how do i approach prospective landlords? should i find an agent? 

[Patti Robertson]

If your relative is willing to be a leasee and they will easily qualify, you aren’t going to have an issue.  Have you been using their address as your legal mailing address?  If so, it would be easiest to just use their address as your last address rather than saying you were essentially squatting in commercial spaces.  They will need to complete a rental application along with you.