Would you rent to person with one bogus check in past?

[Jon K.]

Roommate situation, where they will share my house.

I found a potential roommate who works in the financial industry.

This person had a court case within the past year where they had a bogus check. The result was "disposed" with fees. It appears that they paid this back after the issue. I only see one bogus check case in their past.

Person works full-time, does online school as well.

Should I require all cash payments?
Should I check credit? Rental references?

Would you rent to this person.... in a roommate/shared living situation?

[Mark H.]

Not enough information to make a decision for me, I'd run credit and talk to references first.
If they weren't convicted of a felony, the check charge by itself wouldn't disqualify them from my rentals. If they got it dismissed, it means they probably hired a lawyer & defended themselves, which isn't typical deadbeat behavior.

If they work in the financial field, it's possible that stiffing you in the future means they lose employment, so that alone could be a big stick for you. CPA's with bad credit or judgements aren't really employable. That's a good thing for the landlord.

[Eric Blackford]

In a word, no. No recent bad check payments, especially within the last 12 months (any bad credit or negative financial issues need to be 24-30 months in the past), no evictions...ever, no domestic violence in the last 10 years, no violent crime cases in the last 20 years and the list goes on. Especially in your own house.

[Bill Gulley]

As mentioned, this does not sound like dead beat behavior, the check was probably made good prior to court. Charges are brought by the prosecutor and sounds like there were no fines imposed since it was probably made good in a timely manner. So, what did the guy do, forget to deduct the service fees, did he fail to record a check and bring his balance forward? If he makes payments like that and pays them as demonstrated, I'd still take a check from the guy, I'd bet he doesn't want to see that judge (or any judge) again a second time.

And you mentioned he worked in "finance", that's a pretty broad area, but in many jobs in this field, if you write a bad check you're likely to get fired! An incentive to never let it happen again.... :)

[Eric Blackford]

Agree that one bad check case doesn't sound like deadbeat behavior. However, my issue with a bad check court case is it took time, effort, and money on the part of the plaintiff to get it to court. Now, if you want to potentially have to make that effort, then disregard recent court cases such as this. Once a person has gone 24-30 months past such a court case, thus showing that this isn't a pattern of behavior, then I can see allowing the issue to pass.

[Jon K.]

Supposedly this person works in payroll/accountanting. This person makes between $30,000-40,000 per year.

Makes me wonder.... were they broke? One accidental mistake?
If this could be an accidental bank overdraft, I would be more understanding... though someone in the financial field should be better at numbers. And, within the past year.. yikes.

Outcome says disposed with costs. It appears that he paid it back, had an attorney, and paid amount plus court fees.

Currently lives with someone they know, but wants own place. They could have saved up some money living with this person, so there may be less financial difficultly than last year.

It sounds like the career field makes it less likely for them to bounce rent on me. That's a plus!

[Bill Gulley]

Just a note, in some places the payee may have to go down to the courthouse and file. But some store might simply mail it with a form letter to the prosecutor and the they carry the ball without the payee being involved. The latter used here, there are so many bad checks, there is a special division for this matter. The system is very payee friendly..... :)

I'd be more concerned why this guy making 30-40K is having to move in with a roommate and sharing a house.....is rent that high there? What's with that, just wanting to save money?

[Jon K.]

Ah, interesting how the system works.

Wanting this immediate area.... there are extremely few rentals in my immediate area. Next to none, except a few houses for rent that start at $2000 plus utilities for the smaller ones. Deposits are usually a month or so of rent, so they'd have to come up with $4000 to move into a house like that. Plus utilities.

A small, less nice not too far away apartment would be about $600-800ish for an efficiency or small one bedroom. A nice apartment... over a grand. An apartment in an ickier area would only be maybe $500ish. Not insane rents here, but I think the person wants to save money. They're in school, and from what I can tell, have child support payments of $200 a month.

If they're making $35,000, I think that's about $1800 take home after taxes. Seems like they should be able to afford more than a roommate situation, but sort of understandable if they're paying for child support, car payment, college tuition.

They also don't want a long-term lease, which I'm cool with. Most apartments and houses here want at least a year lease,... but I don't mind shorter.

The person currently lives with someone they know, but wants a quieter more private place to focus on their studies at night. This person is over 30 years old, not a younger college kid.

[Dave M.]

If you haven't already, ask him for the details. If he is evasive with his answer that will tell you enough. On the other hand, if you are comfortable with his answer you may want to proceed.

Credit report may help as well. Rental history may or may not tell you much if he's always lived with someone he knows. Although, that person may be looking to get him out...

[James H.]

I was once arrested at the DMV during a license renewal for a hot check I wrote 5 years prior that I was unaware of...to Dominoes Pizza. I couldn't/can't even remeber writing the check, but they furnished me with the evidence. In any case, it was an honest mistake and I paid the fines and the charges were dismissed. I suppose you could ask for a bank statement to evaluate if they save money/have savings or if they just live hand to mouth.

[Steve Babiak]

Originally posted by Jon K.:

...

Currently lives with someone they know, but wants own place. ...

Currently a roommate, and is moving in with you as a roommate if you accept him - where's the distinction of "own place"?

The conviction is either a felony or misdemeanor, and my rental criteria spell out under what conditions I accept an applicant with a criminal record. Within one year would not qualify.

[Steve Babiak]

BTW - you don't give the henhouse keys to the fox ...

What other obligations will come up with him where YOUR personal possessions from inside your house will be used to get quick cash?

[Jon K.]

The person lives with their significant other. They want a quiet place to study/work in the evenings, and ultimately plan to move back in with significant other. I met significant other, too.

Good point about being concerned about my possessions, too.

Aside from the bogus check, the person just told me they're an outside smoker. That's a dealbreaker to me, unless possibly I just can't find anyone else. Hate the smell of smoke... too hard to get that smell out of houses, and even if they smoke outside only, they still bring the smell in. This person smelled like smoke when they came to see the place, but I thought it was their significant other who smelled a few feet away of smoke. Yuck.