Applicant With 2 Recent Domestic Battery Arrests

[Katrina Cebrian]

I have an applicant who has a relatively recent history of two domestic battery arrests but no convictions. Can I legally reject his application based on this? 

A little background- my husband and I are newbie buy and hold investors with two brand new construction SFRs that we built to rent. The first one rented easy peasy with lovely perfect tenants (beginner’s luck) and we are screening for this second property. I do not feel comfortable renting to someone who seems to be violent and volatile and who may have a drinking problem- one of the incidents involved him trying to run his girlfriend (and mother of his child )off the road with his vehicle while she was driving her own vehicle. We want to protect our investment and keep this neighborhood safe. 

Can I legally (in the state of Florid) reject his application based on arrests without conviction for this violent crime? I really don’t want to have to deal with this sort of drama and he just sounds like bad news.

I would love some ideas on how to handle this. Thank you!