Tenant recommendations -- Liability

[Michael B.]

I got a call from a landlord in another city yesterday asking about a young couple that rented from me for a while a few years back. They were great tenants and I gave a glowing recommendation.

But that got me thinking. Most companies don't give employment recommendations anymore. They're afraid they'll get sued because an employee says something that's no true, or at least not provably true. Nowadays about the only thing large companies will say is something like "John worked here from mm/dd/yyyy until mm/dd/yyyy."

Has anybody ever heard of landlords getting sued or threatened for giving bad reviews to tenants. Especially when the parting is acrimonious with fights over amount of damage, etc.

I've never heard of a landlord ending up with legal problems over giving a bad recommendation. Just wondering if anybody else has.

[Steve Babiak]

Because I now give my screening criteria in advance of taking an application, and contacting landlords is one of the last checks I do (first is income, then criminal, then credit and evictions) - I usually have found some other reason for rejection before contacting any landlords. And the input you get from other landlords is quite varied; there will be big PM / complexes that no longer have the tenant records (so you'll get nothing), and there will be big PM / complexes who have very detailed records (and they will give you info the is pertinent). Mom-and-pop landlords is also mixed, although they do tend to at least have some recollection even if they don't have any records any longer.

Myself, I tell the tenants that I will always try to be honest, regardless of how I might have to answer. In doing so, I believe it helps in having the tenant keep on their best behavior. And when I am contacted, if there is some extensive list of questions, I request it in writing; if just the normal - "was rent on time?" "how much was rent?" "what was move out condition?" "did tenant cause excessive repairs or maintenance?" "how long were they there?" "did they give proper notice?" "did they violate lease at any time?" - those I want to just give verbal to get it over with quicker.

I've never heard of any landlord having problems due to bad recommendations.