What do you consider an eviction

[Brady Boyer]

When you ask a potential applicant if they have ever been evicted what do you consider an eviction?

1.) Do you consider an eviction to mean any time a previous landlord or 

2.) Only is they have ever been removed from the property (i.e. after the law suit has been won by the landlord and they apply for possession)?  

[Kyle J.]

@Brady Boyer It looks like your first question got cut off, but I think I get the gist of what you were asking.

On my rental application, I ask applicants the following question: "Have you ever been evicted, or had an eviction notice served on you, or been asked to move?"

Personally, I definitely don't want a tenant that has been formally evicted.  However, I also don't want a tenant that has gone through the majority of the eviction process, but perhaps doesn't have a formal eviction judgment against them because they got all the way to the court date and came to some sort of negotiated arrangement where they just moved out in lieu of being formally evicted. 

In my state, it can take a lot of wasted time and money to get to that point, and if they made another landlord go through all that, it's a hard pass from me.  I don't care whether or not the case resulted in a formal judgment against them or not.  The fact that it even got to the point of being filed is enough for me to not consider them. 

That's why I phrase the question on my application the way I do.