Am I allowed to ask potential tenants if they ever stopped paying

[Cory Melious]

I have received an incredibly high amount of interest in my 2 bedroom, fairly basic apartment.

One thought I've wondered to myself is if some of these interested people are facing an eviction now that the moratorium is ending. I'm not sure if NY state has continued their moratorium since the CDC kind of took over that role.

Is it legal/wise/an option to ask tenants straight up if they ever stopped paying rent to their prior landlord during the economic shutdown?

This property is located in upstate NY FWIW.

[Nathan Gesner]

You can ask anything you want. Do you think someone would stop paying rent and then be honest about that with a future Landlord? Probably not. You should be asking that question of their former Landlord. With the eviction moratorium in place for over a year, it's even more important that you check the previous Landlord's during that time to verify there were no problems.

If you get an "incredibly high amount of interest" in a rental then there's a good chance that it's under-priced. Make sure you check your valuation. I'm in a very hot market this year, but I still only get 2-5 applications on each rental. Getting ten or more is an indication you've priced it too low.