Giving a tenant with eviction a second chance?

Question

Our shared room doesn't have many applicants to choose from, and one of the applicants had an evicted record of her background. She communicated this with me first. She stated it was because she was in a complicated situation at the moment.

So far she's great, getting a new job, very on point with the communication and she also has government support that guarantees to pay her rent for 6 months, the payment is well enough to cover her rent.

I'm considering giving her a second chance. Have any of you provided an opportunity to someone after an eviction, and did it turn out positively? If so, what additional precautions did you take? I am very interested to hear from you guys.

Glen Wiley · Answer

I have and I have regretted it every single time. I will never give a second chance to another applicant with an eviction. You will almost certainly regret it. No rent received without a tenant is better than no rent received with a tenant.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Giving first time renters a chance is fine. Giving a previously evicted person on a  Govt payment program a second chance is not. You are not running a charity here, it's a business.

Joel Oh · Answer

I have dealt with 2000+ tenants and 50k+ prospects. They always blame the landlord but any sane landlord wouldn’t want to take a huge risk of unit damage for an eviction case over a forgiving debt for immediate move-out. 80% of eviction cases damage the unit severely. What a wonderful people haha. It is just the same as felony records. You simply don’t get a felony record that easily whatever they say. Never trust prospects and what they say. Just do it in the same manner as a job interview. It will save you a fortune and headache.

Joel Oh · Answer

Just to let you know, in the current United States housing law system, tenants get a multiple chance to avoid eviction. People who got evicted and have it on their record are people who fully neglected their responsibilities. If you think about it, any reasonable landlord rather have a cash to key offer or forgiving debt option to avoid the expensive & time-consuming eviction process.

These people with the eviction record are really at the bottom of society. Not sure why would anyone give them a second chance unless you are a slumlord or abusing the government rent support system which it sounds like you are considering.

Don’t ever take people with the record. You will 100% regret it.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Set standards and stick to them. You will come across many applicants that can talk a good story and appear to be honest, but their record doesn't like. She was in a difficult situation and had to be forced out? What makes you think she won't get into a difficult situation again?

If you accept every sob story people tell you, being a landlord will be a difficult road.

Adam Martin · Answer

I'm seeing more than a couple strikes here which make me really want to question what is great about her outside of the 6 months of guaranteed rent which is great but may be just kicking the can down the road.  Getting evicted and having an eviction filed against you 2 different things.  Things happen and I get that they were in bad circumstances however they actively chose to freeload and not leave causing the eviction to have to go through and most likely pushed it until they were removed by the sheriff.  Maybe if it was a long time ago and they had a good job history and credit it wouldn't be as much of a risk but they are getting a new job that who knows if it will work out.  They are currently moving, have you asked why as I'd be very suspicious that they are being evicted.  I'd wager they have told you they are paying cash so you can't double check, they are not.  This is a house hack so you are going to be living with this person so I'd be more vs. less strict.  It will be stressful evicting a tenant.  Multiply that by a significant multiplier when you are evicting someone under the same roof that you see every day.  Vacancy is expensive but part of the business however I'd rather not being getting paid for an empty unit I'm trying to fill than take my chances and end up with not getting paid from a tenant who won't leave.  Also if they got evicted once there is a decent chance that was not their only offense.  If you look at most any post about a problem tenant there is always at least 1 person who will quickly recommend cash for keys where you pay them to leave. They get away with a clean record and money in their pocket with no warning for the next victim and have been conditioned to try it again.

While I wouldn't take the chance on this one there was 1 time I did rent to someone with an eviction a few years prior and it worked out fine.  He was a Marine stationed in CA and when he got out he subleased and they did not pay.  He had moved so he never got the notification but his address verification checked out so I took the chance.  They stayed 3 years and bought a house.  This was early on as a landlord but even though it worked out I probably wouldn't do it again. I did fine during Covid but it has really made me take a harder look at my screening and upped my standards.

Tony Huynh · Answer

Thank you, Alecia. That's something I need to work on too. I try to be open-minded and give opportunities to others but also don't like the risks that come with it.

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Tony Huynh I would consider it.

I’ve given several 1st time renters a chance and they’ve always turned out fine.

To me it would depend on if it was the last place they lived which would then make it a hard pass to me or if it was a couple of places ago where I would then probably consider it.

I’m willing to give someone a second chance but not stupid enough to be the one who takes them in right after they got evicted.

Alan Asriants · Answer

Got to agree here, these people usually have a lot of opportunities to make peace with the landlord

But I have to point out, that I have seen a case or two where the landlord was the scum and was just trying to screw a tenant.

Can certainly say that most of the times thought that is not the case.

I'd avoid tenants with eviction history and poor landlord references. That's why you screen them...

Would rather lower the price or improve the space to find a higher quality tenant, of course if those things don't help then likely it is the area that is the issue when it comes to finding higher quality tenants.

Mary Smith · Answer

@Tony Huynh I have given several tenants like this a second chance and they turned out just fine. It's great that she mentioned this to you upfront rather than hiding this fact on her rental application, which I see as a good sign!