Landlords suck.

August 25, 2006 9:23 AM

A potential new landlord told me that while my credit report came back a-ok, an issue came up on my "tenant report." I know this to be in error (the alleged "issue" occured before I even moved in to my current place). So do I have a right to view the report on me, like I do for credit? Whom do I contact in order to fix this item? They were very sketchy with the details, and this whole thing has left me even more jaded about renting. What rights do I have in regards to these "issues" and "reports"? Who does them? Are they legit? Do I have any recourse whatsoever?

I found a couple questions on these reports from the landlord's perspective, but none from the renter's.

posted by ChasFile to law & government (7 comments total)

It seems to me that whether or not you are legally entitled to see a copy of this, it would be in the landlord's best interest to show it to you if you say there's a discrepency.

If he/she isn't willing to do so and let you give your side of the story, you don't want to rent from him/her anyway. There are good landlords out there, and bad ones are perpetuated by people who are willing to compromise everything for what looks like a nice living space. In my bitter experience, it's never worth it. If you hear alarm bells, walk away.
posted by autojack at 9:44 AM on August 25, 2006

we had this same problem once upon a time. ask them what address is showing the problem - in our case it was a town where we never lived. That is all they would tell me, so i got the name of the service they used and ordered the report for myself. my husband's name is Paul with middle intial A. This was a PAULA with the same last name as us. Those reports are not done by social security number (or ours wasn't) so it could be a majorly stupid thing like that. We didn't have to follow up to get the apartment rented, and didn't need to remove it since it wasn't him to begin with, so i don't know if you can do that. I would think you should be given a chance to refute this.
posted by domino at 9:50 AM on August 25, 2006

I'd investigate the protections provided by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as I believe they apply not only to credit reports, but also to reports like this, as well as reports from compaines like CheckFree, etc. My gut tells me you have a right to request a copy of the report, and to report information as inaccurate and have it removed promptly.
posted by JakeWalker at 9:55 AM on August 25, 2006

Check with the 3 credit bureaus. Call them and emphasize that you want the free report. (At least, in Canada, they have to give you the option of a free report, which is done by mail.) When you get it, review it and make any changes. You're allowed to list comments and have corrections made.
posted by acoutu at 2:40 PM on August 25, 2006

You'd need to ask him what he means by "tenant report". It may be a special contract service, or something as simple as what he heard from one of your references. Ask what info raised concerns for him, and what evidence he (personally) will need to prove that you are in fact an excellent tenant.

If he's not willing to reveal anything, or refuses to consider evidence to the contrary, just move along with gratitude for having gotten early warning that being his tenant would not have been fun.

Don't sweat this "tenant report" thing. The majority of landlords go by either
a) gut feeling (mom and pop operations), or
b) straight credit check (management companies)
Surprisingly few, outside of the exclusive/upscale developments or in really hot markets like NYC, bother to even call references -- let alone run some background checking service. So odds are, whatever misinformation he received isn't likely to affect your next application. Even if it were to happen again, you can do the same thing: ask for the bad info and a chance to refute it.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 4:02 PM on August 25, 2006

Find out what the heck a "tenant report" is, first. It's not something I've heard of and could well be something offered by the likes of Intelius, who are notorious for having erroneous information.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 4:14 PM on August 25, 2006

Echoing those who have never heard of a tenant report -- and this is after years of working in property management. Therefore, I have no idea if you have any recourse, but it seems strange that the landlord would mention it but not want to show you the report and/or give enough details so you can explain the issues. In my experience, if someone has good credit, the landlord wants to work with a prospective tenant to iron out any obstacles to their leasing. And I'd tend to think, if the tenant report problem isn't credit-related, it's probably indicating something weird (and, obviously, possibly untrue) -- I'd think simple human curiosity would inspire the landlord to inquire further.

(Semi- ashamed to say...my favorite part of my job was dealing with the non-rent related problems with tenants -- the hoarders, the "suspicious activities," the truly bizarre. Maybe your prospective landlord is more jaded than I.)
posted by justonegirl at 8:29 PM on August 25, 2006