Due to changes in housing laws and also due prudence being practiced by apartments leasing offices, many apartments now conduct credit checks and even background checks on all their tenants. One of the reasons why they do this on all their tenants is so that they are not accused of discriminatory renting practices. They also do this in order to save themselves money later in the form of damage or lawsuits arising from a problem-tenant. So do all the apartments conduct credit checks and background checks? The simple answer is yes and no. Most of them do but there are a significant number that do not. So how does one go about finding those that don’t?
First of all, if you have bad credit or have a criminal record, or both, you must assume that the apartment complex will pull this information, so our advice is to arm yourself with a contingency plan in case this is required.
One of the best places to look for an apartment if you have unsound credit or a criminal history is on Craiglist. Craigslist.org is an online classified ad marketplace where people from all over the world post ads for free or for a small fee (most are free). You can simply select your city and look in the apartment or housing for rent section to find many apartments. Conduct a search for “apartments without credit check or criminal record” or simply “approval regardless of bad credit or criminal record” and you will come up with apartments whose rules and regulations are lax towards people in that kind of situation.
Another excellent way to find an apartment if you have spotty credit is to look for apartments that are owned by individuals. While it is true many of them are now conducting background checks and credit checks as well, a sizable number of them are not. A private landlord can be a great way to get approved for an apartment if you have bad credit or a criminal record.
Sometimes you may need to run a wanted ad where you state that you have an excellent job, are a quiet tenant who minds their own business and also mention that your credit is not spotless and see which landlords will respond to you.