Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Posting of bad tenants

Is there a site for LL to post tenants from hell that is legal? It appears that since the computer system is so accessible that it could be a beneficial thing for LL to be able to do, given they have a Unlawful Detainer filed and have either won by default or court action.

I am sure there are blacklists of tenants all over the net. BUT - I am not sure how legal it is to publish information on a tenant without their information. This is such a gray area in the law cause it is all new. I mean, we have social networks where people publish all kinds of things about others without their permission.

Posted by Denise S, PA on Monday, October 26, 2009

deadbeat-database.com

Posted by Nancy H, NY on Monday, November 16, 2009

Where I live (Ohio) you can to go to the court house to find out if a tenant had ever been evicted. I would think that you would have to take a rental application or something to prove that you were a landlord. It would be nice if you could research it online, but for some reason those records are not available on their site. I have seen websites such as this that allow landlords to post deadbeat info.

Posted by B H, OH on Monday, November 23, 2009

Report them to all Three Major Credit Bureaus, Experian – Equifax – TransUnion... http://reporttenantdebt.wordpress.com/register-here/

Posted by Stan M, CA on Monday, November 23, 2009

Stan M. Have you done this before? If I am reading correctly, you have to subscribe to their letter writing service to try to collect the debt and then they will report it? I have found this on other websites. I wish as landlords we could just report the debt ourselves as I know a letter won't do the trick in most cases.

Posted by B H, OH on Tuesday, November 24, 2009

BH.....no, I haven't used them. I believe if you have a judgement against tenant, the credit agencies would pick that up when checking court records. I myself have found that trying to collect from tenants is usually hard to do, even if I get a judgement. I find it interesting that the law doesn't find Non-Payment of Rent as theft. Try not pay a contractor for doing work on your property and see what happens. I sure hope the laws change in the near future....but I'm not holding my breath!

Posted by Stan M, CA on Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Good point Nancy H, I actually inquired w/NAIL about reporting the past due accts and was told they didn't do that, yet their website stated otherwise and at a cost of subsribing to their service.

Posted by B H, OH on Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Thanks for the info B.H. It is really annoying that a landlord can't directly report to a credit agency, but I guess that option could be abused.

Posted by Nancy H, NY on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I have been reporting tenants to the credit bureau with the national landlord association for many many years. I had one tenant that actually paid me back. He was a college student when he rented from me and left the place as a complete disaster and broke the lease. A few years later, when he wanted to remove the report from his credit to buy a new car, he had to pay me off to get it removed by NAIL.

Posted by Agnus H, AR on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I too have had many experiences....by placing a judgement unpaid on someones record will make it very difficult for then to secure financing. Ihave had people come back years later to pay the debt so they can clear their credit.

Posted by Denise S, PA on Monday, November 30, 2009

The credit bureaus require a minimum number of accounts reported per month. This minimum makes it impossible for a landlord to report tenant debt to the bureaus directly themselves. For a landlord to report tenant debt to the credit bureaus it must be done via a collection agency. There are several companies that report tenant debt. The one I prefer is the one Stan M. recommends. The letter they send is a bonus and I have not found a service less expensive. It is a bargain. Bill Gray www.thelandlorddoctor.com www.theinformedlandlord.com

Posted by Bill G, FL on Tuesday, December 01, 2009