Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I have an applicant about 29 or 30 who has a felony record for sexual misconduct w/minor. It was when he was 21 and his girl friend was 16. He is not a child molestor and has a good job. Do I have any obligation to other tenants if I decide to rent to him.

I don't believe so. If he's good otherwise, I would lease to him. As an aside, a friend of mine was... intoxicated, one night, and was written up for public urination. Literally 2 months later they changed the laws in MA to make that a sex offense, which would have put him on the website with his picture and everything. I personally find that ridiculous, but hey, what do I know, I'm just a tax-paying citizen who thinks we should be focusing on real molesters, and not fellow tax-paying citizens with their master's who occasionally have a drink or ten.

Posted by Gregory T, CA on Friday, May 6, 2011

When I was 20 I dated a 17 year old. People in their mid-late teens have relationships and sometimes even (gasp) $ex. It happens.

Posted by Ralph F, CA on Friday, May 6, 2011

In keeping with the site, Landlords, and not the morality of what happened when he was younger... I do not believe states have a policy that you must tell the tenants. However, if a tenant finds out that you brought someone in with the history (primarily when they have children themselves) you could find yourself with a backlash if you haven't talked to them before hand. I have seen this before, the landlords wanted to tell the two other tenants of the situation to get a feel for how they felt about it. One had two young kids the other tenant had none but was a single young lady. They met the guy and didn't have a problem so they allowed them in. Make sure you really do your background checks and everything is good. The reason why the sex offender was looking to move was because the tenants were supposedly taking things into their own hands and making the situation hard to live for the sex offender. After the move in, reasons above and beyond the sex offender title became apparent as to why other tenants didn't want him there (and no, he wasn't continuing the sexual misconduct).

Posted by Eric D, NH on Friday, May 6, 2011

I believe awareness of criminal History, insofar as sex offenses should be a consideration before renting to a tenant with Felony Sex offenses as there are potential liability and safety issues where minors in the immediate area are concerned. Not to say all sex offenses deal with minors but caution in cases like that is a must.

Posted by L S, IN on Tuesday, September 27, 2011