I going through a pre-screening on an applicant and uncovered an eviction that occurred a bit over 5 years ago. What's your policy on past evictions? It's his only eviction and the judgment of $ 2200 was probably not paid. The case appeared to involve him and a female; most likely his girlfriend. Other than a couple of 22 year old DUI cases, he looks okay.

Heard a quote today that applies to this. I don’t have the wording exactly right, but....

Nobody does anything just once.

I’m not sure if I would rent to an evicted tenant for double security. A long maybe if they gave double security and a third party signing the lease. The third party wound need good Income and be collectible.

Not in my place. I'll let a LL with lower standards have 'em.

How many other times did a LL just eat it and avoid the eviction by way of CFK or some other unrecordable method?

I had a couple apply for a 1 bedroom apartment that both had marks on their credit. One had an eviction, the girlfriend. Since then, both have always paid their bills in a timely matter and their credit/Fico scores have improved.

If someone has been evicted ONCE and also PAID BACK the full amount owed, I will consider it if everything else is GOLDEN. Has to have been at least 3 years of positive rental history in between the last eviction and applying for my place.

If the judgment isn't paid off...nope. Make the other person whole. That PROVES to me you're worth a second chance and have learned the errors of your ways.

Double eviction? Nope. Not even with a co-signer.

Double security deposit is good for correcting minor issues like no land lord history or no credit history where nothing BAD has happening in the past.

Why so strict? Because even with double deposit, if you have to file on them you usually lose 1-2 months of rent to slog thru court and turn the unit over, plus there is the cost of damages & cleaning, late fees, and court costs. Double deposit ($1200 is 2x my typical $600 rent) isn't enough to cover all of those expenses and losses on my units. Why would I take a major risk on an iffy tenant when at best I would only break even?

As others have said, dragging a land lord into eviction process is long and wearisome. It eats up your freedom. Tenants who allow this to happen and who do not pay back the judgment show no concern for the negative outcome their actions caused.

For your rooming house...maybe. Quick kick out rules lower your risk. For an apartment...no.

I don't take anyone with evictions. It costs a landlord money, time, and aggravation to pry out a tenant who won't pay and won't leave.

It doesn't accomplish anything to ask the applicant why he was evicted because every evictee has a story about why it wasn't his fault.

The state of Oregon does not allow rejection for evictions unless they are recent and doesn't allow rejection for eviction processes started but not finished. However, a little research and I can find a bad landlord reference and reject for that.

There is almost always going to be some bad credit on an applicant who has been evicted and that can be used for rejection.

I prefer to not have tenants who are so possessive of their living space that they think they don't owe anything to stay there.

I used to say okay, once, maybe it can happen. But now that I've been through several broken leases with tenants who had life issues - but did NOT make me legally evict them but instead left on their own, and indeed helped me re-rent their places - I know that forcing the LL to take it all the way to court is crap. Man up and move out if you have to, but don't make me evict.

Ditto what WMH wrote.

A tenant has to be incredibly stubborn to force the LL to take the eviction case to the judge. Added to the truism Tim pointed out, you will not have a paying long term tenant.

An eviction doesn't automatically disqualify anyone for me. If someone had an eviction but they ended up paying the previous LL, that tells me that these folks are trainable.

I know it doesn't happen often, but it can especially when dealing with a roommate situation that goes wrong. I want to know these folks aren't going to do me wrong......so in these cases, an eviction could be a semi-positive item.