Even an eviction sealed by a court can harm a tenant’s chance of renting again
Question: , you discussed a troubled young man acting strange by "babbling incoherently" at the swimming pool in his apartment complex and even yelling at children. His parents immediately went over there and calmed the situation before the police arrived. The parents feared that their son would be evicted and that he would be unable to rent another apartment because of the eviction. You should have told the parents that under Arizona law there are ways to get an eviction sealed by a court so that there is no way for a potential landlord to see the eviction.
Answer: Thank you for your comments. Even if the eviction is sealed, however, many landlords report the eviction to the national credit reporting agencies. Other landlords then will not rent to that potential tenant.
Comment: We had a client whose son moved out of a large apartment building in Tempe with a clean apartment and the return of his security deposit. Nevertheless, his credit report was wrongfully “dinged” as an eviction. His mother was livid because her son could not rent another apartment in Tempe. We eventually got the eviction removed from his credit report. His mother was then reimbursed by the former landlord for all of her $15,000 in legal fees.