2 ms·

So everyone with bad or no credit is locked out of the rental market? That....doesn't make a lot of sense. Where are they living?

by harryh 7y ago

astura 7y ago
With friends/family, informal roommate arrangement, or renting substandard housing from slumlords. Either that or they have a cosigner.
- harryh 7y ago
  Based on everything I have read, as well as my own personal experience, I think you are exaggerating the seriousness of the situation. Do you have any evidence of this being the case?
  - astura 7y ago
    My sister is currently renting a moldy basement (not a legal apartment) because of her poor credit. She's got two babies, she'd prefer better accommodations but that's all she could find with her credit. No evictions but several judgements against her.
- tptacek 7y ago
  This is pretty clearly not the case. I rented in relatively hot markets --- there was actual bidding for the SOMA loft we got back around 2000! --- and I had bad credit (put differently: when I was renting, I would have had better credit had I no contact with the consumer credit system whatsoever), and my credit score never once kept me from getting a lease, or even changed the terms of a lease.
  - hundt 7y ago
    The person you are responding to claims that the situation has changed in the last 10 or 15 years, so I think your comment is not really responsive.
soulofmischief 7y ago
I apologize for breaking up our communication across this thread but you've made several fair points I would like to address. Even my last apartment required a cosigner because of my lack of credit history. I don't have any family to turn to so I had to rely on the family of someone else. Many people don't even have that good fortune. Less directly, I was illegally evicted from my first apartment (3 days to move out over burst pipes in a multi-unit dwelling which caused our unit to flood) and due to not having the credit to get a loan to hire a lawyer to defend me against a clear cut case, I was blacklisted by my vengeful landlord and banned from renting anywhere in that city. Only lease I managed to get in that city after that was because I was friends with the leasing agent. I also lost hundreds of dollars in furniture including some vintage pieces due to getting only 3 days notice to vacate. This set me back tremendously; as you can see it's a bit of a feedback loop between bad credit and bad rental experiences.
- clairity 7y ago
  is this CA and is this a pay in 3 days or quit notice you're talking about? because if it is, you don't have to leave in 3 days. you can wait for a default judgement and then the sheriff to come actually post notice to leave. that gets you about a month, not 3 days, which should be enough time to find a new place and move everything. burst pipes means you have a habitability defense, so you could have represented yourself in eviction court based on that, which at the very least would have given you more time to move out, if not compensation and the right to stay.

So everyone with bad or no credit is locked out of the rental market? That....doesn't make a lot of sense. Where are they living?

by harryh 7y ago

So everyone with bad or no credit is locked out of the rental market? That....doesn't make a lot of sense. Where are they living?

astura 7y ago

With friends/family, informal roommate arrangement, or renting substandard housing from slumlords. Either that or they have a cosigner.

harryh 7y ago
Based on everything I have read, as well as my own personal experience, I think you are exaggerating the seriousness of the situation. Do you have any evidence of this being the case?
- astura 7y ago
  My sister is currently renting a moldy basement (not a legal apartment) because of her poor credit. She's got two babies, she'd prefer better accommodations but that's all she could find with her credit. No evictions but several judgements against her.
tptacek 7y ago
This is pretty clearly not the case. I rented in relatively hot markets --- there was actual bidding for the SOMA loft we got back around 2000! --- and I had bad credit (put differently: when I was renting, I would have had better credit had I no contact with the consumer credit system whatsoever), and my credit score never once kept me from getting a lease, or even changed the terms of a lease.
- hundt 7y ago
  The person you are responding to claims that the situation has changed in the last 10 or 15 years, so I think your comment is not really responsive.

soulofmischief 7y ago

I apologize for breaking up our communication across this thread but you've made several fair points I would like to address. Even my last apartment required a cosigner because of my lack of credit history. I don't have any family to turn to so I had to rely on the family of someone else. Many people don't even have that good fortune. Less directly, I was illegally evicted from my first apartment (3 days to move out over burst pipes in a multi-unit dwelling which caused our unit to flood) and due to not having the credit to get a loan to hire a lawyer to defend me against a clear cut case, I was blacklisted by my vengeful landlord and banned from renting anywhere in that city. Only lease I managed to get in that city after that was because I was friends with the leasing agent. I also lost hundreds of dollars in furniture including some vintage pieces due to getting only 3 days notice to vacate. This set me back tremendously; as you can see it's a bit of a feedback loop between bad credit and bad rental experiences.

clairity 7y ago
is this CA and is this a pay in 3 days or quit notice you're talking about? because if it is, you don't have to leave in 3 days. you can wait for a default judgement and then the sheriff to come actually post notice to leave. that gets you about a month, not 3 days, which should be enough time to find a new place and move everything. burst pipes means you have a habitability defense, so you could have represented yourself in eviction court based on that, which at the very least would have given you more time to move out, if not compensation and the right to stay.