Renting Austin Apartments When You Have a Criminal Background

Leasing an apartment in the Austin area can be complex and very difficult for those who have some sort of criminal background.  In the event that you've been arrested for a criminal offense, regardless of whether you were convicted or not, it can and will show up on a criminal background check and may cause it to be harder to rent an apartment.  Several types of criminal records make it challenging to lease: misdemeanors and felonies.

With regard to misdemeanors, the most important elements the property manager will look for will be the age of the actual offense, the degree of the charge and also whether or not the crime was in fact against another person or against the property of another individual.  Irrespective of the level of the misdemeanor, generally if you're inside five years of the wrongdoing, property managers will probably deal with these on a situational basis.  Ordinarily apartment managers will not likely take applicants whose criminal history contains criminal offenses against person or property.  For instance drunk driving & public intoxication will be approved more frequently than an assault on another person, drug charges (possession or distribution), or theft which is often deemed a crime against property.

For individuals whose criminal history has a felony offense, your Austin leasing opportunities will be extremely limited for two reasons.  The first reason is simply that from a liability standpoint, it's a risk for any management company to lease an apartment to an applicant with a serious criminal charge.  Doing so could expose the property to liability if a felon living on property commits a crime against another resident.  Second, because of Federal Fair Housing regulations most apartment communities don’t wish to expose themselves to the possibility of being forced to admit higher level felonies should they take lower degree felonies, so they simply won't accept felonies of any sort.

For those who have a criminal background you will require additional assistance to locate rentals that may work with your circumstances.  A good apartment locator might be able to assist you with this task.  In the event that the apartment locator is unable to assist you, he/she will likely recommend that you seek out a private rental option such as a home or duplex.  Generally speaking, private owners might care less about a criminal offense that occurred years ago if you have good rental history, stable employment and no other legal issues since the original offense.