By: Darrell Castle
Yes, you can rent a house after a bankruptcy but there are six factors you need to consider
Video Transcript
Can you rent a house or an apartment after you file for bankruptcy?
Hi, I’m Darrell Castle and I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and the answer to that question is YES you can. There’s nothing about filing for bankruptcy that can stop you from renting a house or an apartment.
The landlord however may consider several factors in deciding whether he wants to rent to you or not.
The first factor would be disposable income. Do you have any? That’s just a fancy way of asking, “Can you make the payments?” Do you have enough money – after you pay your living expenses – to make the rent payments? That’s pretty important.
The next factor might be work history. Do you have a job? That’s also very important. Do you have a history of work? How long have you had that job? How long have you worked consistently? Do you normally switch from one job to another constantly? Or have you been in that job for quite some time?
Factor number 3 is discharge. Has your case been discharged? Has your bankruptcy been discharged? Is it finished? That could be important to the landlord because he could be concerned about whether there are creditors who are still out there who have not been fully dealt with. He might be nervous about that.
Number four would be rental history. Have you rented before? Did you pay your rent? Do you have a history of breaking leases or breaking rental agreements? Do you have a history of trashing the places you rented from and so forth? That’s pretty important to a landlord.
Number 5 would be credit history. What is your credit history? That’s pretty important, which is why here in my law firm we offer a free course called 7 Steps to a 720 which is supposed to raise your credit score to a 720 or better in a short period of time. We offer that free to our bankruptcy clients.
Finally folks, number 6. Tell your story to the landlord. Why did you file? Why did you have to file for bankruptcy? Don’t be afraid to sit down with the landlord or rental agency and tell your story. There were unavoidable circumstances perhaps. Maybe an unavoidable medical expense. Your spouse lost a job. Or perhaps you just made mistakes and now you’ve learned from those mistakes.
Learn how to tell your story. Practice it with your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend – whoever.
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