More advice for tenants and landlords
My story about a Web site for landlords to post reviews about problem renters online discussed the difficulties property managers face when checking out potential tenants -- and advice for renters who fear they've been blackballed.
Remember when we first alerted you to donotrentto.com? It's a situation rife with thorny issues, especially when you're potentially smearing people's reputations.
But what source can landlords rely upon? Even court records about rentals should be taken with a grain of salt, said John Nethercut, executive director of the Public Justice Center.
"Public records are of course a better source of information than Web sites that may pick and choose which information to display. However, there are particular problems with the eviction records at the Baltimore City District Court," he said.
More than 130,000 eviction cases are filed annually in the city. But Baltimore's rent court is not computerized.
In a small percentage of those cases, landlords take their tenants to small claims court to try to get their back rent. If the renter pays up, the landlord is supposed to file documents to reflect that.
Officials in the clerks' office at Baltimore District Court said they are awaiting results from a pilot computerization project in Prince George's County before they can move forward with digitizing their records.
The bottom line? Check your credit report regularly --- Marylanders can get two free copies every year, after all. If you owed a debt but paid it off, make sure the report reflects that.
But boy, reading this story makes me realize that some people really do belong on a donotrentto list. (Ed note: Yea. That's one guy you can definitely cross off the rent-to list! -- DD)
