Web site red-flags problem renters

Shawn Parsons thought he had done his research.

Before he offered a lease for his Fells Point home to a prospective tenant, he reviewed her credit and checked her references.

But after that tenant wrote bad checks, sublet the place without permission and damaged the property, he wanted to warn other landlords not to trust her.

The consumer protection division of the state attorney general office offers a brochure with more information for landlords and tenants, available online at www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/landlords.htm. Paper copies can be requested by calling 410-576-6500 or 888-743-0023.

"If we could have found out anything about this, it would have saved us $17,000 and seven months of [those] people renting the property," Parsons, of Fallston, said. "It brought so much stress into our lives."

Parsons posted some details about his experience on donotrentto.com, a two-year-old Web site that compiles information about problem tenants so renters can make better decisions. For a $14.99 annual membership, landlords can search the database by name to gauge whether others have experienced problems with an applicant.

The Web site reflects how tenants and landlords are turning more to the Internet to check each other out. Apartment-hunters can also visit various Web sites for reviews of buildings and complexes.

But sites such as donotrentto.com also raise concerns among consumer advocates and tenants about potential misuse. Unlike credit reports, now routinely checked during the application process, such sites are not part of a regulated industry and lack an approved system for verifying claims and appealing inaccuracies.

"You just can't put things out there for people to slam somebody or mess somebody over," said Stephanie Cornish of Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc., a group that assists both landlords and tenants.

And privacy experts say this sort of Web site presents potential problems of misidentification or identity theft that are characteristic of the Internet age.

"We're creating all kinds of new information infrastructures but all too often without any checks and balances," said Jay Stanley, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Program.

Joseph Collins, the managing partner of donotrentto.com, said the site helps landlords protect themselves and their property.

The inspiration for the Ann Arbor, Mich., company developed after a group of landlords there met and realized they had similar problems with tenants.

"We said to ourselves, 'We can't be the only ones going through these issues,'" he said.

Collins said that he had just evicted a tenant who vandalized his house in addition to stealing the refrigerator, the stove and the front door upon departure. "I spent $7,000 just to get it back in rentable shape," he said.

Credit reports aren't fail-safe, because sometimes people don't have a credit history. "You don't really know the extent of the person until you speak to their previous landlord," he said.

But what if a prospective tenant lies and provides a relative's number when asked for references?

"There are thousands of good tenants out there, but one tenant could cause you devastation with the amount of damage they could do to your property," Collins said.

Thus far, landlords across the nation and even a few internationally have entered the names of hundreds of tenants, including one from Spain, he said. There are about 25 Maryland tenants, he said.

Landlords can try to evict tenants through the court system, but if the person leaves without paying and leaves no forwarding address, landlords have no recourse, he said.

"A lot of people pretty much drop it," he said. As a result, he added, credit reports "might not show anything, because a landlord was not at a financial state where they could get all this prosecuted."


Property owners or managers can describe their renter problems and even upload photos of damage. The "add tenant" form asks for the last digits of a person's Social Security number or driver's license number, to help differentiate among people with common names, Collins said.

Right now, you don't need to subscribe to enter a listing about a tenant - only to search for a name.

Landlords must enter an e-mail address but otherwise are not required to confirm that they own and are renting property. If a tenant calls to report erroneous information, "normally I take care of things within 24 hours," Collins said.

The consumer protection division of the state attorney general office offers a brochure with more information for landlords and tenants, available online at www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/landlords.htm. Paper copies can be requested by calling 410-576-6500 or 888-743-0023.

But how do people know if something is posted on the site about them?

"If they want to find out if somebody enters something, sign up and get all the privileges," he said. "We don't restrict tenants from becoming members."

Rebecca Bowman, a Maryland assistant attorney general, said the Web site creates the potential for libel but otherwise does not violate laws.

Landlords should be very careful about the information they post about a tenant. "As long as it is accurate and you have documentation of it, you don't have a problem," she said.

Bowman said such sites might be "helpful to look at, but you need to take everything with a grain of salt."

"Certainly all of this gives me pause, whenever there's information out there that's being kept on people that they don't know about," Bowman said. On the other hand, "there are many, many, many kinds of these things out there. I don't know that this is any better or any worse."

She pointed out that the network relies on people submitting information.

"All of that is based on the credibility of the people posting," she said.

Prospective tenants turned down for a rental should ask why, she advised.

Cornish, of Baltimore Neighborhoods, said tenants have more recourse when landlords take a dispute to court. "Those things are easier to go back and straighten out," she said.

She's heard of landlords refusing to offer a reference to tenants in an attempt to keep them from moving. The ACLU's Stanley said that landlords have a First Amendment right to write about their experiences on the Internet, but companies that act as commercial databases - as well as commercial data aggregators - should be subject to the privacy laws that credit companies face.

Landlords also have other options to inform their peers about potentially difficult tenants. They can pay to inform credit reporting agencies of outstanding debts, such as unpaid rent, said Joseph Rooney, deputy commissioner for financial regulation for the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

"If landlords would use the credit reporting system to report negatives, there's a legal framework where people can dispute the amount owed," Rooney said.

For example, if you are denied credit based on negative information on your credit report, you can get a free copy to verify the information and challenge potential inaccuracies.

Legal filings, including judgments and liens, should also appear on a person's credit report, Rooney said. (By Liz F. Kay | Baltimore Sun)