Written by Background Check Repair
Background Checks | May 28, 2024
Table of Contents
Does eviction show up on background check reports?
Getting evicted can be a frustrating enough experience, especially when you start to consider the long-term effects. But, does the notice to vacate rule mean that all future landlords will see an eviction? What if the eviction was the result of someone else, and through no fault of your own? Does the eviction register on your record?
Although the laws between states vary according to eviction legalities, residents should know that normally, getting evicted won’t necessarily show up on a background check. Certain legal requirements, such as “the notice to vacate the rule,” will prevent this in many cases, but there are still lots of things to consider and laws to understand.
The easiest and quickest way to know whether an eviction will be part of what’s included on a records check report, is to learn running a background investigation on yourself first. This way, you’ll be able to see everything a potential landlord will, and if there are any issues, you can begin the process of clearing up your background check report.
Part of the confusion many individuals have involving evictions is due to the fact that the legal process involving evictions usually requires several steps before the individual is essentially kicked out of the landlord’s property.
Aside from the numerous steps involved in the eviction process, there is also the issue that most eviction, landlord, and tenant laws are state or local laws. This means that they can vary widely from state to state. Although some states will have requirements such as notices spanning several weeks or additional legal proceedings before someone is kicked out, in other states the process can happen much quicker and with little warning.
Understanding your local tenant and landlord laws is extremely important, even for reasons beyond being evicted, being aware of your rights as a landlord or tenant is always a good thing.
In many states, receiving a notice to vacate will often be the first official step in the process of evicting an individual from their rental property. Usually, there will be several things that happen before this, such as a tenant becoming delinquent on their rent, violating a lease agreement to the point that the landlord requests that they vacate the property or even less serious reasons like the landlord wanting to perform renovations on the property.
Regardless of the reason, in almost every state, landlords are required to give tenants sufficient notice to vacate the property. This amount of time that they give individuals will vary by state, but in most cases, it is at least several weeks and often in the range of 30-60 days.
For most individuals, a notice to vacate is not something to be especially concerned with. In many cases a notice to vacate will come at the end of the tenant’s lease, essentially notifying them that they will not be able to renew their lease. However, in eviction cases, the notice to vacate becomes slightly more significant.
If the landlord plans to evict the tenant for failing to pay rent or for a similar reason, the notice to vacate acts as the first contact that the tenant was asked to leave. Since many states require landlords to give several eviction notices with a certain amount of notice, the notice to vacate may act as this first legal document that will eventually be a part of the court proceedings.
Opposed to a notice to vacate, which is not necessarily a bad thing, a pending eviction notice is much more serious. Receiving a pending eviction notice means that legal proceedings have begun in the eviction process. This is generally what is sent to a tenant when a landlord files for an eviction with the local court.
Although this is a serious step, there are still a few options available for tenants. The first thing that any individual who has a pending eviction should do is contact an attorney that specializes in tenant law. The lawyer will not only be able to help you understand the process but also properly explain the options available under local and state law. In a best-case scenario, a lawyer can prove to the court that eviction is unlawful and stop the proceedings altogether. More likely, however, they will be able to extend the process and give you a chance to make other arrangements such as come up with the rent money that is owed.
The other thing that individuals should do when they learn that they have a pending eviction is to contact the court clerk where the eviction was filed. Court clerks will be able to provide individuals with basic information about their case, such as if a date has been set yet and if they have the option to file an answer to the court about why they should not be evicted.
The reasons that can be used to avoid eviction are often dictated by local laws but explaining financial hardships, or that you are waiting on rental assistance or something similar are common reasons for the court to at least delay the eviction.
If an eviction was officially filed with the courts, then the eviction will show up on a criminal background check. Even if the individual is able to avoid eviction, a pending eviction will likely show up on a background check, the same as criminal charges that do not result in convictions often do.
This is why it is so important to take action when receiving a notice to vacate. Understanding the reason that you have asked to vacate the property will usually give a pretty good indication of the possibility of a landlord’s intentions to file an eviction.
For tenants who are behind on their rent that have been given the notice to vacate, talking to your landlord directly is often a good step to try and avoid an eviction being filed. Although the answer to Does eviction shows up on a background check is yes, a notice to vacate will not show up on a background check.
The vast majority of criminal history checks will show evictions. Since eviction is when someone is court-ordered to vacate a property, then a criminal background will generally uncover the court documents that show that the individual was evicted.
If your landlord filed for an eviction with the local court, it will show up on a background check even if it was later dismissed. This is a similar situation to charges that did not result in convictions appearing on a criminal background check.
Although it will show up on a background check, it will be less likely to impact the possibility of passing the background check.
A pending eviction will show up on a background check. A pending eviction essentially means that a landlord filed for eviction but for one reason or another the court date has not happened yet so the individual has not been officially evicted.
However, since the documents have already been filed with the court they will appear as part of a background check.
There are two main ways to find out if you have an eviction on your record. The first and the easiest in most cases is to use an online background check service that can return this kind of information. There are tons of online background check companies and many will specialize in tenant-related information such as evictions. Simply perform a background check on yourself using a background check service and eviction-related information should be returned as part of the background check, assuming there eviction-related information was found.
This is the fastest way to determine does an eviction show up on background check reports.
The other method would be to go through the local courts where the eviction would have been filed in the first place.
Eviction notices are considered public information and should be fairly easy to access. Keep in mind that going through the local or state courts will usually require that individuals pay a small search fee.
The first step is to identify where court records can be accessed. This can usually be done online, as the vast majority of state court documents are digitized and available in public databases.
For example, individuals who are looking for eviction records in the state of New York can enter their information into the NY Court website’s e-court system.1
As mentioned, there are a few different ways to perform a rental background check on yourself and get a more concrete answer to the question: “Does eviction show up on a background check?” that is specific to your circumstances. Keep in mind that every state is slightly different when it comes to evictions.
The laws for how the eviction process works, how the appeals process works, as well as how evictions show up on an individual’s records are all determined by the state.
Finding a new place to rent with an eviction on your record, however, there are several steps individuals can take to dramatically increase their chances of passing a tenant background screening. Most people asking the question: Does eviction show up on background check will be wondering how an eviction will affect their ability to get another rental in the future.
The easiest way to get around having an eviction on your record when trying to find a rental is to find a leasing company that is forgiving towards individuals with evictions on their records.
The same as not every leasing company will have the same requirements for a deposit, income levels, etc. There are leasing companies that will be more forgiving towards an individual who has been evicted.
Just like individuals who are applying for an apartment that is slightly out of their budget, having a cosigner will greatly increase your chances of getting approved for an apartment if you have been evicted before. Landlords and leasing companies look at many different factors when determining how risky a potential tenant is so having someone else with a clean eviction record will go a long way.
Although not always possible, it is definitely worth looking into the possibility of getting an eviction record sealed or expunged through the court that it was filed. This will essentially make the eviction disappear off your record, meaning it won’t be a factor at all when applying for an apartment.
The possibility of this will depend on the circumstances of the eviction as well as local laws. Use the list above to see if getting an eviction sealed is possible in your state.
How long an eviction stays on your record will depend on the state, but in most cases, an eviction will only stay on your record for 7 years.
In many cases this can be even shorter depending on the state and if the eviction was justified.
Whether or not the court can or will remove an eviction from your record will depend largely on state laws. In some states it is much easier than others to get an eviction expunged. There are two main steps individuals should take.
The first thing to do is see if it is even possible given the local laws. Most states have specific circumstances that need to be met to get any records expunged. Research the laws for your state and see if an expungement is possible.
Assuming it is possible in your state, the next step is to follow the process outlined by the court for filing for a motion to seal an eviction. The process will vary drastically, check your local courts website for detailed information on what is needed and how to file.
Evictions are stressful enough without the prolonged impact they can have on an individual’s ability to find housing. Getting ahead of any legal issues is extremely important to minimizing the effect on your record, being able to answer questions like, does eviction show up on background check will go a long way in preventing an eviction from affecting your future.
Yes, eviction notices are filed through the courts and will show up on most background checks.
If there is a mistake on your record the best thing to do is to contact the local court to see about fixing your record. If an eviction was filed but later dismissed, this information will still be present on your record.
Evictions can show up in different states on a background check if a national background check was performed, rather than a local check.
Landlords can perform national criminal background checks instead of local checks in order to find out of state convictions.
Most evictions will not affect your credit score as evictions are not normally reported to credit agencies.
1New York State Unified Court System. (2021). Going to Court. Court Help. Retrieved July 19, 2022, from <https://www.nycourts.gov/courthelp/goingtocourt/records.shtml>
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