There’s no such thing as a perfect tenant. As a rental agent, you should know by now that every applicant has good and bad points that may affect their chances of getting selected.

Some applications are riddled with red flags, but not all those things are enough reason to reject them. When screening applicants, you may encounter those who have a record of being a sex offender.

This type of scenario is sensitive because sexual misconduct is not taken lightly by the general public. You must understand the complexities involved in dealing with sexual offenders who will respond to the listing you will post on Padleads. You want to make sure that you know the possible repercussions if you decide to approve their application, as well as the right process of rejecting them if you choose otherwise.

Are you required to rent out to sex offenders?

When a sex offender applies for tenancy, you might get tempted to reject them outrightly. However, you can’t deny their application for that reason alone.

Even though they are not a protected group under The Fair Housing Act, the law itself doesn’t allow the sex offender registry to be a basis to deny someone housing.

However, you may deny the rental application if you can prove that there is a clear risk if you grant them tenancy.

Possible risk

For multi-family homes, you can evaluate the risk on the other tenants in the apartment building if they will be neighbors to a convicted sex offender. The risk even increases when children are residing in the building. How recent the applicant was convicted can also affect the level of risk.

However, it’s not enough that there are children in the building. The best way you can evaluate the risk is by working with the local police. Local authorities have more information, and they are more credible in assessing the risks in housing the convicted applicant.

If the applicant is applying to rent a single-family home, then the risk is low, so denying their application may be questionable.

If ever the applicant lied about their past conviction, the landlord may evict them in the future upon discovery of the deception. However, it is your responsibility as a residential rental agent to double-check past convictions if you want to maintain the trust of landlords. The sex offender registry is a database accessible to the public, so you don’t have an excuse not to check if applicants are on the list.

Accepting Sex Offender’s Application

If you and your landlord do decide to accept the application of the convicted applicant, there are other precautions you need to take. Since there is no clear law about renting out to sex offenders, it’s better to take extra measures to protect other tenants.

Aside from getting assistance from the local police in evaluating the risks and asking for what they can recommend, you could also consult a lawyer about what responsibilities the landlord will have (if any) in case the convicted tenant would commit another sexual offense.

You are not required to inform everyone in the neighborhood or apartment building about the presence of the convicted tenant. You can, however, put an addendum on your leases that makes tenants aware that they are free to access the sex offender registry as due diligence, without naming a specific tenant.