Laws vary from state to state. One easy resource to determine your rights is visiting your state’s Attorney General website. Most have information about your rights as a tenant. Nearly all major cities in the Unites States have local Apartment Associations. These organizations are basically ignored by the public yet they are powerful influences on state legislatures and city governments. They write the rules making it nearly impossible your private citizens to defend themselves in case of any conflict. It you have a broken lease, eviction, or bad credit then your ability to enjoy this fundamental right is extremely impfaired. Our lives are governed by our personal credit reports. All apartment complexes and nearly all landlords require access to you credit reports in order to process your application for an apartment or home. A poor credit report will have a negative impact on your approval. Being approved with negative accounts on you credit will often require larger deposits or non-refundable penalties by the apartment management or landlord. Paying several months’ rent in advance can also be required.

A broken lease or landlord debt are considered the same thing. We live in a computerized age that tracks nearly everything we purchase. Cash is rarely used to make major purchases such as leasing an apartment. After a landlord or apartment lease debt is reported to three major credit bureaus it will stay on the credit bureaus for 7 years or even longer. The names of the three credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Each credit bureau offers one free annual credit report. All three are easily accessible on the internet.