Will it be hard to rent a new place if I make an agreement?
When a landlord files an eviction against you, the court creates a public record. When you apply to rent another place, landlords can see any evictions filed against you. You cannot stop them from checking, but you can try to protect yourself.
- Try to do a stipulation, not an agreement for judgment. If you do what you agreed to in the stipulation, you will not have a judgment against you in your court record.
- If the landlord agrees not to charge you some rent because you were living with bad conditions, make sure the agreement makes this clear. Then you can tell a new landlord you did not pay your rent because of these problems. Explain that you are looking for a new apartment because the conditions in your apartment were so bad.
- If you fell behind on rent because of illness, a loss of income, or the size of your household changed, say this in the agreement. It may not protect you from being evicted, but it may help you get emergency shelter or public or subsidized housing.
- It may be okay to ask the landlord evicting you to give you a reference. It depends on the circumstances. The reference can say good things about you. Or it can just say that you do not owe rent and you did not cause damage or other problems at the property.