I would not discuss HIS case with HER no matter what. But we do know that some sex offenders are not violent and/or do not prey on children, but have ended up on the list for various silly reasons. I would want to look him up, look at his offense level before I even thought about working with them.

Was he peeing in public? Okay I'll talk, if otherwise a good candidate.

I had one with incest-with-her-father on her record. I didn't ask her for details; she didn't offer any. Her family was across the country, so I didn't feel it would impact her-as-a-tenant. She was probably one of my most straight-by-the-book tenants and was always extremely careful to follow the rules for the years she was with me.

Back in the day I got a kid that mooned the school bus as a Senior in high school. He was 18. Senior prank after a football game. Kid ended up having to register.

Hey, she's being honest. I'd talk to her about it. If it APPEARED to be one of the benign versions that happened a long time ago ("I'll show you mine if you show me yours") then I'd accept the application and do a very, very thorough criminal screening.

Years ago we had a SO. He was in college at the time he was charged. He was 19 his GF was 17 they were both students at Stanford at the time. Her Parents had him arrested.

Anyway when he applied for the house he was married... to the GF he had been charged for having sex with an underage minor.

Apparently he spent a small fortune trying to get his record expunged. His in-laws even tried to help but the prosecutor was a jerk and refused to budge.

The house he wanted was too close to a school otherwise I would have rented to him.

Are they registered on Megan's List?

I once had a guy (married) who was upfront about being a registered sex offender. And it was one of what is now known as "Romeo and Juliet" cases; he was 19, she was 16. Happened 15+ years previously.

He had to jump through hoops to make sure the rental house was not 1000 feet from the nearest school. In the meantime I had rented the place.

I would probably not have wanted to rent to this family; not because of his status but because, when they pulled up, both he and his wife were smoking cigarettes and the house was advertised as being smoke free (and I doubt either would be smoking outside all the time).

Sex Offenders are usually all lumped into one category, and THAT shouldn't be! I knew of a married couple, where back in HS he was 18 and she was 16. They were going steady and had sex. Her father reported him and requested a warrant for his arrest, he picked up by the police, went in front of a judge and was put on the 'offence with a minor list.' 2 yrs later she was 18 and they married. Their life was a hell. This followed them around for decades. They had children of their own but they were not allowed to live close to the school. She worked because he had problems getting a job. 20 YEARS later he was still on the list, and their daughter in college was told her father could not come to campus to visit her. He went with his wife and kids to court to get his name taken off the list, and the system wouldn't do it--it would establish a precedent. Her father had ruined not only his daughter's life--but his grandchildren's too.

I currently rent to a sex offender. This is a C class house in the hood. After he looked at the house we talked about his history. He didn't go into any great detail and explained how tough it was to find housing.

Probably better than listening to what the applicant tells you is the reason for their sexual offender status is confirming the reason for such.

In most cases this information is available online.

Ray,

"Don't look ETH-EL!!" cracked me UP!

youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM

Sam,

Ken and Razor beat me to it.

People love to check the sex offender list online and will go ape-shirt on you when they discover you brought an SO into their neighborhood. One local LL and his wife (an elementary school teacher who had nothing to do with the rentals) were plastered across the front page of the newspaper because it was a great story to sell papers. He had rented a house way out in the country to a half-way house agency that helped bring felons back into society, including SOs.

Unfortunately the severity of the offense is irrelevant. Society labels all SOs as undesirable in their neighborhood.

Your applicant brought up the subject. I would document that she provided the SO info, even if verbal, and not rent to her.

You can look him up online yourself. I'll betcha it's worse than she thinks.

Yes you can deny. SO is not a protected class.