A SO needs permission from the police to live at a certain address-- it can't be within a certain distance of parks or schools-- but she can't just make that judgment herself. She needs to alert the authorities and get their approval, so that would be one good thing to ask her-- "Have the local police authorized this address as a potential new residence for you?" If she says yes, that will be a point in her favor, that she's scrupulous about following rules.

That said, I had a SO whose crime was incest with her father. (Oddly enough, she was the one who was prosecuted for it, rather than being pegged a victim--- that wasn't a conversation I cared to have with her, so I still don't know the details!) Her father was in a state a thousand miles away; I rented to her for years. She was one of my best rules-followers, always had rent either early or on time, and kept her head down-- even to the point of not reporting major stuff until it couldn't be ignored any longer. ("Ack! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?!" "I didn't want to bother you...")

My first ex-husband was 18 (a senior in high school) and I was a precocious 15 year old when we got married (well first I got pregnant THEN we got married.) It would be an absolute crime in itself if he had been prosecuted. Luckily no such laws existed back then (1972.)

My mother was 14 when she and my dad started dating, she got pregnant at about 18 or 19 and they married and stayed married for 55+ years (until he died.) The worst thing about that was that he dropped out of his senior year at Harvard to marry her. His family wasn't happy, it was kind of a family legend moment. But he always said just having attended got him all the jobs he wanted back in the day.

Who told you this underage boyfriend story? Was it her or did you actually check the court record?

Every sex offender claims the underage partner. I've checked with a parole officer and what I got was that what he did was a heck of a lot worse than statutory rape.

Yep, the 5 year penalty doesn't add up with an underage boyfriend.

Having said that, I had an SO for 12 years, one of my best tenants ever. Once they are in, they never want to move since they have to notify everyone and the new neighbors might find out.

Larry,

No. Period.

-every SO I’ve ever had apply had the same excuses (as teens, public urination, just pics on a computer...the list of “innocence” goes on)

-the past or type of offense are irrelevant to you. It’s the LABEL and REGISTRATION that you must be concerned with as a LL. It’s the reaction of the neighbors

EVERY nosey neighbor diligently protective mohther will look up sex offenders in their neighborhood and see your SO resident. Then scream and holler at YOU!

A local LL’ s name and his wife’s name, along with her job teaching elem school were published in the newspaper in an article about the neighborhood outrage.

I had a nice flip “sold” but the realtor asoc standard form has in bold print CHECK THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY AT WWW.******.com There was an SO in the house behind mine and I lost the sale. The other realtors heard and refused to show it. Months later I was finally able to sell it for $9,000 less. I called the LL to verify the SO and she never checked. He was a friend from church and she just let him move in. How do you think I felt about the LL’s sloppy screening and losing me $9,000? Grrr!

After I closed I checked the registry and he had moved out!

-your property will be known as the place the SO lived.

Market like a crazy person and get in more apps to improve your chances of finding a proper, easy resident.

No. For all the reasons Brad said.

As silly/stupid/ignorant/childish/asinine as these rules sound to many of us about teeny-bopper boyfriends and girlfriends getting busted....the LAW is what someone besides me decided was the rule and now there's someone with a bad rep in your house. As Brad said, that causes YOU problems. The words "sex offender" carry a stigma and a connotation that no amount of explaining glosses over.

Btw, don't take anecdotes about how "well it worked out" from a handful of folks when they shacked up early and/or rented to that one most awesomely responsible offender. Teens having sex with no thought of marriage is anything but responsible. Yes, a minority of them manage to pull thru and do well, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Many end up single parents with a string of shady ex's in the past that occasional show back up to wreak havoc in their lives, and they keep inviting the same kind of partners into their lives looking for the thrill of free sex with no/few strings attached.

Larry,

Sid's response reminded me of Russian Roulette, that game where you put one bullet in the gun, spin the barrel, then each person puts it to their head and pulls the trigger. Six pulls will be fine but it's the ONE bullet out of six that really hurts. We don't know which of the six is the one to avoid.

No offense to those who came out OK, just because it worked well for someone does not mean you should expect the same results. Like the stockbroker says "past performance does not guarantee future performance."

MY job is to make sure the gun is EMPTY, no chance of error.