Eviction Due To Mental Illness

Question: In a recent Q and A you discussed a troubled young man acting strange by moaning and dancing by himself at a swimming pool in a Tempe apartment complex. His parents immediately went over there and calmed the situation before the police arrived. The parents were afraid that their son would be evicted, and that he would not be able to rent another apartment because of the eviction. You should have told the parents that under Arizona law there are ways to get an eviction sealed by the Court so that there is no way for a potential landlord to see the eviction.

Answer: Thank you for your comments. Even if the eviction is sealed, however, many landlords report the eviction to the national credit reporting agencies. Other landlords then will not rent to that potential tenant.

Comment: We had a client whose son moved out of a large apartment building in Tempe with a clean apartment and the return of his security deposit. Nevertheless, his credit report was wrongfully “dinged” as an eviction. His mother was livid because her son was unable to rent another apartment in Tempe. We eventually got the eviction removed from his credit report. His mother was then reimbursed by the former landlord for all of her $15,000 legal fees