Apartment

[Keithh1632]

How difficult is it to rent an apartment while in chapter 13? I want to live in a safe environment but those seem to be managed by large management companies. Don't really want to rent from a slumlord. With all the apartment complexes I see it is hard to believe everyone living in them have A1 perfect credit. I own a home at the present time but want to sell because it is to much expense to keep up. Just a thought.

[justbroke]

One of the major factors in renting anywhere, is your actual credit (score). Another factor is good rental history (more on that later). The other factor is stable employment. Since you are in an active (pending) bankruptcy, this could hurt you as some management companies won't rent while you are pending discharge. However, you may need to explain that you're in Chapter 13, not Chapter 7. Some of these management companies may even want trustee "approval" of you renting. As for good rental history, that's hard to do when you have owned your home for some time. However, the lack of rental history shouldn't be a deterrent either since you should then have no evictions. Evictions and slow/late payments is what the management company (or landlord) is really looking at!

If you're current on your home, they should be able to substitute that payment history for rental history.

You will run into some issues. I was 1 month after discharge a major national management company told me no rentals unless you're 1 year past discharge. They approved me and with no deposit! A good company looks at the total picture. That is not to say that you won't find some resistance or misunderstanding that you're in a Chapter 13.

[steveok]

I have rented two while in Chapter 13...first one was no problem...second one wanted an additional deposit...but overall...it can be done...