Prior to joining Lexington, Brittany practiced a mix of criminal law and family law. Brittany began her legal career at the Maricopa County Public Defender's Office, and then moved into private practice. Brittany represented clients with charges ranging from drug sales, to sexual related offenses, to homicides. Brittany appeared in several hundred criminal court hearings, including felony and misdemeanor trials, evidentiary hearings, and pretrial hearings. In addition to criminal cases, Brittany also represented persons and families in a variety of family court matters including dissolution of marriage, legal separation, child support, paternity, parenting time, legal decision-making (formerly "custody"), spousal maintenance, modifications and enforcement of existing orders, relocation, and orders of protection. As a result, Brittany has extensive courtroom experience. Brittany attended the University of Colorado at Boulder for her undergraduate degree and attended Arizona Summit Law School for her law degree. At Arizona Summit Law school, Brittany graduated Summa Cum Laude and ranked 11th in her graduating class.
The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice. See Lexington Law’s editorial disclosure for more information.
Have you been evicted in the past, or are you worried about being evicted in the future? Though evictions typically stay on your public record for up to seven years, be reassured that they usually won’t show up on your credit reports or directly affect your credit. This guide covers how evictions are reported and how you can handle them.
Please note that the information in this article is general and can vary state by state. You should consult with a licensed attorney in your area to get specific advice about evictions and related issues.
An eviction can stay on your record for up to seven years. That being said, how long an eviction stays on your record depends on the circumstances behind it, and there may be actions you can take to get it removed sooner.
If the eviction was for a legitimate reason, you can try reaching out to the landlord to work out a private settlement. There’s a possibility you can come to a financial agreement to get them to remove the eviction record. If the eviction was for an illegitimate reason, you can document all records surrounding the event and petition your local court.
Evictions don’t typically show up on credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies—TransUnion®, Experian® and Equifax®—but your credit could be impacted by the circumstances related to your eviction. If you were evicted because you didn’t pay your rent and have a collection account open, your credit reports will likely have a derogatory mark for the collection item. Should you be evicted for other reasons, such as a violation of the lease rules, your credit shouldn’t be affected.
An eviction shouldn’t make it more difficult to obtain financing for a loan, but it could make it harder to obtain a new lease on a rental property. This is because landlords use the public record database to determine if you’ve been evicted in the past. If an eviction does show up on your credit reports, it can stay there for up to seven years. If a legal case was brought to evict you, that could be accessible via court records indefinitely.
Rent payments aren’t automatically reported to the three major credit reporting agencies. You can, however, use on-time rent payments to boost your credit if you enroll in alternative credit reporting programs. You can talk to your landlord about this, or some paid services allow you to link your bank accounts to record each payment you make toward rent, utilities and cell phone providers. These services sometimes also track your ability to save money wisely by monitoring your contributions to your savings account.
Keep in mind that late or missed payments that are reported can hurt your credit, just like collection accounts. These items will usually show up on your credit reports for up to seven years. This is why it’s important to stay up to date on your rent payments.
You may be wondering how to get an eviction off your record. If you’re evicted for legitimate reasons, you don’t have too many options for getting your eviction removed from the public record sooner than seven years.
Landlords don’t always follow proper legal procedures when evicting tenants, however, so you may be able to dispute the eviction if you can prove you didn’t violate the terms of your lease or the landlord didn’t act reasonably. If you believe the proper legal procedures weren’t followed, you should consult an attorney in your state.
Landlords don’t always turn away potential tenants with evictions, but they’re less likely to offer you a lease if you don’t show you’ve improved your situation. When you’re applying for a lease, it’s important to be honest, because landlords will see an attempt to hide your past eviction as a red flag. Here are a few things you can do before and during a rental application to make your case.
If you have an eviction on your public record, there are a few things you should do before moving forward with the rental application process. Since a landlord will be wary of renting to someone with an eviction history, you should provide as much information as possible to ease any concerns. Some important tips include:
Anything you can do to show that you’re reliable and trustworthy will go a long way to convince a landlord that the eviction on your record is truly in the past.
When you start actively looking for a new living situation, there are a few things to keep in mind to increase your chances of approval. A few steps to take when communicating with new landlords include:
Once you obtain a new lease, you can use it as a stepping stone for the future. Take care of the property and make all your rent payments on time—this should improve your chances of being able to renew the lease, and you can use your new landlord as a future reference if you need to move again. And consider renting the property longer as you rebuild your credit, so you don’t need to go through this process all over again each time you decide to move.
On paper, avoiding evictions is an easy process—simply abide by the terms of the lease and pay rent on time. However, life can easily get in the way. Unexpected layoffs, unreasonable landlords or untimely bills can make an eviction a real possibility. A few ways to avoid an eviction include:
While evictions can stay on your public record for up to seven years, the three major reporting bureaus voluntarily stopped reporting most civil judgments in 2017 as part of a settlement agreement. The end result is that bankruptcy is the only public record likely to show up on your credit report and affect your credit.
Obtain a copy of your credit report and verify whether a civil judgment is wrongly on your report and hurting your credit. If you see an inaccurate judgment, you’ll need to contact the credit bureaus to get it removed.
You’re entitled to a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies each week until further notice—and you can sign up for credit monitoring services to stay up to date on what’s impacting your credit. Many people find errors on their credit reports, and it’s important to get these things removed when they’re identified.
If you’re concerned about whether or not you can pay your rent, contact your landlord immediately. Evictions require a legal process, and landlords want to avoid the fees and hassle of eviction if possible. If you explain what’s happening, your landlord may offer you ways to make up the past-due rent and avoid the eviction.
If you need assistance with your credit, Lexington Law Firm is here to help. We can help you address items on your credit reports and work to improve your chances of being approved for a new lease or loan. Sign up to learn more.
Note: Articles have only been reviewed by the indicated attorney, not written by them. The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice; instead, it is for general informational purposes only. Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within the site do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website owner, authors, reviewers, contributors, contributing firms, or their respective agents or employers.
