One of the most frustrating episodes ones can encounter is a denial of housing. Apartment complexes, which in reality are run by real estate management firms, use a number of factors to determine who should rent and who should not. One of the most common factors that they use is criminal background check. A criminal history can be one of the greatest huddles one can ever come across in the process of renting an apartment.

The reason apartment communities request a criminal background check is first of all for the safety of the overall community. There is a general consensus that people with violent pasts are bound to fall back into their previous destructive habits. The concept of history repeats itself seems to be a prevailing belief in many places when it comes to criminal history and nowhere more so than in apartment leasing offices.

Another reason why apartment leasing offices conduct a criminal background check is so as to create the appearance of safety in the community and in so doing have the justification to charge more for rent. If a neighborhood or apartment housing community has a high level of crime, then tenants will not want to renew their leases and this means that there will be more housing units which are vacant and which the management has to fill (or risk being censored by the owner). The more housing units are vacant in an apartment community the more it hurts the management bottom line because this drives down the rent.

When conducting criminal background checks, apartments normally concentrate on felony convictions. Misdemeanor crimes which are only punishable by fines are generally not a concern. If you have a misdemeanor, you should not be concerned but if it is a felony you may get a denial.

There are two main ways to get an apartment approval if you have a criminal record. The first one is to check the nature of your offense and see whether you received what is called a deferred adjudication. This is a probation granted to first time offenders and is also known as community supervision. If you were convicted of a misdemeanor, and got probation, you can go to the county clerk’s office and request for what is called a court deposition. This is a print-out that shows the offense, the court that heard the case, and the judgment that was rendered and the fact that you have deferred adjudication. The printout also states that you have successfully completed the community service without any other incidences and that you should not be discriminated against when it comes to services. You can take a copy of this document to an apartment manager and in most cases they will approve you.

Another way to get an apartment is to get an expungement. This is the sealing of your criminal records and can be done depending on whether you’re eligible. There is an excellent eBook out in the market regarding how to get an apartment even with an existing criminal record and bad credit and you can get it at [http://www.simplecreditsecrets.net]