Landlord's Be Cautious

Landlords should be cautious in deciding to whom to rent their home or apartment. Unscrupulous tenants can easily cost them several thousand dollars in lost rent and legal fees. Even higher amounts if they vandalize the property. Sites like criminalwatchdog.com or youcheckcredit.com provide answers, but at a price. Also, they often require proof of the tenant's consent to do the background checks.

An easier and free way to check how often someone is involved in the San Diego Court system is by performing a Court Index Inquiry. If you search on their name and they are involved as a defendent in a civil case with a number that starts with a U, then they were most likely sued for Unlawful Detainer in an attempt to evict them.

This is by no means fool proof. There are easily over 50 unlawful detainer lawsuits against people with the common name of Jose Garcia. There are more than 100 criminal cases against a Jim or James Jones. Even when a name is uncommon, there is no way of saying, using this index, that your prospective tenant was not evicted outside of San Diego County.

For more security there is always criminalwatchdog.