How can you find felon-friendly apartments in Denver? If you’ve already started your search for felon-friendly housing in Denver, then you know that a lot of landlords won’t rent to applicants with a felony on their record.
Finding an apartment that will accept a felony isn’t easy, but there are landlords out there who will rent to you despite your felony conviction. And there are organizations that can help you find those landlords.
Felon Friendly Apartments Denver – The Good News
Colorado state law prohibits landlords from using felonies over five years old as a reason to disqualify an applicant.
The Rental Fairness Application Act protects felons from the type of unfair rental application practices that are so common across the United States.
If your felony conviction is five years old (or older) when you make a rental application, it won’t count against you.
There are some exceptions, though.
The five-year rule doesn’t apply to convictions for the distribution, manufacturing, or sale of compounds, mixtures, and products containing methamphetamine.
Sex offenses that require the offender to register on the sex offenders register are also not covered by the five-year rule.
If your felony conviction is over five years old, you can apply for any apartments on rental sites, and you won’t need to keep searching for felon-friendly apartments in Denver colorado.
As long as your credit score and the other elements of your rental background check are satisfactory, you’ll be approved.
If your felony conviction is still within the five-year window, your search will be harder, but there are some resources you can use to find felon-friendly housing in Denver.
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Use Remerg To Find Apartments in Denver That Take In Felons
Remerg provides re-entry resources in Colorado. Remerg can help you find felon-friendly housing in Denver, and they provide additional resources focused on employment, training, healthcare, and the other essentials that help you get back on your feet after you’ve been incarcerated. They’ll also be able to help you if you’re serving a non-custodial sentence.
Their website address is remerg.com, and the site is very easy to navigate. If you need more help, call them on their helpline (303-993-3551) which is open Monday – Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.
Remerg is a one-stop shop listing all the re-entry organizations and resources in Colorado.
They even include resources that could help you get on the housing ladder so you own your own home instead of renting.
If you’ve got a secure job, buying your own home is definitely something to consider. A mortgage is often cheaper than renting, and your criminal history won’t be a factor in the mortgage application.
Use The Colorado Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) List To Find Felon Friendly Apartments In Denver
The landlords and organizations operating low-income housing are often more willing to accept tenants with felonies. And there’s a publicly available list of low-income housing in Denver and throughout Colorado that you can access online.
You’ll need to contact each landlord to find out what their background screening policy looks for, and when a landlord accepts felons, it’s usually on a case-by-case basis. They won’t accept all types of felonies.
You can get the list, which is a pdf download, by going to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) website at https://www.chfainfo.com/arh.
Properties are listed by county, so look on Google Maps to find out which counties are in the Denver area besides Denver County, then start working your way through the listed properties.
Each property on the list includes the name of the property, the address, and the contact phone number. Copy the property name and the address, then paste it into Google to find out if there’s a website that gives you more information about the housing on offer and the rental application policy.
For example, we took a quick look at Grace Apartments in Denver, and the website states they consider applicants with a felony on their record on a case-by-case basis.
Another apartment complex on the list, The Villages At Curtis Park, doesn’t include its rental background check policy on its website, but this apartment complex has been mentioned in several online discussions as an option for felon-friendly apartments in Denver. So even if you don’t see a ‘felons welcome to apply’ notice on the website, it’s still worth contacting the landlord.
Some properties on the LIHTC list don’t have websites. Instead, when you search on Google, you’ll see regular rental listings for their apartments. When you go to the rental listing site, look through the information on the listing to see if it mentions anything about felony convictions or other background screening criteria.
Rental sites usually provide a messaging system, giving you an easy way to contact landlords to ask if they accept rental applications from felons.
How To Find Felony Friendly Apartments In Denver On Rental Sites
The key to finding apartments that take felons in Denver on rental sites is to look for apartments and houses for rent by the owner.
When you’re looking for independent landlords, you’ll actually find more houses for rent than apartments, so don’t limit yourself to searching for apartments that accept felons in Denver.
Why are individual-owned properties more likely to accept felons? Because an individual property owner will be more willing to listen to you and consider your circumstances than the leasing manager at a large apartment complex who has to follow stiff corporate policies.
Before you approach potential landlords, gather some character references and your bank statements and pay stubs. If you’re still on probation, ask your probation officer to write you a reference confirming that you’re complying with all of your probation conditions.
You may get lucky and find a landlord that doesn’t care about a background check, but if they ask for your consent for a criminal background check, disclose your offense and present your references.
It’s pointless to apply for a place and pay the application fee unless the landlord has agreed to rent to you in principle based on the information you’ve given them.
To find apartments and houses for rent by owner, look at properties on the following sites:
- Zillow
- Rent.com
- Zumper
- PadMapper
- HotPads
- Trulia
- Realtor.com
- Apartments.com
Use the site filters to search for properties for rent by owner. On some rental sites, you can add keywords to your search to narrow down the results. But it’s often more fruitful to run the search on Google.
For example, if you go to Google and enter “Zillow for rent by owner Denver” you’ll get a result featuring those filtered properties on Zillow.
Then, when you go to the rental website, use the other site filters to narrow down the price range and the number of bedrooms.
Use the onsite messaging system to send the owner a message, or if they’ve listed a contact number, give them a call.
Always lead with positive information about yourself and say where you’re employed, how long you’ve worked there, and how much you earn each month. If you’ll be renting with a partner, mention their income as well.
You should also say you’re ready to move in right away and have the security deposit and first month’s rent. Ask what other information they need from you.
If they say they run a background check, then bring up your felony, and let them know that you’ve got good character references. It’s also worth finding out if they would accept a bigger security deposit to balance out your felony.
Wrapping Up
If your felony conviction is over five years old, your rental application in Denver can’t be denied because of your offense, unless your conviction was for an offense that requires you to register as a sex offender, or was an offense connected to manufacturing or distributing methamphetamine.
For felonies that are still within the five-year window, you’ll have more success with your rental applications if you focus your search on properties for rent by owner, and on the low-income properties on the LIHTC list.
If you need more help finding felon-friendly housing Denver, contact Remerg and find out about the resources they can offer you.
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