Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

There are plenty of places that will accept prospective tenants with marginal credit. You can rent directly from a landlord (many do not even run credit reports, or may be open to an explanation of why your credit is bad) or from a smaller property management company (who, again, may be willing to listen to an explanation). Large apartment complex operators are generally not going to be an option for you, as they need to qualify each adult who will be living in the apartment, and you cannot rely upon your boyfriend's credit in the case of most large operators, to qualify you. Policies are different from operator to operator, so I would keep trying. Discuss with the property manager in advance the fact that you have some issues with your credit, and before you make formal application, discuss whether they are willing to work with you on that issue. If not, move on.

What you also need to do is begin work on cleaning up your credit. Pay off (or negotiate settlements with) all outstanding collections and debt accounts. That will help tremendously. Dispute any information on your report that is not accurate. Get one or two credit accounts (even if they are secured credit cards) and begin using them very carefully to ensure that they are 100% on-time, and reporting positively on your credit report. It may take a while, but you can build your credit score back up. The important thing is resolve what is outstanding today, and do not allow anything adverse to be reported on your credit report going forward by being diligent in making payments on time. Good luck, and congratulations on your soon to be born baby.

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