Social Media and You

By Lev Novak

(This is a guest post by Lua Naquin of Socially Clean , as edited by myself)

When it’s time to rent an apartment it’s common knowledge that one’s credit history and income will come under scrutiny, but is it possible that your prospective landlord is checking more than just your credit?

Nowadays more than 20% of companies research prospective employees social media profiles, and colleges are doing it too, so it makes you wonder whether or not landlords are in the habit of doing that as well. While there are no hard numbers to tell whether landlords are researching prospective tenants, but you can bet it’s most likely happening (albeit not every time).

When it comes to the renting process, there are certain laws in place that prevent landlords from discriminating against you because of your ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion but the truth is, all of those things are often visible on most people’s social media profiles.

If you’re denied an apartment and have proof that you were discriminated against because of ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or gender you could have a serious legal case against the landlord. With social media in the mix however, it becomes hard to tell whether you were denied an apartment because of your religion (for example), or if you were denied because your last Facebook status update said something like: “I love my cats so much! All 25 of them!” or “I cannot wait to move into a new apartment and throw a wild party!”

It’s definitely recommended that landlords not research prospective tenants on social media so that they can remain impartial and base their decision to rent on the commonly accepted criteria of income, criminal record, rental history and credit. Looking people up online and viewing their social media profiles has become quite routine nowadays, but when it comes to renting a condo, house or apartment it becomes a sticky situation to navigate.

For example, in a drawn-out process, avoid mentioning how much you “want to feed your landlord to cruel-intentioned geckos”

If you’re in the process of finding a new place to rent, there’s no absolute way to ensure the landlord won’t look you up online so it’s best to keep everything cleaned-up. Be sure any public photos of you are ones that depict you in a positive light, and that any public status updates are not hurtful, insensitive or otherwise offensive. A good rule of thumb is “would this actively worry a landlord?” While a landlord isn’t going to nag you about skipping class, if they get the wrong vibe from your posting, like anyone else, they can be more hesitant to work with you.

Finding a great place to rent is an arduous process without the added stress of going through and cleaning up your social media profiles, so do yourself a favor and clean things up easily. Software like Socially Clean can help you get your Facebook profile in presentable shape so that your best self is what’s on display and not the crazy antics you get up to with your friends.

Or, you know, make those private.

(For more social media help, head over to Socially Clean!)

Share this article: