Can You Rent An Apartment With A Domestic Violence Charge?

Can you rent an apartment with a domestic violence charge? A charge or conviction for domestic violence won’t disqualify you from every apartment community, but you should be prepared to receive rejections during your housing search.

Any criminal conviction can hurt your chances of being approved for an apartment rental. Charges involving violence make renting apartments even harder. 

Check our guide below for more details.

Can You Rent An Apartment With A Domestic Violence Charge 2025?

Whether you can find an apartment to rent with a domestic violence charge depends on the tenant acceptance criteria used by the apartment managers at the communities you apply to.

The Fair Housing Act doesn’t allow landlords to use blanket bans on renters with criminal convictions, but landlords are free to make certain offenses disqualifying. Disqualifying offenses are those which have a direct effect on the safety of staff and other tenants or pose a risk to the landlord’s property, or financial interests.

The tenant acceptance criteria will vary from apartment community to apartment community. When you’re searching for an apartment, you may be able to find the tenant screening policy on the apartment website. You can also email the rental office and ask them to send you a copy of their acceptance criteria.

See more: Can You Be Evicted For Having A Felony?
See more: Can You Be Denied Housing For Pending Charges?

Why Landlords May Reject You

Domestic violence covers an extensive set of behaviors. At the very least a landlord could be concerned about heated arguments disturbing the peace of other tenants. 

Other more serious concerns would be having police called to the property, violent behavior towards employees or other tenants, and property damage.

The level of your domestic violence charge will also be a factor that affects your approval chances. Renting is often easier with a misdemeanor because misdemeanors are less serious than felony convictions.

How Old Is Your Domestic Violence Charge?

In some states, there’s a time limit on reporting criminal convictions on background checks. Your state may not allow convictions older than 7 years to be reported, for example.

If your domestic violence charge relates to an older offense, and your state has imposed a time limit on the use of criminal history, you won’t need to worry about your offense when you apply for apartments. 

How To Rent With A Domestic Violence Charge

When you’re looking for a rental with a domestic violence charge, it’s easier to get approval to rent a house than an apartment.

Apartment managers will craft policies to protect them from legal liability that could arise if an employee or other tenant is harmed. They’ll also be concerned about the reputation of their apartment community.

These concerns are less of an issue for property owners renting out houses. That’s not to say, you’ll get approved to rent the first house you apply for, but overall acceptance is more likely.

Houses aren’t necessarily more expensive than apartments and can even cost less.

Small-time landlords who handle leasing themselves may also be more willing to look at the circumstances surrounding your conviction.

Because domestic violence is such a broad term, if your charge didn’t include physical violence or property damage, a landlord may be happy to rent to you.

Some landlords renting properties in less desirable neighborhoods might not care about the charge. It all depends.

Good places to find more understanding landlords are your local Craigslist website and Facebook Marketplace.

Be Prepared To Explain Your Charge

Because most landlords and property managers run background checks, you can save a lot of wasted application fees if you bring up your domestic violence charge before you fill out the application.

If your charges were less serious, explaining what happened could help to lessen concerns about renting to you.

Quick Recap

There’s no law prohibiting renters with domestic violence charges from renting apartments. Landlords and property managers, however, can reject your rental application because of your conviction if they include domestic violence or crimes of violence in their disqualifying criteria.

Apartment communities tend to have harsher restrictions than landlords with rental houses, so focusing your housing search on single family homes and townhomes for rent may be your best strategy.

If your domestic violence charge is less serious, explaining what happened could help you get accepted.