Collins said that he had just evicted a tenant who vandalized his house in addition to stealing the refrigerator, the stove and the front door upon departure. "I spent $7,000 just to get it back in rentable shape," he said.
Credit reports aren't fail-safe, because sometimes people don't have a credit history. "You don't really know the extent of the person until you speak to their previous landlord," he said.
But what if a prospective tenant lies and provides a relative's number when asked for references?
"There are thousands of good tenants out there, but one tenant could cause you devastation with the amount of damage they could do to your property," Collins said.
Thus far, landlords across the nation and even a few internationally have entered the names of hundreds of tenants, including one from Spain, he said. There are about 25 Maryland tenants, he said.
Landlords can try to evict tenants through the court system, but if the person leaves without paying and leaves no forwarding address, landlords have no recourse, he said.
"A lot of people pretty much drop it," he said. As a result, he added, credit reports "might not show anything, because a landlord was not at a financial state where they could get all this prosecuted."
Property owners or managers can describe their renter problems and even upload photos of damage. The "add tenant" form asks for the last digits of a person's Social Security number or driver's license number, to help differentiate among people with common names, Collins said.
Right now, you don't need to subscribe to enter a listing about a tenant - only to search for a name.
Landlords must enter an e-mail address but otherwise are not required to confirm that they own and are renting property. If a tenant calls to report erroneous information, "normally I take care of things within 24 hours," Collins said.
But how do people know if something is posted on the site about them?
"If they want to find out if somebody enters something, sign up and get all the privileges," he said. "We don't restrict tenants from becoming members."
Rebecca Bowman, a Maryland assistant attorney general, said the Web site creates the potential for libel but otherwise does not violate laws.
Landlords should be very careful about the information they post about a tenant. "As long as it is accurate and you have documentation of it, you don't have a problem," she said.
