A: By "personal renter's history" I take it you mean more than is contained on your credit report. A credit report obtained from one of the three major agencies (Equifax, Trans Union, Experion) that is complete should contain not only your credit history, but also whether you have ever been evicted, and if you have any civil judgments on your record (like an eviction or unlawful detainer judgment). Before you order a credit report, find out if it will contain all that information.

If you want to know what is in your landlord's file, you'll have to take the following steps.

First, you could request a copy from your property manager. If for some reason they refuse your request, you might try asking, very politely, why they don't want you to see it. But remember, even though the information in your file pertains to you, you do not "own" the information, nor do you have an automatic right to it (this is true in the majority of the states; the laws of your state may vary). In some extraordinary circumstances (such as when a lawsuit has been filed and the contents of your renter's history would be relevant evidence in the matter), you would be able to compel the production of your file. But from what I gather, this is not the case.

If you fear that your personal renter's history contains inaccurate information, you should request that you be allowed to submit a letter for the file wherein you correct or explain the inaccurate information.

I did some research by calling a few property managers, and they share general information about specific tenants with each other upon request. One of them sent a questionnaire that he submits to other landlords. The specific questions he asks are all "yes" or "no", and include:

Was this applicant on the written rental agreement? · Was proper termination of the lease notice given? · Were there any documented complaints or damages? · Did the applicant pay rent as agreed? · Did the applicant pay all obligations (such as phone, utilities, etc.)? · Did the applicant comply with the rental agreement? · Was the applicant asked to vacate the unit? · Would you re-rent to this applicant?

Pretty basic stuff, but if the property manager answers in a way that you disagree with, what is your recourse? Apart from the above, not much. Again, you're under no obligation to list every prior apartment as a reference if you feel that a prior property manager is reporting negative information about you (unless you sign the rental application under penalty of perjury).

Do keep in mind that if your rental application is rejected, Federal law mandates that property managers have to tell you—in writing—why your application was rejected. In that manner, you may find out if something in a previous rental experience is coming back to haunt you.

If an eviction or judgment for unlawful detainer is showing up on your credit report and the information is erroneous, there is much you can do to clean up your credit report. For further information on this, Nolo Press (www.nolopress.com) has an excellent book that I highly recommend called "Credit Repair: Quick & Legal" by Robin Leonard. They also have a list of Frequently Asked Questions that may serve you well. Find it here.

A: Sorry to hear about your situation. (How come no one ever writes me with good news? "Dear Greg, I just won the lottery, and I need your help!" That would be nice.)

But I digress—Try to clean up your credit as soon as possible. While you may not be able to completely undo the damage that your mother did, you may be able to launder it a bit. I would recommend that you try to do this at once.

See More Resources for the information I recommend on credit reports. These resources are designed to help you learn about credit reporting so you can clean up your report. While I cannot answer your specific question, I believe that these resources can guide you towards a realistic answer. Ultimately, your credit will be "repaired" (that is, your credit will show a clean report) when the credit companies drop the negative remarks from your report. My understanding is that even if (and when) you pay the cards off, your credit report will still reflect the negative information for an extended period of time—several years.

Despite this bad news, you are allowed to enter information into your own report, in the form of explanatory letters and the like. (The Nolo book, "Credit Repair: Quick & Legal," talks about this). I would certainly try to do so, especially if your situation is as you describe.