Hi landlords of MMM! I may be in the market for a new apartment some time in the new year, and have a reference question.
I've been living in a housing co-op for several years now. In a co-op, there is no landlord - there's an elected board of directors, and committees that handle different parts of operation(membership, finance, gardening, etc). I imagine the places I apply at will be looking for references, and I'm not sure who I could use.
I could put down a random board member, but I'm on the board myself, so that would basically be putting down a friend. We have hired office staff who handle paperwork and repairs, who would probably do it, but they're not people with any authority or anything like that - they submit things to the board of directors that need decisions. The membership committee is only involved in bringing in new members, not dealing with existing ones, so couldn't really be used. As landlords, who would you guys want me to put down? How would you feel about the situation?
I've been here for several years and don't have contact info for my old landlords anymore - my last place was run through a small property management place that I believe didn't do references, the place before that I left on bad terms - it was a basement suite, kept flooding, landlord wouldn't fix it or answer her phone/respond to messages(she got back to me remarkably fast when I left a message that I was leaving though!), I bailed.
Other that that, me boyfriend and I meet all the usual requirements - long term stable employment, make good money, great credit, no criminal records/evictions, never sued anybody, good references through other sources like current and past employers.
Thanks!