From my parents house I rented a room from a family member in January 2010. I requested documentation for my payments to him but he did not feel it was necessary and wanted payments in cash. I've never been late on my rent and I have a great credit history.

I'm moving and found an apartment that I love. One thing the complex requires is rental history. Since I rented from a family member and I was not on the lease, they have a form required to be filled out and notarized from the family member I rented from.

When I approached my family member about the situation he said the whole thing seemed shady. Has anyone encountered this type of situation before? I'm concerned that this is going to prevent me from getting the apartment that I want.

Many landlords require references. It can be very expensive for a landlord to have to deal with evicting a tenant. So the request from the complex sounds reasonable.

What sounds shady is your family member. He didn't claim the income from renting to you on his taxes. That's why he insisted on cash with no paperwork. That's why he doesn't want to admit on paper that he got rental income from you.

Tell him that providing you with the statement will not get him in trouble with the IRS, but if he doesn't help you get this apt you will.

P.S. I moved this from the Feedback forum. Please choose where to post more carefully in the future.

Thank you for moving the post to the correct location, I was a little confused if this fell in the real estate category or not since I didn't see it as a law question.

I felt the request from the complex was reasonable as well. My family member has a rental agreement at a complex currently and I was just renting his extra room from him. He cleared it with the landlord and everything at the time I moved in. I can't really see a benefit since I was helping him pay rent. I just wasn't on the lease.

In terms of my application for a lease on my own, can they deny it if I can't get the information they want notarized? My credit score is in the 750 range and I meet all other requirements besides the rental history.

Yes they can. If you don't meet their requirements they can refuse to rent.

Are you sure your family member got permission? Did you see the permission to did he just tell you he did>

Yes, if you do not do everything they ask, and do not provide them all the forms they ask for. They will not rent to you. It is that simple.
And of course they want to know where you rented before and will want a reference from your previous landlord.

What is wrong is that your family member is refusing to do this. This makes it fairly obvious the family member was breaking the law at least in some manor.
1. perhaps the house was not approved for mutli family rental, so it was basically not a legal rental.
2. he is or was not claiming the rent money as income thus cheating the IRS

He is not wanting any written proof of his actions.

Yes, I know he got permission. He has rental experience and has never encountered a request like this. I think this makes him uneasy because he's had a rocky credit history and has rented from places that don't require a credit check or references.

If I'm not able to get this information from my family member, can you think of anything I can do that might help my rental request get approved?