QUESTION
Is it illegal for a landlord to tell other people about his current tenant's rent check bouncing?
Asked on Mar 24th, 2014 on Civil Litigation - Georgia
More details to this question:
My boyfriend is getting evicted and his landlord was telling people he was showing the house to that my bf's rent check bounced and that he's "always late" on his payment, which is not true. What can we do about that and is it illegal for him to be telling people that? we are in south Carolina.
1 ANSWER
If it is true that your boyfriend's check bounced, I see no reason why the landlord can't tell others about it. If the landlord is knowingly lying about your boyfriend always being late with payment, your boyfriend might be able to sue the landlord for defamation. However, if the part about bouncing the check is true, your boyfriend probably will not suffer any additional damages to his reputation or credit from the part about late payment.
Answered on Mar 25th, 2014 at 12:48 PM