GOOGLE PROSPECTIVE TENANTS

Once upon a time, a prospective tenant reached out to a property owner to inquire about a rental unit. Everything was going smoothly—all the right boxes ticked. Then the owner Googled their name.

It turns out the tenant had a side hustle as an amateur adult content creator.

Surprisingly, the owner wasn’t fazed. They were open to moving forward—on two conditions:

That no content be posted online (adult site or otherwise) that would identify the building or the unit; and

That the unit not be used for any form of adult content creation or sexual activity related to their profession.

The prospective tenant declined and backed out.

End of story.

Now, I’m not here to make a moral judgment on the tenant’s line of work—that's for you to decide. But here's the takeaway: landlords would probably want to know this kind of information before handing over the keys to their property.

It’s another compelling reason why Googling potential tenants should be standard due diligence.

One final thought: even if the tenant had agreed to the conditions, how realistic would it be to enforce such rules behind closed doors?

Just some food for thought.