Hi y'all! I've been lurking on this forum for a while while researching on how to deal with my current infestation (it's been about two months now) but this is my first post. My landlord is impossible and refuses to send anyone but his incompetent buddy and my roommate mostly acts like this isn't happening to him because they're not in his room. I've withheld rent, I'm breaking the lease, moving, ditching most of my stuff, aggressively treating the rest and suing the landlord. What fun!
I've found a new apartment I really like and I'm filling out the application tomorrow. One of the forms is about my current landlord (who doesn't know I'm moving or suing yet) so that they can contact him to see if I pay rent etc (I legally withheld a portion this month). If they talk to him who knows what he'll tell them. He's super shady and I wouldn't put it past him to slander me (he's made all sorts of specious claims in his emails to me). But honestly, even if it's just the truth, I probably wouldn't rent to me knowing I'm coming from an infestation.
Am I better off disclosing the full situation during the application or hoping they don't find out about it? I also panicked at the showing and told the 3rd party realtor and the building manager I didn't have bed bugs.
I've gotten conflicting advice from my friends and my lawyers, anyone have experience with this?