I am helping my husband’s family rent a house. They don’t speak english and I don’t mind helping, however there is a moral dilemma for me. They (like most people) want to find a nice house in a decent neighborhood that’s spacious and clean, and for low rent. They have quickly criticized the size or ugly condition of homes we have seen, but they are also aware they can’t be TOO picky b/c they have no credit and shaky rental history so they cannot offer references, etc. They have been desperately searching and paying more than they can afford where they live currently. That said, although they would like the cheapest rent they can get, they are STILL looking for prices at and above their current rent which I know is killing them to pay. Besides that, they are somewhat dirty people who THINK they are “normal clean.” They either don’t realize how much they mess up a property they occupy and how unacceptable that is, or they do realize it but just don’t care. Their attitudes tend to indicate the latter. They have always said they don’t expect to receive their deposit when they leave. Besides this, there are a lot of people who would live in the house and they don’t disclose this entirely to potential landlords. The places they could actually afford are not that nice, but they don’t like them. Of course! So we go see where they would LIKE to live. Any of those property owners do not want their place messed up or a ton of people living there for obvious reasons. I know from seeing it that his family doesn’t give a rat’s @ss about how they keep the places where they rent, and that they have also seriously failed on rental payments or are regularly late or asking for extensions, OR they totally bail and leave the owner hanging. I don’t mind helping them to look for housing b/c of the language issue, but they ask me to meet the owners with them to translate, and the owners tend to be trusting my word, too. I know that no homeowner would have too good of an experience renting to them and the family WOULD mess up their place. They are on the verge of getting a place where the owner is super-duper watchful of the cleanliness, maintenance, and responsible payment of the renters, and I feel like I have a duty of ethics to tell her what she may be in for. She is upside down on her home value, can pay the difference b/w the rent she’s charging and her mortgage, and has financial problems of her own. She’s struggling yet being responsible, doesn’t want to lose her home due to flaky tenants, and has her home VERY well taken care of – nothing like the condition this family would leave it in! What should I do? Should I just keep my mouth shut? If I were to tell her, they would simply not get the place and would never know it was b/c I spoke to the owner. I’m the go-between as it is, so it would seem natural she gave me the answer. I am a homeowner as well and at a different socioeconomic/educational level than them. At the same time I want to help them, it bothers me that they are so unaware of what “troublesome tenants” they are; they somehow always make themselves the victims who weren’t given a break, or later congratulate themselves on what they got away with. All I know is I would want to be told instead of snowed and have someone F up my walls, floors, landscaping, litter my yard, and bail on the rent or always have excuses, etc. Do you know people like this? They make our lives so impossible! Again, H-E-L-P!