Janice wrote:
In most places it's pretty difficult to actually evict people who
don't want to go.

Well, you may have to go to court (if they don't get the message from
your eviction notices; many do), but if they haven't paid their rent or
can't (provably) abate the problem, they can certainly be legally
evicted. (In civil court, the landlord only must prove via
*preponderance of the evidence* rather than *beyond a reasonable doubt*
as in criminal courts.) As a last resort the sheriff can physically
evict them.

In general, it's true that renters have protection from spurious
eviction, especially in larger cities, but in my experience most people
want to avoid the eviction process (not to mention the record) and would
rather come to an agreement or simply move.

I have not rented for many years.. moved here in 1977.. and I heard
what friends had to go through in order to rent and was amazed, but I
heard they could check your credit, but couldn't refuse to rent to you
based on what it said, which seemed rather stupid. And you have to
pay for them to check your credit!

Yes, in my state you are entitled to charge a fee for checking the
applicant's background. The landlord is entitled to recover costs of
checking out rejected applications. What you heard was probably mangled
urban legend; in 1977 privacy and discrimination protections were likely
much *less* than today. Heck, in 1977 there were cities with ordinances
(widely ignored, to be sure) blocking single mothers from renting.