No - the law favored you in this instance. Had you chosen to be a more thorough landlord and actually have paid for A background check, you would have seen the BK - as the filing shows up on all 3 bureaus reporting systems within minutes of the filing on PACER. I'm not justifying what your tenant did; however, the law was on your side had you choose to have the law work in your favor. A stay in tenancy is only guaranteed due to bankrupty on past contacts, so there would have been no protection for him had there been no lease. As an aside, if he did commit the civil fraud by failing to declare the bankruptcy, then any judgement that you do get against him can't be discharged by any future bankruptcy proceeding. So, you do have that going for you as well - not that it makes the situation any better