Rent Fraud takes advantage of the fact that many people are desperate to rent.
In a rent fraud, scammers will often play on renters’ desire to find a property by promising them a great deal.
The rental property market in the UK is very competitive and often expensive.
Fraudsters are able to take advantage of this desire to find a property by offering attractive homes at below market rents.
One of their tricks is to advertise a property that they don’t own and then offer it for rent.
Scammers will advertise the property through a trusted agent to add legitimacy to their fraud.
The property agent can then unwittingly place the home on online platforms that offer another level of trust to the potential victim.
Rent Fraud is increasingly common and sophisticated and no-one should feel embarrassed by being duped by these scams.
Often the victims of rent fraud have been let down by a lack of due diligence by third parties such as property agents.
If you are the victim of a Rent Fraud we can help you to recover your money.
Our lawyers are sensitive to the fact that for many people these can be life-changing sums and will help you retrieve the money as quickly as possible.
How to avoid becoming a victim of rent fraud.
1. If it looks to good to be true, it probably is. This is the case for so many fraus but it always rings true. Ask yourslef why someone would be offering a property below the market value.
2. Be wary of unusual requests. Once you have been drawn in, scammers will often make an offer that is out of the ordinary. For example, offering you 75% of the rent if you pay a year in advance.
3. Ask professionals for proof of due diligence. Do not presume that because a property is through a letting agent that they have done all the checks. Ask to see paper work that proves they have made sure the person renting the property is legitimate. You can make Land Registry checks.
4. Try and do your own checks. These can be online checks of the property to see it’s history. Find out when it was last sold, or last rented out. You can do a Google reverse image check to find out more.
5. Visit the property. If someone won’t let you visit the property or meet you in person then this should be a red flag. Do not rent a property you haven’t visited or got a trusted friend or family member to visit.
Case Study: Renters Scammed By Fake ‘Landlord’.
We are currently representing victims of one particular rental scam in which the fraudster conned tens of thousands of pounds from people.
The fraudster claimed to own a flat and showed various people around it and then offered a 25% discount if the renters paid a whole year’s rent in advance.
The victims had been reassured that the fraudster was genuine by the fact that the property had appeared on the online platform Rightmove and was placed there by bona fide letting agents.
We were able to get one victim fully reimbursed within seven days of her contacting us.
The story has featured in The Sun newspaper and includes expert opinion by our Senior Partner, Martin Richardson.
Read the full story here: I lost £20,000 in minutes after being conned by disgusting ‘landlord’ – don’t make same mistake I did | The Sun