Today we will talk about how to rent an apartment and avoid becoming a victim of scammers, do not run into some kind of scam or deception, which currently abound in this area. In this article, I will look at some of the most common methods of deception and fraud associated with renting out housing. Finding out about them is not so difficult: a lot is written about this on various forums and other blogs, information about scammers spreads quite quickly.
However, new tenants continue to fall for their tricks, because they do not know or do not want to know how to rent an apartment correctly. I recommend that you carefully read the scam options outlined below so as not to become a victim of scammers when renting an apartment.
Methods of fraud and deception when renting apartments.
Method 1. Other people's photos of the apartment. You are looking for where to rent an apartment on the Internet, and you find an advertisement with very impressive photographs of the interior of the rental property, combined with a very affordable and interesting price. You happily contact the owner or realtor, but they tell you that this apartment is supposedly already rented out, but there are others similar, and they offer you to look at them, often asking you to pay some kind of advance.
What to do? If the price/interior combination seems somewhat suspicious to you, and in other cases too, check the photos of the apartment for uniqueness. This is not difficult to do – there are special services for this on the Internet. For example, one of these is Google Images. Just paste the link to the photo into the search bar or save the photo to your computer, and then upload it to the service, and it will show you all the available analogues of this picture on the Internet. And when you notice that the “same” apartment is for rent in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and other cities, I think it should be clear to you that they want to, at a minimum, attract you fraudulently, and most likely, to deceive you for some or “prepayment”. Therefore, I strongly do not recommend applying for such advertisements.
Method 2. Non-existent apartments. In fact, the same method, only there may not be a photo at all, and also the apartment itself. Fraudsters advertise housing for rent, usually attracting you with a good price, and then, when you contact them, two scenarios are possible.
In the first case (this is the best option), you simply show up your number/e-mail and realtors will start calling/writing you, offering other options for renting apartments, respectively, more expensive and less interesting. Well, for this non-existent apartment they will simply say that it has already been rented out.
In the second case (this is the worst option), they will try to fraudulently obtain some kind of advance payment from you, after which they will disappear.
Perhaps this is the most common type of divorce, deception and fraud when renting out apartments.
What to do? As soon as you are told that the apartment you are interested in has already been rented out, but they may offer you other options, immediately be wary. And never, never never do not make any advance payments for the services of realtors or for renting an apartment until you have actually agreed with the owner and signed a lease agreement with him.
Method 3. Multiple rentals of the same apartment.
When thinking about how to rent an apartment, you should not forget about this very unpleasant method of fraud, which, unfortunately, also occurs, albeit not as often as the previous one. What is its essence? The fact is that the owner of the apartment rents out the same housing to different people in various cunning ways, receiving an advance payment from them. And they have to somehow divide it among themselves, and figure out who will live and who will just have to say goodbye to the money.
How does this happen? Well, for example, you rented an apartment: the owner personally showed you around, showed you everything, gave you the keys and took an advance payment for 2-3 months. You move in in the morning, and in the evening, another person who moved here with things opens the doors with the same key - he looked at this apartment and made an advance payment yesterday. And the next day - another family... (if the owner was so lucky that he managed to do his job with as many as three tenants).
In this case, if you do not have a lease agreement in your hands, and the fact of making an advance payment is not recorded in any way, you will not prove anything to anyone. After all, even if you contact the police and they find the owner, he will say that you made it all up. Or maybe the “owner” is another tenant who rented the apartment himself for a week and rented it out to several other people for a year. And this happens, and often...
What to do? Make payment/prepayment only after signing a lease agreement with the real owner of the apartment. When signing, be sure to check the ownership documents, all passport details of the owner, and compare them with those specified in the contract. The fact of transfer of money should be recorded, at a minimum, with a receipt, and better yet, with bank documents confirming the non-cash transfer of funds according to the details specified in the agreement.
Method 4. Agreement with a fake agency. And the last method of divorce when renting out apartments, which I want to consider, is signing an agreement with non-existent realtors.
The scheme works like this: scammers rent a small office, advertise profitable apartments for rent, people come to them who want to rent an apartment, they enter into contracts with everyone in their own name and take an advance payment for 1-2-3 months. At the same time, they show you a photo of the apartment, but warn you that you will be able to move in, say, in a week, when the previous tenants have vacated the property. Perhaps, to be sure, you are even given the keys to the apartment. But when you arrive at the specified address at the appointed time, it turns out that no one is renting anything there. And when you return to the agency to arrange a showdown, it turns out that he is no longer there.
What to do? Conclude a rental agreement only directly with the owner of the apartment, who will provide you with his passport and all documents confirming ownership of the property. No intermediaries, especially those who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They can just as suddenly disappear into nowhere...
Now I want to list some common signs of an advertisement for housing for rent, by which you can determine that you are dealing with scammers (not 100%, of course, but with a high degree of probability):
- The contact phone number contains letters that look like numbers (for example, the letter Z instead of the number 3, the letter O instead of the number 0, etc. - look carefully), or the phone number, or even the entire ad, is indicated in the form of a picture rather than text. Almost 100% a sign of fraud. This is done so that the number/data cannot be copied and “pierced” through blacklists;
- The ad states that the owner is abroad/in another city and will receive payment/prepayment;
- They are looking for “good people who will look after the apartment” for a nominal fee;
- One room in the apartment is for rent, and the second/third are “closed with things”;
- They offer “registration assistance”;
- Professional photographs of rental housing, perfectly taken and edited as if for a glossy magazine;
- There are already other “very friendly” tenants living in the apartment;
- It is emphasized that they are looking for a “decent family”, “strictly non-drinker” or something similar (think for yourself, what kind of owner would rent out his apartment to dishonest people or alcoholics?);
- It is proposed to make some kind of deposit/prepayment before concluding a lease agreement;
- It is indicated that the housing is for rent “urgently”.
And in conclusion, one more useful piece of advice that all those who don’t know how to rent an apartment without deception and scam will need: be sure to enter the address of the apartment, the name of the owner or realtor, their contact numbers/e-mails into the search engine, and check that “ Are they on any black lists? There are already quite a few black lists of landlords on the Internet, and it is much better if you find your landlord there in advance than to add it yourself later, wasting money and time.
Now you have some idea of how to rent an apartment and not run into scammers. Be careful and vigilant: some risks will always remain, but you have the power to reduce them significantly! Remember this...
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MOSCOW, September 15 - RIA Novosti, Konstantin Balakin. The rental market has always been saturated with unscrupulous businessmen, and in times of crisis and instability, as we know, scammers tend to become more active. Representatives of real estate companies told RIA Real Estate about the most common types of fraud and explained how to avoid becoming a victim.
Early eviction as income
Quite often in the rental market there is fraud involving the early eviction of a tenant from an apartment for invented reasons, says Maria Zhukova, director of the Miel-Arenda company. It happens that unscrupulous apartment owners present false claims to tenants in order to evict the tenant, so as not to return the security deposit, and sometimes even the monthly rent.
“We were faced with a situation where the owner of an apartment turned this into income - he rented out his home, took a deposit in the amount of the monthly rental cost, and soon, having come up with some excuse, evicted the residents,” the deputy director of the apartment rental department shares his experience "Inkom-Real Estate" Oksana Polyakova. At the same time, he kept the deposit for himself, then again looked for new tenants to do the same.
The actual lease term may also be kept silent, Polyakova notes. The apartment could have been rented for, say, only three months, but the tenant was told that it would be for a long time. And the monthly rental rate for long-term rental is 10-20% higher. After these three months, the owner encounters “insurmountable difficulties” in which it is necessary to vacate the rented apartment.
There is only one rule in such cases: clearly state all living conditions, terms, rights and obligations of the parties, the procedure for early termination of the rental agreement, advises Polyakova. The law does not require notarization of the signatures of the parties when drawing up an apartment rental agreement: according to Article 674 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the agreement is considered concluded from the moment it is signed by the parties, she reminds.
“And the main thing is that you should not succumb to the owner’s provocations if you have not violated any rules stated in the contract,” Zhukova emphasizes.
News agency fishing rod
Until now, one of the most common scams in the rental market is associated with the so-called “information agencies,” Zhukova points out. Such agencies, she explains, provide potential tenants with a database of homeowners with phone numbers and addresses for a fee. The housing offered in such lists usually either does not exist or varies significantly in cost.
General Director of the real estate agency "Megapolis-Service Mytishchi" Vera Larionova talks about a recent case with a client of their agency who fell for such a "bait." A client approached them with a request to consider in more detail options for renting a 1-room apartment in Mytishchi. After carefully reading the offers, the woman took a break, because on the same day she found an advertisement in the newspaper for renting an apartment in Moscow in the Lubyanka district at the price of renting an object in Mytishchi.
How to avoid becoming a victim of scammers when renting an apartment through websites?Realtors warn that cases of fraud have recently become more frequent in the rental market, especially when searching for housing. The RIA Real Estate website, together with the Avito portal and Inkom Real Estate, have prepared tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of fraud when renting an apartment through websites.“We were not at all surprised when a few days later we saw her again at our agency,” recalls Larionova. Chasing the “cheap” option, the client did not even bother to read the contract under which she made a payment in the amount of 20 thousand rubles. The contract was for the provision of information services. After signing it on the first day, she did not even find at the specified address the house in which the apartment was supposedly for rent. On the second day, the persistent client at the agency was given a different address. When visiting a new property, a scene was played out in front of a potential tenant, during which the owner of the apartment allegedly rented it out to other people only an hour ago. The client returned to the agency again and called the police, who found no violations in the signing of the agreement for the provision of information services. After the police left, the owners of the agency called security and threw the would-be client out the back door.
To avoid such problems, you should beware of options that are offered at reduced prices; this may turn out to be a bait for agents, advises Zhukova. First of all, suspicion should be raised by options that are offered at inadequately low prices, sometimes they can differ from the market prices by 50-70% - in such cases we are usually talking about non-existent objects with the help of which agents want to attract potential clients.
“Read the lease agreement carefully. Under no circumstances should it be an agreement for the provision of information services,” Larionova recommends. At the same time, all assurances that this is a standard form agreement cannot be taken into account, she adds.
According to Zhukova, the proposal to conclude an agreement and deposit money before showing the apartment should also be alarming. “Payment for the services of a real estate agency occurs only after the apartment rental agreement has been concluded, the keys have been handed over, and all payments between the client and the apartment owner have been made,” she claims. The expert clarifies that the keys must be handed over on the day the contract is signed; tenants can immediately make sure that the keys are suitable and have the right to stay in the apartment they rented. If the owner of the property promises to hand over the keys on another day, you should not pay the entire rental price; in this case, you can pay a small deposit.
Victims of subletting
Another type of deception is subletting, Zhukova continues. The scheme is simple - the fraudster rents an apartment, after which, having fake ownership documents and a passport in hand, he introduces himself as the owner and rents out the apartment at an attractive price to several tenants at once. He takes each tenant’s payment for a month or a security deposit, then asks them to wait a few days before moving in, in order to supposedly remove their belongings, unnecessary furniture from the apartment, and put things in order. As a result, several deceived tenants find themselves at a closed door, and the real owner of the apartment is not aware of what is happening.
As an example, Marina Shekera, director of the apartment rental department at Penny Lane Realty, cites an incident that recently happened to an acquaintance of their broker. Deciding that he could do an excellent job of finding an apartment on his own, he found an apartment for himself through an ad on the Internet. I met with the realtor and the owner (at least he was so sure that he was the owner that he didn’t even ask for documents). The tenant paid a month in advance, a deposit and a commission to the realtor. Then he said that the realtor was so kind that after the transaction he showed him the area and explained where each store was. In the morning, the new tenant was woken up by the cleaning lady, who opened the door with her key and said that the day was over and it was time for him to vacate the premises. It turned out that the young man did not rent the apartment from the owner, but from a tenant who rented an apartment for daily rent. And his accomplice was hardly a realtor.
Nikita Orlov, head of the LIANA real estate agency, says that often in such situations they promise to conclude a rental agreement after a while, because, for example, they came home from work to show an apartment, and accidentally left the title documents at home. Another option is that the pseudo-owners “literally tomorrow” urgently fly off on vacation, and in a month they will return and settle the formalities. Or they say: “I don’t want to conclude an agreement yet, in case I don’t like you as tenants, so live without any agreement for now, and in a month or two, if everything goes well and you turn out to be clean tenants, we will conclude a full-fledged long-term agreement.”
To avoid becoming a victim of such “sublessors,” a rental agreement should be concluded only with the owner of the apartment, checking his passport details and title documents, says Orlov. And Polyakova, in turn, warns that you should never transfer documents for your apartment into the wrong hands, even for a short period of time. Otherwise, scammers will be able to prepare fake documents and not only rent out the apartment to several people, but even sell it altogether.
The injured party in such cases are the defrauded owners, although they do not lose money like tenants. Therefore, when renting out an apartment, they should also be vigilant. “The owner should be wary of any evasion of formalities when drawing up a lease agreement,” Polyakova points out. She emphasizes that even if the document does not state the owner’s ban on subletting, it is illegal. In other words, silence is not a sign of consent. In order for the reletting of an apartment to be considered legal, there must be written permission from the owner for such actions.
To protect himself, the owner of an apartment in the rental agreement can stipulate his right to visit the apartment at a certain frequency, for example, once a month to receive rent, check payment of utility bills and generally check the situation, Zhukova adds.
False agencies
Today, using the name of large and reputable real estate agencies is gaining popularity, says Polyakova: a scammer calls a potential victim by phone, introduces himself as an employee of a well-known company, offers a lucrative deal, but asks to transfer an advance payment to the account specified by him.
This scheme also looks simple. Fraudsters advertise: a wonderful property at a great price and with a minimum commission to the agency for intermediary services. The employer calls the specified phone number and finds out: in order to get this excellent option, you must make an advance payment - transfer it to your account. “And the tenant pays! This is amazing, because it is absolutely illogical, but the fact remains,” Polyakova is surprised.
Our company, she continues, has already received several calls from deceived citizens: only after realizing that no mediation services will be provided to them, they begin to look for the company’s phone number and call there. It turns out that this “agent” is not and has never been an employee of the company. “Yes, people check the “authenticity of an agent,” but only after he has deceived them, and not before paying money to someone unknown and for unknown reasons—a paradox,” the expert is again amazed.
In such situations, Inkom advises, it is necessary to establish the identity of the agent: check his documents, find out the name of the branch of the company where he works. Take the time to visit the company’s office and make sure that it represents its interests. If you don’t have time to visit, be sure to go to the company’s website, find this branch and call the phone number listed on the website, and not the one the agent gave you. “If an agent demands payment for viewing an apartment (since it is spent on traveling by public transport), immediately refuse the services of this “employee of a reputable company,” Inkom warns.
Brother for brother
Real landlords can also be unscrupulous, Polyakova complains. For example, she says, the apartment is in shared ownership. The owner of the share - the room - rents it out, and later it turns out that the other shareholders did not give their consent to such a deal. The contract is declared invalid and the tenant is evicted. Sometimes such situations are provoked by the owners themselves, she notes.
Often there are options when close relatives rent out an apartment, Orlov continues. “My brother inherited the apartment, he has a place to live, the apartment is empty, but it could generate income for him. My brother has no time to do this, so I got involved, I rent it out,” - such, according to him, are the explanations. Then the brother comes, who was not aware of such reverent family care, and evicts everyone.
Or the son rents out the apartment of his father, who allegedly went to live with relatives on a permanent basis in Abkhazia, Orlov recalls. The apartment is empty, he has no plans to return to Russia. There is no power of attorney, but “this is my father,” “we have the same last names.” At the end of summer, the father, who during this period of time was peacefully tinkering in the garden beds at his summer cottage, returns from vacation and, naturally, kicks out the tenants, since he himself needs to live somewhere and he didn’t even think about renting out an apartment. In this case, no one returns the deposit or prepayment to the tenant. The son changes the SIM card in his phone and the “landlord’s” phone becomes unavailable.
Another similar example from Orlov is an apartment, the owner of which is a wife, and is rented out by her husband. He says that his wife is at the dacha and can’t come, so I’m showing the apartment, “but if you want, you can call her and she’ll confirm everything.” Over the phone, a pleasant female voice assures the future tenant that she is the wife, and the husband has all the authority to enter into an agreement, everything is done with her consent. The development of events is the same as in previous cases: “I didn’t know anything and didn’t allow anyone to rent out our home.”
To avoid becoming involved in such stories, Orlov warns that when renting housing, you should deal only with the owners. “To insure yourself, check before signing the rental agreement: you must be provided with the written consent of all co-owners to rent,” supports Polyakov’s colleague. In turn, to identify all the owners, study the title documents for the apartment, adds Larionova.
Don't trust the registration
Director of the Chelyabinsk real estate agency "Company AVITAL" Maxim Panteleev talks about a case that, perhaps, cannot be called typical, but still such unpleasant situations also occur.
The company helped one of its clients rent an apartment. The landlords presented a passport with registration at the address of the apartment being rented, but did not show a certificate of ownership, saying that they live in the Chelyabinsk region and all the documents are supposedly at home. “However, when we ordered an extract from the Unified State Register, we found out that the “landlords” had not been the owners of the apartment for three days,” recalls Panteleev.
A little later, to understand the situation, our colleagues visited the rental apartment and met with its new owners, Panteleev continues. It turned out that according to the purchase and sale agreement, the old owners had to check out and vacate the apartment within twenty days after registering the transfer of ownership. That is, the cunning former owners wanted to rent out an apartment that no longer belonged to them, while asking for an advance payment three months in advance. It is clear that they would then leave with the money in an unknown direction, and the new owners would naturally evict the tenant as soon as the forgery was revealed.
“By the way, the realtors went to the local police officer, but they were told that no fraud had actually occurred. Now, if the former owners of the apartment with the money had disappeared, only then would law enforcement agencies be able to accept the statement,” says Panteleev.
In such situations, he advises the following: you should not trust either the registration, or even the original certificates of title - they are easy to “lose”, and to sell, get a copy from Rosreestr. Try to order extracts from the Unified State Register containing the latest information about the owner of the property you intend to rent.
What actions need to be taken, where to go, how to record and what papers to collect if fraud has been committed against the tenant/tenant?
The hero of “The Golden Calf” O. Bender knew 400 relatively honest ways of taking money. Today's realities allow fraudsters to significantly diversify the ways they commit fraud. It is hardly possible to name them all, as well as to develop a single universal way to combat them. However, before you decide to rent or rent out an apartment, you need to present the main ones.
News agency scams. The person who called about the rental ad is asked to come to the office “to make an advance payment.” Fraudsters usually post advertisements with good apartments at very low prices. In the office, specially trained people offer the client many excellent options for rental housing, while their prices are significantly lower than market prices, and agent services are quite inexpensive. The tenant, who wants to rent a house cheaply and pay less commission, agrees. He enters into an “exclusive agreement,” makes an advance payment and goes to inspect the options. The contract states that the agency provides “information services,” but the client does not pay attention to this detail. It soon turns out that there is no housing for rent at the addresses given to him by the agency. Outraged by this, he returns to the office, but the “agents” are no longer so friendly and courteous. He is told that the contract is valid for a month and he can explore other options. However, all subsequent home viewings will be “single”. When the contract expires, the client will be told that the agency has fulfilled its obligations to him.
In such a situation, it is almost impossible to get your money back. From the point of view of the law, the contract was drawn up correctly: the agency provided “information services”, the client paid for them. A deceived client is simply no longer allowed into the office. To avoid becoming a victim of fraud, you should remember that you should never transfer an advance payment without first inspecting the apartment and completing the paperwork.
Illegal rental. A typical situation is when enterprising citizens provide a potential employer with documents for an apartment (as a rule, not the originals), show the apartment, accept an advance payment, a security deposit, a commission (in the end a decent amount is obtained) and disappear. Or they give you the opportunity to move into the apartment and disappear, and after a short time it turns out that the tenant has no legal grounds to be in this apartment.
A similar method of fraud is subletting an apartment without the consent of the landlord. For example, the owner has rented out an apartment, the payment is transferred to his bank card and he calmly goes on a trip (a cult scenario), while in fact no one is monitoring the apartment. After some time, people who start living in the apartment are completely different from those to whom the owner rented the apartment. Obviously, by filing a lawsuit to evict uninvited guests, the landlord will restore his rights (in particular the right to own the apartment), but this will require time, money for legal expenses and a strong supply of nerves.
In practice, there are cases when tenants stop paying and, threatening the property owner in every possible way, continue to live peacefully in the apartment. A reflexive attempt by the landlord to contact the police may not always end in success. If the threats are not recorded, for example, on the phone or cannot be confirmed by witnesses, the police will not be able to respond in any way, since the parties have concluded a rental agreement and all issues of its execution must be resolved through civil proceedings.
Finally, the biggest method of fraud is sale of a rented apartment using fake documents. The apartment is rented using a fake passport or on behalf of a person whom the tenant has never actually seen. Within a couple of months, they prepare documents, arrange showings of the apartment, make a deal and the money disappears. With a probability close to 100%, the tenant will be able to regain the apartment by initiating a criminal case, a long investigation, parallel or sequential trial. As a result, the buyer will be left with direct damage. However, a lot of time, effort, money, and nerves will be spent on such a struggle.
How to avoid falling for scammers' tricks?
In practice, the truth of the proverb has long been proven: “The miser pays twice.” If you want to rent/rent an apartment, but you don’t have the option of making a deal with friends you trust, don’t save money, contact professional realtors with a good reputation, reviews, a large database and various options.
Never leave/give away the original documents for the apartment and your passport for a long period of time. Presenting it for review is no problem, leaving it “for verification” is never a question. There is enough data for verification, that is, just photocopies.
What documents should I check?
When concluding a rental agreement for residential premises, do not be lazy and require the landlord to provide the following documents: a certificate of ownership of the residential premises (another document allowing you to rent out an apartment - a certificate of inheritance, deed of gift, social tenancy agreement, etc.), cadastral passport (technical passport of the BTI), extract from personal account (information about supplied utilities), extract from the house register. Check the details of the apartment owner through the free online services of the government services portal or Rosreestr. It doesn't take much time, but it helps to avoid trouble.
The landlord should check with the potential employer not only the passport, but also at least one other document - driver's, service, pension, tax identification number or student ID, etc., and inquire about the place of work/study or other purpose of the visit to the region of temporary residence. In the end, it wouldn’t hurt to “Google” the person, that is, look for information about him on the Internet and social networks. Quite often, to counteract specific scammers, entire forums are created where they “know the enemy by sight” and offer specific countermeasures.
Enter into a well-drafted, detailed employment agreement, which in one way or another reflects all the conditions that are important to you.
Drawing up a security deposit agreement or requiring the counterparty to carry property and liability insurance can also help avoid trouble.
These simple tips are not a panacea for scammers, but they significantly reduce the risk of becoming their victims.
Apartments for rent
Be careful when transferring prepayments to new site users. For additional security, we recommend that you first request documents for the object and confirmation of the transaction.
Concluding contracts for the selection of real estate on behalf of CIAN
The advertisements on the CIAN website can be viewed for free and are posted in the public domain. Do not trust those who introduce themselves as a “branch” of CIAN and offer to make a selection of objects for an additional fee. Do not enter into a contract before viewing the property and checking the documents for the property.
Real estate is an expensive pleasure. For this reason, many live not in their own, but in a rented apartment. This market is large enough that, as in any other business, there are scammers. Danger can await in Moscow and St. Petersburg and in provincial cities - there is no difference.
Let's look at what you need to pay attention to so as not to fall for a scammer when renting or renting out your property.
The most common fraud schemes
Before getting involved with the rental market, both tenants and landlords need to become familiar with the most common schemes used by scammers. Of course, such knowledge will make it possible to timely identify an unscrupulous counterparty and prevent undesirable consequences.
Fraud when renting out an apartment (risks of the apartment owner)
Apartment owners are more likely to fall for scammers. So, finding decent and conscientious tenants is quite difficult. For this reason, landlords try to thoroughly vet their tenants before allowing them into their apartment.
However, knowing the basic methods of scam when renting out an apartment by tenants, you can stop unwanted consequences and losses:
- Very often, tenants sublet their rented housing. They must coordinate such actions with the owner. However, property owners often don't know about this unless their neighbors tell them. In such cases, a decent home at the beginning turns into a hostel, brothel, etc. Tenants receive their profit, and the owner has no choice but to accept the damage caused to the property.
- Apartment renovation to pay rent. Most tenants resort to this method. The bottom line is that they insist on carrying out repairs at their own expense, pointing out the impossibility of living in the current conditions. Tenants' expenses are covered by the future rental value. The owner agrees, but as a result, the tenants do not make repairs and do not pay for housing.
- Request for documents certifying ownership. Fraudsters rent an apartment and, under various pretexts, demand the provision of documents for real estate, and after receiving them, carry out illegal actions with them, for example, draw up a fake deed of gift on behalf of the owner for the purpose of further sale. Such actions are a clear example of fraud, which can only be challenged after the issue of criminal liability has been resolved.
Despite the fact that there are many more fraud schemes when renting apartments, most often it is apartment renters who become victims of fraud.
Let's consider exactly what methods owners try to deceive their tenants.
Fraud when renting an apartment (when you rent it)
Apartment owners very often deceive their tenants in order to squeeze out the maximum benefit from renting out their property.
Thus, the most common methods of apartment rental scams are the following:
- Rent of housing that is at the stage of sale. As a rule, for long-term rental housing, payment is made in advance, at least two months. Tenants pay for these months, and after a couple of weeks a new home owner appears on their doorstep. In this case, the tenants are completely out of work. This fishing rod is a favorite tool of deceivers.
- Lease by a person other than the owner. When a rental agreement is signed by a person who has legal title to the rental property, it is considered invalid. That is, the real owner can come at any time and demand eviction. In this case, tenants cannot demand or challenge anything; it is useless to continue disputes. The only thing left to do is go to the police.
- Eviction for unknown reasons. Many landlords insist on evicting tenants without compensation for made-up reasons. Most often, they cite the neighbors below as the reason, to whom the tenants supposedly caused damage, etc. It is very easy to become a victim of such a scammer; the main thing is not to give in to threats and persuasion.
Most often, landlords change the locks on an apartment to prevent tenants from getting in. As a result, a struggle begins between them, where the homeowner most often wins.
Real estate agencies scam
Unfortunately, not only left-wing participants in the rental housing market, but also professional real estate agencies can be scammers. Renting is a good way for them to generate current profits, but not always in an honest way.
Let's consider several options for fraud on the part of such agencies:
- SMS deception. This is perhaps the most common way to deceive clients. So, after registering on the agency’s online portal, the person receives an SMS on their phone asking them to respond in order to gain access to the agency’s information database and other opportunities. As a result, money is withdrawn from the phone, but the client does not receive any database.
- Information base. When tenants contact realtors, they offer to buy a list of apartments for rent from them, and at a reduced price. Of course, the list is given only after payment of the full price. But in the end, either the list turns out to be fake, or the rental price according to the list is greatly underestimated.
Be that as it may, realtors manage to legally register their fraudulent actions, so it is very difficult to get under their skin. For this reason, most citizens simply do not want to get involved with them and prefer to act independently.
Mortgage rental
The essence of mortgage rent is to rent out an apartment that is pledged. The main condition for the legality of such a transaction is the consent of the bank. If there is no such document, then you cannot rent out the mortgaged housing.
In this case, the fraudster is usually the borrower. The victims are:
- tenant - the bank can evict him at any time;
- bank – the interest rate on commercial mortgages is much higher.
Banks regard such actions of borrowers as commercial. So if he finds out about the fact of renting out a mortgaged home, you can be sure that there will be consequences.
So before renting an apartment, you need to familiarize yourself with all the documents for it at least once.
Rent by proxy
Many owners give their apartments by proxy to third parties, in most cases to real estate agencies. It is more convenient for owners to receive income without their expenses and hassle.
However, in this case, the following undesirable consequences for lease participants are possible:
- if the owner revokes the power of attorney, the tenants may be evicted, depending on the terms of the power of attorney;
- the authorized representative may use his powers to the detriment of the owner of the apartment.
Thus, you should not issue a power of attorney for the right to dispose of your home to third parties.
Even when concluding an agreement with real estate agencies, you must carefully read each point.
How to recognize deception and protect yourself
The main signs of fraudulent schemes are favorable rental conditions. This is the main trick and scammers do everything to attract the attention of the victim. So you shouldn’t be tempted by the profitability of the deal, but it’s better to check everything yourself carefully and, if suspicions arise, refuse to cooperate.
So, the main ways to avoid getting caught by scammers when renting an apartment are the following methods:
- Drawing up a competent agreement. The contract is a guarantee for both the tenant and the landlord. To avoid problems in the future, all conditions must be included in it. It is best to draw up such an agreement under the supervision of an experienced lawyer. It will be a little expensive, but the parties will be confident in the future.
- Refusal of prepayment. Conscientious landlords usually require advance payment of no more than two months. Some insist on bail. You should not agree to such conditions, as this is a clear sign of deception.
- Checking registered persons. You need to familiarize yourself with the list of persons with registration in the relevant home. If there are many of them, then it is better to refuse to rent, since at any moment one of them may demand his right to live in this home.
- Preservation of original documents. Under no circumstances should you give anyone the title deed to real estate. The requirement for such documents is the main sign that a fraudster is standing in front of you.
Thus, attentiveness and caution are the main assistants in this matter. So don't neglect them. It is better to control everything yourself than to later deal with the consequences of property negligence.
Liability for fraud
Today, law enforcement agencies receive many complaints regarding fraudulent activities by participants in the real estate market. However, not in all cases people actually become victims of scammers. Many statements are made due to the illiteracy of the people themselves, who cannot distinguish between force majeure and fraud.
So, in order for the actions of individuals to be regarded as fraud, it is necessary that they fall under the following criteria:
- actions must be aimed at deception when renting an apartment;
- the deception must be for the purpose of obtaining money.
In turn, fraud when renting out an apartment is a criminal offense, and the punishment has a very different nature.
Thus, depending on the amount of damage caused to individuals, the following measures may be taken against fraudsters:
- criminal fine;
- arrest;
- correctional work;
- deprivation of liberty.
In this case, combined punishment options may be applied to persons. Thus, the court may impose a fine simultaneously with imprisonment or correctional labor.
For this reason, not everyone decides to engage in fraudulent activities, because in some cases individuals can be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
and not end up on the street? Stereum has put together five of the most common patterns of dishonest behavior by homeowners. We believe you should pay attention to them before signing a lease agreement.Scheme No. 1. A man of the sweetest soul - but he kicked him out of the apartment
In the rental market today, you can very often come across stories where a seemingly harmless apartment owner, after concluding a rental agreement, hardly changes the scenery, just the opposite.
Olga shares her story: My husband and I were looking for an option . We wanted to move closer to work. We both work at a research institute, my husband is preparing for his defense, so spending several hours on the road began to seem to us an unforgivable luxury.
We searched thoughtfully, and at a certain moment, we thought, we had found the ideal option - a spacious, bright apartment, quiet neighbors, and most importantly, the owner of the home made a very good impression. We even managed, on our own initiative, to pay three months' rent in advance.
What happened next is sad to remember - literally, from the first days, the owner of the apartment began to come under various pretexts in order to “check out the property.” Almost on her first visit, she returned the coffee table that her husband had moved to its original place. Then she demanded that the curtains be replaced with the old ones, and she demonstratively examined the dishes that we had put away in the pantry for an hour (“What if you broke the set, or there aren’t enough forks after you?”).
In general, we barely “held out” for a month, and then we had to move out. An attempt to return the money paid turned into, in the literal sense of the word, “torture.” And if it weren’t for the help of my brother, a lawyer, I don’t know how all this would have ended. We wanted peace and quiet, a calm environment for work, a minimum of travel time, but what we got was more than a month of headaches and a lot of disappointment in people.
Scheme No. 2. Moving in with an unreliable owner
Often, room renters encounter a problem that is difficult to recognize at the first stage of meeting the apartment owners. Be it problems with alcohol or strange forms of behavior that are not acceptable to you. The most unoptimistic thing in such situations is the risk that the realtor may howl along with the owner.
I came to the city to enroll, says Svetlana, a student at the theater school. There were no places in the hostel and we had to look for a shared room. There was very little time, I couldn’t find it on my own, so I turned to an agent. Literally, the next day I was brought to the address of “the best apartment in the world.”
I looked - the room was clean, there was the necessary furniture; the hostess talked good-naturedly about Stanislavsky and sincerely wished me to successfully pass the tests. Having paid for the realtor’s services and given money for a month’s stay, I hastily went to resolve the issues of the young applicant.
And in the evening, “at home”, an unpleasant surprise awaited me. The owner of the apartment, Elena Sergeevna, noisily “celebrated” my housewarming. She was kept company by her husband who had appeared from somewhere (at our first meeting the woman introduced herself as single) and his friends. Taking my unpacked suitcase, I hurried to go to a friend whom I had met the day before.
Returning the next day, with the intention of returning and the owner's keys, I was greeted only by lonely, uncleaned dishes and the owners and their guests sleeping everywhere. Moreover, these guests slept even in the room that was still formally listed as mine.
Scheme No. 3. The keys are in hand, but the owner doesn’t know
Another common type of fraud is the re-renting of housing. The essence of the scheme is that the apartment is not rented to you by the owner himself. And the same tenant as you. Moreover, he can hand it over not only to you, but also to third parties. Of course, housing is rented on an advance payment basis. Which actually constitutes part of the damage to your budget.
Sergei looked for housing for a long time and unsuccessfully - I was already desperate, the young man admits. When, suddenly, I came across an ad that seemed to be just waiting for me. I needed an apartment near the airport like I needed air. I often fly on business trips, sometimes even in the middle of the night I have to pack my things and hit the road. Met with the “owner”. I quickly looked at the documents, made an advance payment, took the keys and said goodbye.
I returned from a business trip a couple of days later, and was very surprised that I couldn’t get into my apartment. It turned out that after me, it was re-let to several tenants. Unfortunately, none of us were able to see the “pseudo owner” again, nor did we manage to see our money.
Scheme No. 4. There is an agreement - there is no point
It would seem that, You have the keys in your pocket, and in your soul there is a feeling of absolute comfort. And there is every reason for this - the owner is adequate, there is money to pay, the neighbors do not bother you, what more could you ask for? And at that very moment when your vigilance is peacefully dozing, the owner of the apartment has some urgent questions. He turns to you with a harmless request - to pay for accommodation several months in advance.
My sister and I lived in the apartment for the third month,” says Oksana. My sister is a student, I just got a job after graduating from university. We found the apartment quickly; the owners immediately seemed to us to be very kind and intelligent people.
Therefore, when they needed money, we, without hesitation, paid the amount six months in advance (I was paid the “lift”). Ironically, the “lifting” ones became the “trigger” for the destruction of my sister and I’s cloudless life.
A couple of days later, the son of Antonina Nikolaevna and Igor Petrovich appeared on the threshold of the apartment. And in a rather rude manner he demanded to leave the premises. It turned out that the apartment, by law, belongs to him. And his “parents”, in fact, turned out to be some kind of distant relatives or acquaintances. Who were supposed to look after the housing. Of course, they had no right to hand it over. And our agreement, as it turned out later, had no legal force.
Scheme No. 5. Apartment with dowry
Our story today about unreliable transactions ends with a story that repeats itself in the real estate rental market every day. We are talking about cases when you are offered the ideal option. And so you, having agreed with pleasure, subsequently discover the “dowry of the apartment.”
“I never thought that so many people could live in one apartment,” Yaroslava shares with us. Having arrived from another city, I quickly found housing through an advertisement. I looked during the day and everything was fine. I gave the money and left on business. I returned in the evening and couldn’t believe my eyes. There were at least ten people in the apartment. Something like a mini-hostel. Only unspoken. And I was not warned about this in advance.
We told you about the most common stories of potential tenants being deceived. Try to carefully evaluate the proposals, and most importantly, relate it to what you just read. And then, we are sure, contractual relationships with reliable home owners will reveal themselves very soon.
