According to the Greycoat real estate agency specialists, one of the growing problems people looking to rent a home face is rental scams. This is when someone pretending to be a real estate agent takes someone’s money and pretends to rent them a property they do not have legal control over.
Up to now, with affordable rental properties becoming more and more difficult to find all over the world, renters are more susceptible to having fake agents take advantage of them. People reported 5,751 instances of rental scams nationally last year. That’s why Greycoat Real Estate recommends renters verify the person they do business with is legitimate.
A Young Victim
Recently, the BBC reported a story about how 22-year-old Eason Lee was fooled by a fake agent scam in London and lost £13,000. Greycoat real estate confirms that the fake agent booked the property through Booking.com, an online travel agency. They then ran a ‘For Rent’ ad on OpenRent.
Lee explained that he only had one week to rent an apartment, so he overlooked some obvious red flags. Because he had no guarantors, he agreed to a deposit equal to five weeks of rent and paid six months of rent. Greycoat adds that later on, Lee received a contract and invoice that looked legitimate, checked the listed agency, its website and the government’s Land Registry website.
An Elaborate Scam
The fake agent had used the real property owner’s name and the registration number of a legitimate real estate agency on the documents. Having rented the two-bedroom flat legitimately, they had the keys. Contact Greycoat Real Estate for tips to prevent falling for rental scams.