Hunting for rental housing in any city can be exhausting. Going to view small one-bedroom apartments ‘accidentally’ listed as 2 bedrooms or a tiny, dark house described as ‘huge’ and ‘bright’ is frustrating. Even worse is paying a deposit on property that does not exist. Here are some tips to help you identify a possible scam when looking for rental property:
Be aware of offers that seem too good to be true
It’s a good idea to do a reasonableness check on rental rates for similar properties in the same area. If the rent seems too low, do more research.
Be cautious of giving your personal information
You may get asked for your social insurance number, bank account, or credit card numbers. However, keep in mind that this type of information is not required to rent a place.
Get recommendations from people you know
This way you are more likely to deal with reputable agencies or landlords.
Don’t give up your cash too quickly
If they are asking for a cash security deposit, be cautious. Cash is untraceable and can be used immediately. Also be very cautious when being asked to “wire” money or send money to a third party as this is often a sign of a scam.
Be careful when looking online
There have been reported cases where a renter found the same pictures of an apartment for rent but at a different address. Or sometimes, the property doesn’t exist at all.
Find out the terms of your lease
Always read the fine print on your rental contract and find out if there is a penalty for early termination of your lease.
If you think you have been scammed, we encourage you to call your local police department. By reporting a fraud, you provide law enforcement with the information they need to stop fraudsters and help prevent others from becoming victims. You can also report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre which is the central agency in Canada that collects information and criminal intelligence.
We hope this information was helpful!
ADDITIONAL READING:
Is it a scam? Three ways to tell
Protect yourself – tips from Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
Good for you Shoko. My daughter was looking for a rental in Edmonton last year and almost got scammed. She did go to the police before giving them any money.
Hi Wendy, thank you for your comment! I’m glad that your daughter was able to avoid a scam. And reporting it to the police is an important step in preventing future scams.
My daughter ran into lots of scams when looking for an apartment recently. Many of them involved an “owner” who had bought an apartment but was then posted to a different country, so was renting out said apartment, through a “reputable agent” (sometimes air b-n-b). They usually were “pet friendly”, so as soon as they started the “send us the deposit & we’ll mail you the key” routine, she emailed them a photo of a goat & asked if her pet would be welcome. That generally brought everything to a screeching halt.
Please give some tips and warnings signs to property owners considering to offer a rental suite. Advice about helping potential landlords to avoid renting to criminals, or non paying renters, or simply dishonest persons abusing the property, thank you.
Hi Alison, we appreciate your suggestion! We will consider that as our future blog post. Although we are not expert in this field, we understand that there are many concerns from landlords.
The BC government needs to make it easy to cross reference the owner of a rental property. This way, renters can request ID from the owner, and then ensure that the person actually owns the property. Otherwise you get scams like this: https://globalnews.ca/news/9149133/victoria-rental-scam-victim/
With rental rates beyond ridiculous, the government needs to step up and protect us from being scammed even further.
If dealing by email, check the ip address it will tell you where the email is coming from. If it’s to good to be true, it’s to good to be true.