For most people, the pandemic has been by turns frustrating, complex, or slow-moving. Some have had to deal with financial guilt as they struggled to help others through these difficult times. Some landlords have allowed their tenants to reduce rent or add payment flexibility in their lease agreement.
There are some others, however, who have had an excellent year. Unfortunately, that includes rental scammers. The rental industry has witnessed an explosion of tricks and scams over the past 12 months. While it can be challenging to avoid rental scams in standard times, it can be even more challenging while also navigating a worldwide pandemic.
But fear not. In this article, we’ll show you five warning signs that can indicate a post-pandemic rental scam.
Red Flag #1: No Face-to-Face Meeting
By far, the most obvious sign that you might be walking into a scam is if the person advertising a rental doesn’t want to meet in person. If a potential landlord doesn’t want to meet you, you should be suspicious because they might be a criminal looking to avoid being identified after they’ve stolen your money.
This was a problem long before the pandemic, of course, but over the past year, it’s been much more accessible for scammers to claim that it is impossible to meet up due to Covid-19 restrictions. That’s only partly true, of course, as it’s been possible to meet on Zoom throughout the period, and companies have continued to meet new clients just fine.
A good landlord will always want to meet you, as close to face-to-face as possible. That’s not to convince you they are a real person, but instead because they want to make sure you are responsible as a renter. So here’s the Golden Rule – never rent from someone you haven’t met.
Red Flag #2: Everything is a Rush
A second popular tactic for scammers is to rush victims into thinking they will get a great deal on the apartment of their dreams if they are only willing to pay NOW. Again, this is not a new tactic, and even some legitimate (if immoral) landlords use this rental scam to secure quick cash.
If you feel a landlord is rushing you into making a decision, you should be suspicious. Responsible landlords take the time to meet their potential renters and will not mind if you take an extra week to get your paperwork in order — after all, if you are about to sign a year-long contract, what difference does a week make?
Red Flag #3: No Paperwork
You should ensure that you sign a contract and that this contract is thorough before you hand over any money. Sometimes, a scammer will try to rush you into putting down a “security deposit” without any accompanying paperwork — and it should go without saying that unless you have legal protection, you shouldn’t hand over any money.
An associated risk is that of identity theft. Instead of asking you for money directly, some rental scams will instruct you to share your details on a suspicious-looking website that claims to be an escrow service or an automated contract system. If this happens, trust your instincts and don’t share any personal information. Sometimes the scammer isn’t after money immediately but is playing you for the long game of identity theft. Remember that your personal information such as name, address, and social security number is as good as currency on the Dark Web.
Red Flag #4: The Price is Too Good
A more subtle sign of a potential scam is if the price you are being asked to pay is simply unbelievable. It is, of course, still possible to find some real bargains on the Canadian rental market, so some great deals are merely great deals.
However, if you think that you are getting a great deal because the landlord doesn’t know the value of their property, you should be suspicious it could be a rental scam. There are plenty of websites that list typical rental returns for apartments, and landlords use them. They need to because prices change so quickly. In Montreal alone, prices have increased by 4.5% in the last year. Your potential landlord already knows this because renting their apartment to you probably makes up a good chunk of their income.
The best way to spot an unbelievable price? Well, use the process you are already using to look at apartments and compare rents. Then, if you see one that seems like a real bargain, you should undoubtedly follow it up. Just make sure you proceed with caution because “too good to be true” often is.
Red Flag #5: Bad Ads
Finally, be wary of ads that look (or read) badly. If a rental ad is full of misspellings, typos, or weird formatting, be suspicious. Serious landlords or property managers will take the time to write a decent listing and proofread it too. If you come across a rental listing full of typos, has poor grammar, and contains excessive punctuation, a scammer likely created it.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, there are only a few ways to ensure that a rental ad is not a scam – meet the landlord in person or see the property in person. Sadly, this has been more difficult than before during the pandemic, and many people have been rushed into scams.
In reality, however, the pandemic has changed less than some scammers would have you believe. It’s still possible to call a potential landlord, and it’s even possible to see an apartment before you rent it, with the proper protections in place. The bottom line, in other words, is that renting during the pandemic is quite similar to renting in Canada in regular times – we just all need to be that bit extra vigilant to avoid rental scams.
