Rent 2 Rent
This scam involves a tenant renting a buy to let home and subletting the rooms to as many people as possible.
Generally, the tenant pays six or 12 months’ rent upfront in cash, looks smart and has impeccable references. That’s because he is a front for someone else stepping in just to secure the property.
Once in, he hands the keys to his partner who turns every available room into a bedroom. Fire and other house in multiple occupation safety rules are ignored.
Selling for a steal
A tenant steals the landlord’s identity – much of the information is on a tenancy agreement – and puts the home on the market for a quick cash sale. The Land Registry has dealt was hundreds of cases of property fraud involving homes worth a total of around £60 million in recent years.
Identity theft
The tenant steals the identity of the landlord or previous tenant to order goods from catalogues and to run up credit in someone else’s name
Drug farming
Once again a smart tenant with good references pays a long rent upfront, and then hands the keys to a drugs gang. The gang moves in and rips the home apart to farm cannabis.
Tell-tale signs spotted from outside include darkened windows, condensation and the musky smell of cannabis.
Bogus landlords
Fraudsters meet unsuspecting tenants at a house and ask for a fee to prove their serious before showing them around or even view the home with them and accept a holding fee and deposit. Of course, they then disappear with the cash.
Many of these fraudsters advertise on free online classified sites like Gumtree or Craigslist.
Lease options
Property sourcers trying to do a lease options deal will offer below-market-value prices to landlords who sign up to buy – for a fee. The trouble is few solicitors will touch lease options as they are unfair contracts for the sellers and many hint of fraud.
