The warning comes from a leading independent estate lettings agency, the Essex-based Balgores Property Group, who say there have been four million victims of ID fraud in the UK.
Landlords risk losing not only rental income but also, in some cases, the property itself.
In one case recently a tenant conman was jailed for selling his landlord’s property and pocketing the £90,000 proceeds.
Howard Lester, a director of the firm, said: “A lot of professional fraudsters are looking to rent a property in order to secure an address so that they can carry out a financial fraud.
“Quite often the tenant may pay for their rent a few months in advance but have no intention of paying all of the rent during their tenancy.”
Landlords struggle to evict ID fraudsters
The firm says that fraudsters are using a landlord’s property for the delivery of goods which have been bought on stolen credit cards.
In addition, the tenants are wise to the fact that they could live in a landlord’s property for up to six months before a possession order is enforced during which time they could have run-up thousands of pounds in debt and rental arrears.
When taking out their tenancy, many of these fraudsters use authentic looking passports and household utility bills but then are difficult to evict because they understand the legal system.
Mr Lester says that the best way for landlords to protect themselves and their property is to be thorough when carrying out tenant reference checks and also take out rent guarantee insurance, which should pay out should the tenant default on their rent.
UK hotspots for ID Fraud
The UK’s hotspots for identity fraud, according to the credit reference agency Experian, are Woolwich, Walthamstow, Bexleyheath, Romford, Cheapside, Lewisham, Stratford, Enfield and Ilford. The number one spot for identity fraud is East Ham in London where attempts to defraud are seven times higher than the national average.
Outside of London, the worst location for identity fraud is Altrincham in Cheshire.
Meanwhile, landlords are being urged to protect their own identity since many of their own personal details, such as their name and phone number as well as business and financial details, will be in the public domain.
The warning to buy-to-let landlords comes from Direct Line Insurance which says that they should be better safe than sorry and take relevant steps to protect themselves including having their own post sent to their own property rather than to the tenant’s property and have a separate mobile phone number for tenants to contact them on.
