Have you heard the one about the person posing as the Landlord of a property they don’t own? It’s a good one and in a tight rental market like the one Toronto is in right now, it can be easy for desperate tenants to fall for it.

Yeah, there are some pretty scummy people out there. Thankfully, we can help.

We always tell our Lease clients that they MUST continue to look at private lease listings in addition to the ones listed on MLS that we send them. If they find something they like that is not listed by a Realtor, we don’t get a commission. It’s okay. Lease payouts are not that big. Our goal is to establish a relationship with the person in the hopes that we can represent them when they are ready to buy a place of their own one day. We also hope they will tell all of their friends how amazing we are and send them our way when they have Real Estate needs.

If our client finds a private listing they are interested in, they will have to complete the deal on their own. We do ask that they run the details by us so we can help to protect them from a scam. The first thing we want to know is the full name of the Landlord and the address of the property. We can cross reference those details with the Land Registry website and make sure that they are who they say they are.

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself in a private Lease:

• Watch for warning signs like bad photos and inaccurate descriptions
• Be wary of anyone who wants to rush the process by getting deposit money before you have seen the property
• Make sure you see the property and have complete access to everything that the listing says you will have access to (basement, parking, storage locker etc.)

But still, these scammers are good. Some of them have rented out a short-term, furnished suite and then show it to prospects as their own place. They offer the keys on the spot if they are given first and last month’s rent.

To a desperate Tenant, this can sound amazing. Their tedious and painstaking search is finally over — but the nightmare has just begun. Tenants must remember that no one is going to give them the keys to a unit without screening them. Landlords usually want to see your ID, Credit Score, completed Rental Application and referrals from previous Landlords. Those are usually minimum requirements and if they aren’t asking for them, they are waving a huge red flag.

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