Independent search for an apartment rental is a time–consuming and slow process, and sometimes unsafe. Without a professional realtor, there is a risk of being deceived by scammers or renting an apartment unsuitable for living, although at first glance everything seemed decent: both the landlord and the apartment.
To protect yourself from scammers and not be left without your money, you should follow five simple rules.
Independent search for an apartment rental is a time–consuming and slow process, and sometimes unsafe. Without a professional realtor, there is a risk of being deceived by scammers or renting an apartment unsuitable for living, although at first glance everything seemed decent: both the landlord and the apartment.
To protect yourself from scammers and not be left without your money, you should follow five simple rules.
1. A good apartment will not cost a penny.
Ads where an amazing apartment with all amenities, in a great area and monthly payment is much cheaper than everyone else – this is an obvious deception.
If the housing is really so wonderful, why hasn't anyone rented it yet?
2. No need to pay rent in advance for several months.
If the landlord demands payment for six months or a year in advance and does not make concessions, there may be a catch. Perhaps there is something wrong with the apartment — cockroaches, bad neighbors, or maybe the owner is not the owner at all. So that there is no reason to run away anywhere soon after moving, without the money given six months in advance, it is better to find an option with a monthly payment.
3. It is absolutely not necessary to rent housing if there are no documents confirming the right to property and the identity of its owner.
There can be no doubt about it, without documents there is no deal.
It is necessary to ask the owner or the person who introduced himself in this way to present documents confirming his ownership rights of the rented apartment. A decent person will not be surprised by such a request, and a fraudster is likely to be wary and unlikely to appear for negotiations.
4. If the interests of the owner are represented by an intermediary, there must be a notarized power of attorney.
The landlord could not attend the conclusion of the transaction and sent his representative. Be sure to verify the authenticity of the submitted power of attorney. It is better to contact the notary and clarify whether the document issued by him is valid.
5. Do not pay anyone for anything before signing the contract.
Prepayment is a legitimate transaction. In the real estate market, prepayment is made as a deposit, security payment or advance. Fraudsters use prepayment as the most common scheme of deceiving gullible employers. You can lure her out in different ways, and when the money gets to the scammers, they stop contacting.
Before signing a lease agreement, you do not need to pay anyone for anything.
If the landlord demands to pay for any services, an advance payment or something else before signing the lease agreement, it is most likely a fraudster.
Before making a transaction, you should carefully check all the documents again. A competent and thorough check will deprive scammers of a chance to cheat.
What else you need to pay attention to:
The behavior of the landlord. If the owner is in too much of a hurry, looks nervous, hurries to make a decision, promises to rent the living space to others, if you do not decide right now, this is a reason to be careful. It is necessary to visually assess whether a person is adequate. Scammers are under constant stress due to the fear of exposure, so they need to act quickly and not let the victim understand that she is being deceived. Hence the haste, aggression and nervousness of behavior.
When inspecting an apartment, it is useful to inform the owner of the intention to communicate with future neighbors. A decent person will perceive such a desire adequately, unlike a conman. Getting to know the neighbors will actually be useful, you can get information about past tenants and the owner.