Greycoat Real Estate On Tenant Fraud
Greycoat Real Estate, an agency in the U.K. focusing on creating the maximum value for residential and commercial real estate investors, is concerned about a recent study by Goodlord. The study highlights the increase in fraud in rental applications. A tenant who lies on their application for commercial or residential rentals increases the likelihood that the tenant cannot afford the rent.
The most common fraud is residential renters who lie about their income. People can easily forge payslips with Photoshop to increase their income. Technically, a company can forge their profit statements. Applicants for a rental home may also may also use fake references, using friends and saying they were previous landlords.
Friends give a glowing reference, saying the applicant always paid their rent on time and were quiet people who never caused any problems, Greycoat informs. Forging documents is becoming more common as there are many photo editing tools that are easy to use.
Creating false passports and fake bank statements is easy, Greycoat real estate agency experts assure. Everything is digital, so estate agents will usually accept faxed or emailed documents (Bloomberg).
Greycoat Real Estate understands that they need to check an applicant’s identification, income, credit, and more. Having a criminal using forged documents to obtain a lease at a prestigious address could help them hide and appear legitimate to defraud more victims.