Housing fraud schemes. How to protect yourself from fraud when renting an apartment. Overview of current methods of fraud and countering them

The real plague for the rental market in some regions was the so-called " news agencies". Don't let the terminology fool you: these are not agencies and they don't have any information. Although they are very fond of introducing themselves as “agents”, “realtors”, “agency”, “firm”, “real estate company”, “lease department”, “lawyer”, “law office”. In fact, these are just swindlers, impudent from their own impunity.

Crooks - because their only goal is to take money from you against any promises that they are not initially going to, and cannot fulfill: they do not have any apartments, owners, databases, etc. Yes, and they do not need them - you will give the money and so, simply succumbing to simple manipulations.

Insolent from impunity, because, having accepted money from you, they let you sign a cunningly drawn up contract, according to which they "fulfill their obligations." Are you coming to sort things out? In this case, they have serious security and the phone of the nearest police station.

Basic cheating scenarios

It all starts with ads. You find an advertisement for renting an apartment at a very attractive price.

The apartment itself is fabulous! These are usually rented out by "greedy owners" two to three times more expensive. And then luck! Not all landlords have yet sold themselves to the golden calf. Some, having made repairs in the apartment for hundreds of thousands of rubles, are ready to rent it out later for mere pennies. After all, not everyone is raking in money with a shovel, some are hunchbacked for a salary from morning to evening. And so the owner, obsessed with a sense of social justice, is ready to patronize just you: normal, adequate, hard-working people.

First lesson. That doesn't happen. Never. If the owner does not guess with the market price, then it is always in his favor. That is, its price is 10-20 percent higher than the market price, and not 20-60 percent lower. And you still need to bargain with him, which in most cases is done by ordinary agents and private brokers who work for a percentage of the transaction upon its completion. Or you yourself, if you are lucky enough to go directly to the landlord. But it is impossible to persuade the owner to a price much lower than the market price! This was not possible anywhere, no one and never, believe my 30 years of experience in the rental of apartments. And if you believe me, you don't have to read the rest. You will no longer be deceived in the "news agency".

But if you still call on this wonderful ad, then they will definitely try to deceive you in one of these ways:

1. Classic

Yes, there is an apartment! The owner is ready to show. You need to drive up to our office in order to draw up ... Yes, it doesn’t matter what to draw up! Or to pick up... Well, pick up something! Or to make sure not to ride, to negotiate ... In general, to PAY! DRIVE UP! NOT FOR THE APARTMENT! To the office! To us! WE are “agents”, “realtors”, “agency”, “firm”, “real estate company”, “lease department”, “lawyer”, “law office”!

Lesson two. There is absolutely no need to go to the office. An ordinary agent does everything in an apartment offered for rent (rent). And he takes a commission after agreeing on all the nuances of the transaction and living conditions, signing a lease (lease) agreement, checking the keys, compiling an inventory of the transferred property and fixing meter readings. There are no difficulties in doing so! This is how apartments are rented all over the world. “If you need to go to the office, and not to view the apartment, then you are talking to scammers!”

2. I am the owner, but I rent through an agency

Yes, the apartment is not rented yet. Yes, I am the owner. Look? I rent through an agency, you need to ... DRIVE TO "my agency" TO THE OFFICE (!) And conclude a "contract". I need legal guarantees! And I, the owner, will deduct the cost of the “contract” from the first month of paying for the apartment.

3. Pay an advance on the card, otherwise a lot of you are calling here!

And indeed! On that apartment from the fabulous ad, we will save fifteen thousand a month! And two, three, four thousand to "stake out the option for yourself" is a trifle.

Lesson three. No money before viewing! High technology allows crooks to optimize the process of deception. You no longer need to spend money on the office, security, "roof" and girls at the computers. Finally, there is no need to look the victims in the eye and act out staged performances, about which will be discussed below. You just need to state the condition for making an advance payment the maximum number applicants. How is this amount achieved? Right! The option offered in the ad is three times better in price / quality than all the others. Some of the scammers working according to this scheme do not talk on the phone at all, but communicate through the messenger.

4. We have two types of services: information and "payment after the fact"

If you are going to rent an apartment yourself, it costs three times less than if you are accompanied by “our agent”. Still want an agent? Then you need to drive up ... that's right, to the office! And from there already go with an agent for viewing. Don't want to go to the office? Then the agent will call you back.

The truth will call! And not one, but from all the agencies of the city! Because the scammers also made money off your rejection by simply selling your phone as a lead to regular agencies.

If you come to the office, hoping to go with an agent to view that beautiful apartment from the ad, it turns out that now all the agents are showing, but when will they be? not known. But it is your option that you can watch right now. On one's own. After payment. In fact, there are no agents in this office and never have been, as well as cheap beautiful apartments that they offer to rent. There are crooks who know their roles in a pre-planned performance.

You will be given a phone call with the "owner". And he will confirm everything. And he will tell about such details that "only the owner can know about." And you will not have any doubts about the authenticity of the "owner". And you will pay 2-3-5-10 thousand, sign a "contract" and enthusiastically rush off to look for a non-existent address of a non-existent apartment. Like thousands of other people all over Russia who are deceived daily by such offices.

Thank you for your attention! I hope that after this story, the crooks will noticeably reduce their customer base. To be honest, I'm very tired of them .. But for some time, until I found their new ads, they may be present on the site. Please don't be fooled and don't let other people be fooled by scammers. If you see a suspiciously fabulous ad, report it to the site administration - click the "Complain" button, select "Legal issues" and leave a complaint. The moderator will see it immediately.

Renting out fraud V Lately has become a serious threat both for homeowners and for those who own this housing. No matter how long the apartment is rented: for a long period or for daily rent, cases of fraud are possible. The appearance of such a problem is due to the fact that people do not follow the procedure for making a transaction and its documentation. Many, trying to save money, do not seek help from specialists. As a result, they become another victim of fraudulent schemes.

Types of fraudulent activities

There are several main schemes according to which scammers operate:

• advertisement with false information;
• actions with housing that is in sublease;
• renting an apartment in shared ownership;
• renting out an apartment in municipal ownership;
• early eviction without refund of the deposit for non-existent claims.

Fairly widespread apartment rental fraud which is associated with the provision of false information to the tenant. As a rule, agencies act as scammers who advertise in newspapers that they are ready to provide a potential client with a list of apartments for rent for a certain fee. favorable price. After the money is paid, and the tenant receives the list, it begins to turn out that either the addresses are fake, or no one is renting an apartment there.

Another common type of fraud is actions related to sublease housing. Here, scammers rent an apartment for a few days and place an ad about the urgent rental of housing for enough low prices. After the transaction is completed, the tenant will find out about the presence of other tenants of the same housing. Sometimes scammers do not disappear immediately, but exploit the rented property for several months, charging overpriced fees from subtenants. In other words, he pays the owner one amount, takes a higher fee from the subtenants, and keeps the difference for himself. In this whole situation, fraud victims have no rights and will not be able to defend their position in court if necessary, since it has no legal force with a fraudster.

Fraud is also widespread in relation to apartments that are in shared ownership. The essence of such a scheme is that one of the homeowners rents an apartment as the sole owner, and after a while a conflict situation arises, for the simple reason that the other owner does not agree with such actions. As a result, the tenant suffers, since there are only two ways out of the situation: either he moves out, since the contract is considered invalid without the written consent of the second owner, or the rent increases, taking into account the appearance of the second owner.

A similar situation arises in relation to municipal housing. Fraud consists in the fact that a responsible tenant without the consent of the persons registered in the apartment, and without the written permission of the owner of this living space (in this case, the municipal authority). If at least one of these persons does not agree to the deal, then the agreement will be declared invalid.

Another fraudulent scheme is that the landlord, having received an advance payment and a deposit from the tenant, after some time finds a reason to evict the tenant and not return the money.

How not to become a victim of scammers?

Victims of scammers, as a rule, are only those people who are inattentive to the procedure for renting an apartment and to the execution of a transaction. Such inattention is fraught with loss of funds and eviction from a rented apartment.

In order not to get into such a situation, you need to remember what you should:

1. First of all, you need to carefully study all the title papers for housing and check whether the landlord is really the owner of the apartment.
2. It is also important to request a USRR certificate, which will indicate how many owners the apartment has and whether the housing has encumbrances. If there are other owners, then it is necessary to require their written consent to the transaction.
3. You should not contact dubious agencies that offer a list of apartments that are rented at a very favorable price - most likely this is a scam.
4. It is necessary to check the utility bills before the transaction.

What to do if you become a victim of scammers?

If you nevertheless become a victim of a scammer, then you should immediately contact the appropriate authorities in accordance with the instructions:

1. After discovering the fact of fraud, without delay, it is necessary to collect all the documentation, data, related situations, and write a statement to the police department in accordance with.
2. In addition to the transaction documentation (lease agreement, false certificates of ownership), a copy of the passport indicating the registration address and a receipt or receipt confirming the receipt of money by the landlord are attached to the application.
3. After filing the application, it remains to wait for the results of the investigation and the court's decision to call the scammers to justice.
4. As a result of the court session, receive compensation for the damage caused.
5. If there are separate requirements, then it is necessary to collect all supporting documents and draw up a statement of claim in court regarding your claims.

An example of an apartment rental scam

Tatyana Ivanovna retired and decided to improve her financial situation, since the pension allowance was not enough for living. To do this, she filed an advertisement in the newspaper for renting a room in her apartment to two students. The cost of rent was low, and therefore two girls were quickly found who paid the rent for six months in advance. After a while, the students were forced to move out of Tatyana Ivanovna, because after signing the lease agreement, the elderly woman began to put forward requirements that were not included in the document: the bathroom could be visited only once a week, so as not to waste water, do not turn on the light for a long time, come home no later than 21:00. The last straw was that the grandmother demanded that the girls make repairs to the room, because they allegedly ruined the wallpaper.

Despite the fact that the girls lived in Tatyana Ivanovna's apartment for only two months, cash , woman im did not return.

Having applied to the court on the fact of fraud, the girls won the case and received their funds back, as well as compensation for moral damage.

The most popular questions and answers to them on fraud in the field of renting an apartment

Question: Good afternoon. My name is Katerina and I am from Novosibirsk. The fact is that not so long ago I decided to rent a separate apartment. I wanted to find an apartment closer to the city center, because it is more convenient to get to the university.

Looked through all ads and found suitable option. I called on the phone and it turned out that the cost of rent is only 4500 rubles per month. I was very happy and rushed to draw up a contract so that someone would not rent a house before me.

The landlord was a pleasant enough woman of about 45. When it came to signing the agreement, instead of the original documents for the property, she showed me copies, explaining that the house was flooded and the originals were damaged by water, and now she has applied for restoration. The owner inspired confidence, was smiling and friendly, so I did not even have any suspicions of fraud. Leaving her an advance payment for three months, I received the keys.

The next day, I was at the door of the apartment with things, and what was my surprise that a man was in the apartment, who also rented this apartment yesterday. I had to go back to my parents. Tell me, is it possible to somehow return the money and punish the scammer?

Answer: Good afternoon, Ekaterina. Unfortunately, pitfalls when renting an apartment are quite common. You made a mistake by not demanding the original document on the ownership of the apartment. Accordingly, the contract that you have will automatically be invalidated. You can now file a claim in court for fraud (159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), however, you will have to defend your position in court by providing the required documentation and by interviewing witnesses. If you are convincing enough, the court will take your side, and in the future you can apply to the bailiffs for damages if this is not done voluntarily.

In the event that the person who committed the fraudulent actions is missing, then you should write a statement to the police. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, such an act threatens with a term up to three years deprivation of liberty.

Conclusion

As a result, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. Fraud is extremely common in real estate transactions.
2. There are several standard scams out there.
3. In order not to become a victim of such persons, it is necessary to carefully study the documentation and follow the procedure for conducting the transaction.
4. If a person is in similar situation then you need to report fraud to the police.
5. In case of disagreement with the results of the investigation and the decision of the court, you can file a statement of claim, in which you indicate all your claims.

Nowadays, the real estate market is saturated with scammers who use various tricks to take possession of the housing of gullible citizens.

Moreover, the above applies not only to transactions for the purchase or sale. Renting out scams are also rampant.

In this publication, portal experts will tell you what types of fraud exist when renting an apartment, how to recognize a scammer, and what to do if a tenant gets a "divorce" when renting an apartment.

On the Internet, newspapers and on television, you can find information about the many ways and schemes of fraud with the rental of residential real estate.

Its authors are not only the real and imaginary owner of the apartment, but also the tenant, who further unlawfully disposes of housing. For example, there is a sublease of property on illegal grounds.

When scammers operate, renting apartments is extremely attractive for them. After all, it is often extremely difficult for the injured party to prove the wrongfulness of actions. This is especially the case when housing is rented for a short time.

Fraud schemes for renting an apartment are also practiced by some firms that call themselves real estate agencies.

For example, a client enters into an agreement and pays a certain amount of funds. In return, he is provided with a set of addresses of "leased" apartments. Naturally, according to the provided coordinates, there can be no talk of any lease.

Distinctive feature of this scheme is that the contract is drawn up legally correctly. Therefore, it is almost impossible to return your money to the injured party through the court or law enforcement agencies.

Sublease initiated by a fraudster

When renting apartments, scammers resort to several unscrupulous tricks.

The first of these is that housing is sublet without the knowledge of its owner. In this case, he will have to deal with the eviction of uninvited guests. And it takes a lot of time, and nerves.

Another option is that the sublease agreement is concluded for a longer period than the main lease agreement. Then, sooner or later, the deceived guest will certainly face claims from the owner of the apartment.

Apartment for rent

Fraud in the field of renting apartments takes place regardless of the period for which housing is rented. At daily rent scammers most often use the following method.

They rent a more or less decent apartment, and then post an advertisement for renting it out on long term. Naturally, you will not envy the future employer in such a situation.

After all, literally in a matter of days, the real owner of the property will come with a demand to vacate the apartment. In addition, in this case, the scammers take a fee for several months in advance, and then safely disappear.

Fraud when renting an apartment includes such actions. Scammers put up several options for booking apartments on the site (contact information is at least).

After transferring a certain amount from clients, the attackers disappear and stop making contact.

Multiple rental apartments

This option is a classic scam in the residential rental market. The essence of the scheme is extremely simple. The scammer rents an apartment and then rents it out to several different people. Naturally, a conflict arises over who should live in housing.

It also happens that an attacker draws up contracts, takes money from citizens, and then changes all the locks on the doors. Naturally, in this case, a person remains without a roof over his head, and without money.

dummy host

Here, too, everything is more or less clear. The person handing over on hand has fake documents in relation to himself or real estate. He takes money months in advance and then suddenly disappears.

Naturally, sooner or later the tenant will have to face the real owner of the property, with all the ensuing consequences. At the same time, the liberation of the area cannot be avoided.

When the landlord is a scammer

Not only employers are unscrupulous. When there is a rental property, fraud is not excluded from the owner.

For example, he can sharply unilaterally raise the rent. Practice shows that few employers try to argue with this, especially if there were no written agreements.

Here are some other types of such abuse.

Collusion between the owner and the real estate agency

The scheme is as follows. A person rents an apartment with the help of a real estate agency, paying rent and a deposit. However, after a few days, the owner suddenly insists that he himself needs housing and asks him to vacate.

In this case, only part of the money is returned to the employer. The remaining amount is divided between the owner of the property and realtors.

Renting without the consent of the other owners

When an apartment has several owners, one of them may suddenly become against renting out the apartment. In this case, the citizen is forced to leave the premises while still losing part of his money.

Therefore, when concluding a contract, emphasis should be placed on the presence of other owners of the premises and their consent to move in.

Repair at the expense of the tenant

Here the scheme of deception is as follows. The owner leases to the tenant an apartment in need of repair. The contract stipulates a symbolic rent, but with the condition that all work must be carried out by the tenant.

As a result, the owner received a renovated premises for free, and the tenant lost a tidy sum. After all, repairing an apartment, even if inexpensive finishing materials are used, is not a cheap pleasure.

Fraud by unscrupulous real estate agencies

Many believe that renting real estate through realtors will guarantee the security of the upcoming operation. However, in reality this is far from the case. Among real estate agencies, there are often those that use dubious schemes.

There is a lot of writing about such offices on the Internet and in social networks. And if the subject is apartment rentals, the types of scams by realtors are well known.

Here are just a few of them.

Databases: sms fraud

The scheme is as follows. The client is invited to access an exclusive database of apartments for rent. He is assured that options will be selected only at his request.

To gain access, scammers offer to send a paid SMS message to a specific number. Naturally, nothing happens after that.

Fictitious addresses or a pig in a poke

A popular technique in the activities of scammers who disguise themselves as a real estate agency is the provision of so-called “information services”. For a fee, the client is provided with a set of addresses of “leased” apartments.

Naturally, according to them, housing is either not for rent, or has already been rented. In this case, the contract is drawn up legally competently. Therefore, it is almost impossible to return your money to the injured party.

Prepayment for renting an apartment

Some real estate agencies require prepayment for rent. This is not provided for by law. In addition, after receiving the money, the office may simply disappear.

And again Avito

Within the Russian Federation, mass goods and services are purchased through the Avito portal. Therefore, it is not surprising that fraud with the rental of apartments on Avito also takes place.

There are several signs by which an ad can be considered suspicious.

1. Almost always exhibited a photo of the apartment, which has nothing to do with reality. As a rule, the image is taken from numerous third-party resources.
2. The ad contains prices that are significantly lower than market prices. Fraudsters do this on purpose in order to pick up more potential victims.

When scammers work for Avito, renting an apartment may involve making an advance payment for renting an apartment, which is then easily cashed out by scammers.

Attackers also offer their services for remote search for housing. For this, a monthly subscription fee is set. And it is far from the fact that the desired option will be selected.

Sale of a rented apartment with forged documents

This scheme in the territory of the Russian Federation is quite common. Its essence is as follows.

First, suitable accommodation is rented. To do this, the owner of the apartment is presented with a false passport. Alternatively, the lease agreement is drawn up for a third party.

In this situation, both the original owner and the purchaser of the apartment suffer. And if the owner often manages to return his property after a series of legal proceedings and criminal proceedings, then the deceived buyer is left with nothing, namely without money and housing.

Short term rental

Above, we said that if apartments are rented by the day, fraud mainly consists in providing housing along the chain for a longer period.

In addition, the apartment can be subleased by fraudsters to several persons at once. After that, the attackers with the money disappear.

A reminder to a potential tenant: how to avoid fraud when renting an apartment

We found out what are the tricks and types of fraud when renting an apartment. In order not to become a victim of an attacker, experts provide a few simple recommendations. Following them allows you to protect yourself from serious problems.

When renting an apartment, how not to fall for scammers can be suggested by a lawyer during his consultation. However, our advice will also be useful.

The contract is a guarantee of security

All relations between the owner of the apartment and the future tenant should be fixed in writing. Be sure to provide a description of the apartment and the details of title documents for it.

The contract specifies the amount rent, the procedure for reimbursement of costs for repairs and utilities. Be sure to prescribe the conditions under which the tenant can be evicted from the apartment ahead of schedule.

Specify the composition of the property

Fraud from the owner may consist in requiring the tenant to pay damages for the theft of something that was really not in the apartment. Therefore, the contract should be an inventory of furniture and household appliances, as well as other things, if they are in the apartment.

This inventory should be verified at the time of termination of the contract. So the tenant will protect himself from one of the varieties of fraud.

What documents to check, and what to pay attention to?

First of all, you should study the passport of the owner of the apartment. The photograph pasted into it must correspond to the actual appearance of the citizen.

You should also check all title documents for the apartment (extract from the real estate register, privatization agreement, etc.). It would be useful to look at the technical or cadastral passport.

If the apartment has several owners (and this is evident from the title documents), then ask for their consent to provide housing for rent.

How to check a person

If there is any doubt

If you doubt the reliability of the upcoming operation, then it is better not to sign the contract. After all, you can lose not only your funds. As we have already said, the actions of intruders can lead to the loss of an apartment.

What to do if cheated?

In any case, the appeal must contain the circumstances of the fraud, as well as its external manifestations. If the identity of the attacker is known for sure, then it should also be indicated (but do not forget about false denunciation).

When the victim suffered material damage, its size is written. You can write about moral harm. The application must have a personal signature, otherwise it will not be considered.

If the result of fraud was the loss of property, then a lawsuit is filed in court to recognize one or more transactions for the alienation of property as invalid. It is best to do this when the fact of fraud is established by the investigation and the court.

Renting out scams are common.

Renting a house carries not only the risk of falling into unfriendly and picky owners, sometimes you can even contact scammers and waste money and time. To prevent this from happening, you should have an idea of ​​​​how tenants are deceived by both landlords (or pretending to be them) and realtors.

Fraud when renting an apartment, both on the part of landlords and realtors, is punishable under paragraph 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code “Fraud”, since individual articles neither the Criminal Code nor the Administrative Code provides for such acts.

According to the law, fraud is the appropriation by fraud of someone else's property or the right to it. If it was committed by a group of persons (that is, in collusion with a realtor) or entailed the deprivation of a citizen's right to housing, then the punishment will be as follows:

• a fine of 100,000 - 500,000 rubles or on the criminal's income for 1-3 years;
• forced labor for 3-5 years, sometimes accompanied by restriction of freedom for a period of up to 2 years;
• imprisonment up to 6 years and a fine of up to 80,000 rubles or on income for 6 months.

One of the listed punishments is imposed, and which one, and how severe it will be, because the law allows you to vary the severity over a wide range, is decided in court based on the circumstances of the crime.

Unfortunately, the fact of fraud is not always easy to prove: a large part of the scams occur due to the frivolous attitude of tenants, who allow liberties in paperwork and allow legally incorrect contracts to be drawn up. They give a deposit without a receipt, do not check documents and make other similar mistakes, as a result of which it is difficult to prove fraud in court. And if it is committed in collusion with a realtor, then the fact of collusion will be difficult to establish, since the relationship of the parties is usually not formalized legally.

All this allows us to state that the risk of falling for the bait of scammers significantly reduces the scrupulous attitude to the contract and registration of the rental of housing in general - most scammers will not deceive a corrosive client, and will prefer to disappear.

Fraud when renting an apartment

Also, knowledge of the schemes used by scammers will be a good help in order not to be deceived when shooting housing. The list we have given is far from exhaustive, besides, scammers are constantly using new tricks, therefore, knowledge of the described schemes will not provide guaranteed protection, but it will still significantly increase the chances of recognizing scammers.

Sublease

In itself, the subletting of real estate is legal, however, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the owner of the housing for it. Among scammers, a sublease scheme is common, in which the owner does not suspect at all that his property is being rented out. This is done step by step like this:

• swindlers rent housing by the day;
• give an announcement about the delivery, setting a low price;
• produce fake documents for the apartment;
• rent it and take a fee for a month, and sometimes for a few at once in advance.

When the period for which the property was rented from the real owner expires, the tenant who settled in it discovers that he was a victim of fraud, after which he is evicted - and this also creates problems for the owner of the apartment, who, during the investigation of the case, will fall under suspicion of complicity.

There is a second option, even more profitable for scammers: the client is told that he can move in a few days, after which they accept the next tenant and turn the same scheme with him - as a result, several people can suffer at once.

The main way not to fall for such a scam is to carefully check the documents (preferably with the involvement of a lawyer) and conclude an agreement. Title documents must be checked against the Rosreestr database.

Repair instead of rent

Such a scam is not constantly used, it is usually performed once - however, for those who suffered because of it, this is no easier. And both the tenant and the landlord can be in the role of the victim. In any case, the parties agree on repairs instead of paying for accommodation. Further, if the tenant turned out to be a deceiver, no repairs are carried out, no payment is made, and after a certain time he simply leaves the apartment without paying for the accommodation.

The opposite case: the tenant just makes repairs in good faith, believing that he is doing this instead of paying for the rent, and then the landlord either raises the rent at times, or pretends that the repairs were not at all on account of the payment and demands payment for the entire stay, or simply expelled under false pretenses. To prevent this, it is necessary to clearly reflect in the contract the fact that the tenant is carrying out repairs, and the obligations that this imposes on the owner, for example, to compensate for the cost of moving out during the year, or the like.

The conclusion of the contract without the consent of all owners

In contrast to the previously discussed option with renting housing for rent fraud, in this case the owner is aware that his property is being rented out, but this does not make it any easier for the tenant. Title documents are either issued in the name of another person, or not presented at all - this is explained by the fact that real estate is registered for a relative who left for a long time, or the like.

Sometimes this relative even confirms consent by phone - one way or another, and since his consent is not fixed in the contract, he will have the opportunity at any time to "arrive" and evict the tenant, regardless of the fact that he paid in advance - and it will be very difficult to prove something in court.

A more complicated case is fraud by one of the owners in the presence of several.

The apartment cannot be rented out without the consent of each owner, respectively, if there are several of them, and upon delivery, the consent of only one was obtained, then the contract signed with him will be invalidated.

Fraud through ad sites

As the most popular - including among scammers - among such sites, Avito can be distinguished. Scammers use different methods, but basically their activity is aimed at getting money from gullible citizens without presenting documents and, if possible, without incurring costs. Such scammers often do not even want to rent housing for greater reliability, and are limited to photographs taken from the Internet.

That’s why it’s easy to recognize them: the combination of polished designer photos and greatly reduced prices already indicates that you are most likely a scammer. If you are afraid of missing out on the chance to rent a really good property for cheap, because the circumstances are different, you can still take the time to check. But in any case, before you pay at least some money, you will need to make sure that the apartment is available by personally looking at it, and sign an agreement that meets the requirements of the law.

You can not fall for the bait, do not fall for any persuasion and promises. You should never give an advance payment before signing documents (preferably approved by a lawyer), even if the interlocutor claims that he has a lot of applicants and otherwise the deal will fail. remember, that similar cases, that is, a combination of a low price, good real estate and its delivery through an ad site is especially suspicious.

other methods

In addition to those already listed, scammers also use other methods, often not so developed, therefore we will not describe them in detail either, but we will highlight and describe in a concise form the most common ones:

1. Replacing the lock - after taking a payment for several months in advance, the owner simply changes the locks, after which the tenant is surprised to find that the keys given to him do not fit, and when contacting the police, the owner simply claims that he does not know this person and certainly did not give him real estate.
2. Eviction on spurious grounds - after taking money in advance for a long period, the landlord simply finds a basis on which he can evict the tenant. The paid money is declared withheld for material or moral damage.
3. Letting out a pledged apartment – ​​the owner rents out an apartment that has been pledged against loans taken from a bank, without the permission of the bank required in such cases. If this happened, then if the tenant does not pay the debts, the bailiffs will simply evict him, and no one will return the funds paid to him.
4. Other occupants is a sometimes encountered form of deception, consisting in the following: when renting an apartment, it was assumed that it was rented empty, but then the tenant discovers that there are already occupants in it.

In almost all of these cases, an agreement with detailed conditions helps to avoid unpunished arbitrariness on the part of the landlord, then the owner will not be able to pretend that he does not know the tenant, evict him without consequences ahead of time or rent out the property to someone else.

Fraud by realtors

Organizations designed to reduce risks, since they are supposed to look for housing for clients and take full responsibility - real estate agencies. Alas, along with honestly working agencies, with the help of which the risk of running into scammers when renting a house is really minimized, there are also hacks who take money for nothing and do almost no checks. Moreover, there are even fraudulent "agencies" (in fact, they are not), the very purpose of whose existence is to squeeze money out of customers and deceive them.

It is worth figuring out what methods of realtor fraud exist, and how to recognize such agencies in order not to use their “services”.

"Information Services"

Fraudsters place an ad about renting an apartment on websites or in the press, and after contacting them they explain that this offer is no longer relevant, since a tenant has been found. This is followed by an announcement that they have many others that they are ready to provide if a client comes to them.

Seeing that the “realtors” have a full-fledged office, the client is usually imbued with confidence, and even more so when he is offered to sign a contract. However, this contract, if you read it carefully, usually obliges you to provide only information services. Therefore, to hold accountable, if in the end housing cannot be found, swindlers will not work.

After that, for a certain fee, they provide a list of numbers by which the client is invited to find a property - supposedly, these numbers are specially selected by employees in accordance with his needs. In fact, this is just a list containing either already irrelevant numbers of citizens who once rented housing, or completely random - that is, the client pays for nothing, and only wastes time making calls on the list.

It will help to avoid such a situation by studying the contract before signing. If it is indicated that the realtor undertakes only to provide information services, in no case should you contact him.

"Realtor" and "landlord" work in conjunction

And okay, if scammers just give irrelevant or non-existent phone numbers- some have adopted a more advanced strategy, and give the numbers of scammers working with them in conjunction and using one of the previously described strategies to deceive tenants.

Collaboration helps scammers in that, seeing both the realtor and the landlord jointly showing the apartment, the client is imbued with great confidence. But no trust in such matters is inappropriate, and the main thing that should be remembered constantly is the conclusion of an agreement. It is he who will protect against an unexpected change in the mood of the owner, who, having taken the money, suddenly the next day will stop answering the phone, and will begin to negotiate with new victims.

How to recognize scammers?

We have already listed the main signs of scammers, analyzing the methods of deception, therefore now it remains only to briefly summarize the knowledge. Signs by which you can understand that you are not a real realtor or real estate owner:

• Photos are searched on the Internet on other sites, and at the same time refer to real estate at other addresses.
• The realtor offers to pay for the provision of information services, and the contract drawn up by him does not guarantee the result or a refund in his absence.
• They do not want to show you real estate, or they delay this moment, trying to get an advance before that.
• The apartment is shown, but the documents for it are not, excused by the fact that in this moment this is impossible, but after the conclusion of the contract, they will certainly be returned from some government department where they are needed for registration.
• Documents are presented, but the property turns out to be owned by the wrong citizen who rents it. He may claim that it is registered to his relatives, but real owner him, and even call the “real owner” so that you can be sure of this. But you can’t take a word when renting an apartment. If the contract is not signed with its owner, it simply will not have legal force.
• The proposed agreement was drawn up with violations, it bypassed important points that may allow the owner to evict the tenant ahead of schedule without compensation, or even declare the agreement invalid.

Main ways to reduce risks

To minimize the risks that await when renting a home, following the simplest precautions will help: it is important that all documents for housing are in order and show that you are dealing with its full owner, and that he has no other owners, without whose consent the contract will be invalid . It is essential that the treaty itself provides for all important nuances and was executed in accordance with the requirements of the law. If these measures are followed, for which it is advisable to involve a professional lawyer, you can feel safe when renting a home.

Verification of documents

The main papers that the landlord will have to provide:

• passport;
• a document certifying his ownership of the apartment;
• act of transfer of property, confirming the existence of state registration;
• checks to confirm the absence of debts for utilities and utility bills.

If the landlord himself is not present at the signing of the contract, it is possible to replace him with a representative, but he must have a power of attorney certified by a notary. Do not think that this is a mere formality. Signing an agreement without a power of attorney or with an invalid power of attorney is simply pointless - in the future, this agreement will not protect you from anything.

If the owner is a minor, his authorized representative must have custody documents.

Written relationship

The lease of real estate is drawn up with the help of an appropriate agreement, it must contain information about:

• parties to the transaction;
• her subject;
• the rights and obligations of the parties;
• the period during which the contract remains valid;
• the amount of the rent, as well as the method of its payment;
• details of the parties;
• situations in which the contract is terminated.

If the contract is concluded for a period of a year or more, then its state registration is required. The maximum term for which it can be concluded is five years.

Another important document: act of acceptance and transfer of property. It should record the condition of the housing at the time the lease begins, what are the meter readings, what property is rented along with the housing. This document will then allow you to avoid mutual claims related to damage to property, the absence of part of it, and the like.

Involvement of a lawyer

Of course, you can check the documents for housing, as well as correctly draw up a lease agreement and an act of acceptance and transfer of property on your own, but there is no guarantee that you will not miss an important detail and will be able to really understand the papers correctly.

Therefore, it is advisable to involve a professional for help, especially if any of the circumstances causes you at least some suspicion: checking documents by a specialist will help you fully protect yourself legally from problems in the future.

What to do if cheated?

Sometimes scammers still manage to deceive the tenant: most often this happens due to insufficient attention to documents and non-compliance with the elementary things we described earlier, however, even observing everything, there remains a minimal risk of becoming a victim of scammers. In both cases, you should try to return your funds and punish the swindlers, for which you need to turn to state assistance - to the police and to the court.

Contacting the police

You just need to go to the nearest police station and file a fraud report. How to issue an application, the receiving employee should explain. Its standard content is:

• "Header" indicating where the application is being submitted, as well as your data;
• a statement of the situation in detail, indicating all the names, addresses, names of witnesses;
• a petition to initiate a criminal case under Article 159 of the Criminal Code;
• signature and date of issue.

If there is evidence of a crime, they must be attached to the application and listed after the main text as an attachment.

Going to court

Against constantly working scammers who hide personal data, going to court will be ineffective, at least until their identities are established by the police (and this, unfortunately, does not always happen). Another thing is if the name of the real estate company is known (first you need to check whether it really exists and is located at the address where it was before), or if there was a conflict with the landlord, who really owns the housing that was rented out.

In this case, you can file a claim with a description of the situation and evidence, drawn up in the same way as the standard one. As a sample design, an application for the recovery of funds is attached to the article.

Sample Documents

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