Beware; Scam Artists:

Professional renters are scam artists who take advantage of landlords, and the legal system, to live in property, without paying rent.

A landlord should use all available tools to screen potential tenants. Never let a tenant move in to your property until:

  • Request a scanned copy of their drivers license
  • Check eviction records
  • Verify employment in more than one way
  • Communicate with former landlords about a tenants past rental history
  • And never let anyone move into your property until  their first months rent and deposit  cashiers check  has cleared the bank.


So landlords must always be aware of professional renters whose only ambition is to live for free as long as they can get away with it. This causes undue hardships for landlords.

Judge Richard Paez, a supervising judge of the Municipal Court Civil Panel, says rental abuse is widespread. In fact, in most eviction cases that come before him and his colleagues, the tenants contesting the evictions never appear to defend themselves in court, suggesting frivolous filings. "There's only about 20% of the cases where the tenant actually shows up," Paez said.

A standard eviction takes at least two to three months to complete. But if a tenant knowledgeable about the system sets out intentionally to scam as much free rent as possible, it can go on for a year and more. "A person who really wants to be abusive or is desperate can do additional things," Paez said.

Your tenant might not be who they say they are:

Identity theft is a fact of life.  According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 8.6 million households experienced identity theft in 2010.  How certain are you that the person who is renting your home is who they say that they are? Identity thieves do not care about ruining someone’s credit if they do not pay the rent because the consequences will be felt by the person whose identity has been stolen.  Be sure to verify the identity of the individual that you are renting to b requesting official identification, a credit report and payroll stubs.

Your application process is intended to weed out the bad tenants up front.  If you do this right you will succeed most of the time.




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