Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2017 · 184 posts · 253 votes
You just received an application for your rental. You call the prior landlord and find out your applicant was their best tenant ever and always paid rent early! Things are looking up! But how do you know that this is really the prior landlord and not just their best friend doing them a favor?
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
8y
@Michael Kiley I agree with @Steve Boianelli plan ahead of the call. Choice questions can trip up a fake landlord pretty quickly. I would add questions like how many bedrooms and bathrooms. How long have they lived there?
You can even ask something not true and see if they correct your. "They tenant said it was 6 bedrooms and they really only need three which is why they are moving. Is that correct?" The tenant said they have know your for years how did you fist meet?
Try also saying, "The tenant gave you as a reference, How do you know the tenant?" You could add the lie here too. The tenant said you have know each other since grade school. If they don't correct and say "No I am the landlord" you have caught them.
Medford, NJ · Member since 2017 · 96 posts · 34 votes
8y
Have you considered going to the property? Or you can search tax records online to see who owns the property they are renting. Also considering asking questions regarding how much they currently pay, do they pay water, electric, etc. Any landlord would have those answers immediately. If they have to think for more than 5 seconds a red flag would go up for me. I know every last detail about my properties. If someone doesn’t you know it’s a friend impersonating a landlord. Classic case of a professional tenant.
Good luck
Rental Property Investor · Bothell, WA · Member since 2018 · 76 posts · 37 votes
8y
I never trust prior landlord reference, if the credit, income, background checks out I accept. If there isn't eviction history it's good enough for me and if credit is good you can assume responsible person.
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
8y
@Michael Kiley I agree with @Steve Boianelli plan ahead of the call. Choice questions can trip up a fake landlord pretty quickly. I would add questions like how many bedrooms and bathrooms. How long have they lived there?
You can even ask something not true and see if they correct your. "They tenant said it was 6 bedrooms and they really only need three which is why they are moving. Is that correct?" The tenant said they have know your for years how did you fist meet?
Try also saying, "The tenant gave you as a reference, How do you know the tenant?" You could add the lie here too. The tenant said you have know each other since grade school. If they don't correct and say "No I am the landlord" you have caught them.
Rental Property Investor · DFW, TX · Member since 2013 · 953 posts · 910 votes
8y
If I suspect that is the case I look up the company and try to find a different number to call, then ask for the property manager they listed on the application. Same thing with employers, call the main office number to talk to the supervisor listed. If either one tells you nobody works here by that name, you know it is fake. Big complexes/companies won't tell you anything over the phone so I usually just drive to the complex with a form and the signed authorization to get rental information and the PM will just fill it out for me.
You can also just lie. You can also use a fake name for the tenant to see if it is an actual rental house. For example: Tenant name is Cindy Hall. Call the "landlord" and say, "I am calling about you rental house on 123 Main Street, I have an application from John Ball, can you tell me how he was as a tenant?" If they say they don't know what you are talking about you know it is fake. If they sound confused or say they have never had a tenant by that name you can always say you misread the application and that is the emergency contact then go on with your normal questions.
Another option is to say "I was walking my dog and saw someone moving out of your house on 123 Main St and they gave me your number, is it available?" If they say they don't own a rental house, there's your answer.
I tell all my tenants and applicants that I have 2 rules that if they follow, we will have a great relationship. 1) They pay on time. 2) They never lie to me.
Investor / Real Estate Agent · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2015 · 324 posts · 157 votes
8y
@Michael Kiley I would call the "prior landlord" and act as a tenant searching for a rental home. That usually will trip up a fake prior landlord. You can ask questions like, "I was calling to see if you had any open rentals in _________ area for lease?" or "How many properties do you have and do you have any coming vacant soon?"
Investor · Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan · Member since 2017 · 311 posts · 233 votes
8y
I place much higher value in work references. Many landlords and most pm’s are essentially negligent and not clued in.
That said, provide false address and false duration when confirming.
You just received an application for your rental. You call the prior landlord and find out your applicant was their best tenant ever and always paid rent early! Things are looking up! But how do you know that this is really the prior landlord and not just their best friend doing them a favor?
I've thought about this before too and this is what I've done: I research the property tax records. Look at the name on the record, purchase price, year bought, etc. Some detail about the property the owner would surely know. Also the agent used which will show up on Zillow.
I know the agent I used, purchase price, year and month as well as even the interest rate for every property I've ever bought or sold. If they stumble then they are their friend....You don't forget those kind of details unless you are incompetent....
I've done this with tenants that came from a single family home as opposed to a verifiable apartment complex for the last 3 years. Works every time so far. What was your agents name when you bought? What year did you buy? What was the purchase price? Etc...
Investor · Winter Park, FL · Member since 2017 · 171 posts · 165 votes
8y
I agree with @Jack B.above. Something as simple as “how long have you owned the property” will probably throw off an imposter. If you really want to be sure throw in 1-2 more questions along those lines.
Rental Property Investor · Adamsville, TN · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 12 votes
8y
Just asking this question shows you're thinking outside the box. In my area the property assessor information is online, so I check to see who owns the house before I call the listed landlord. I also check to see how many other properties this same landlord owns, so I can have a casual conversation "landlord-to-landlord" being careful not to say anything discriminatory of course. Most people like to talk about themselves, so I encourage that and then listen for things that don't match.
Forget about checking in with the current Landlord. That's really going to be a waste of your time.
What I do is ask for 6 months of Bank Statements where the rent was paid so I can see if the rent was paid on time.
Basically, if they can't give me proof they paid their rent on time, I go on to the next candidate.
If you even get a few checks, you can see who got paid if you really want to call the current landlord.
However, doing the employment, tenant credit, eviction and background checks along with having them providing Bank Statements corroborates their story of being good, prompt paying tenants.
BTW, I'm a NYC Broker/Landlord.... it is REALLY important I don't put in a bad tenant. NYC has one of the strongest pro-tenant laws. Hence why I ask for 6 months Bank Statements.
It's also competitive here in NYC, so I have an advantage when considering the less than 3% NYC vacancy rate. It's a normal thing for Candidates to expect to go through hoops here for an apt. I have never had anyone that was seriously looking for an apt turn down applying for my apts when I ask for the Bank Statements. But's that's NYC. Hopefully you are in somewhat of a in demand area as well.
Forget about checking in with the current Landlord. That's really going to be a waste of your time.
What I do is ask for 6 months of Bank Statements where the rent was paid so I can see if the rent was paid on time.
Basically, if they can't give me proof they paid their rent on time, I go on to the next candidate.
If you even get a few checks, you can see who got paid if you really want to call the current landlord.
However, doing the employment, tenant credit, eviction and background checks along with having them providing Bank Statements corroborates their story of being good, prompt paying tenants.
BTW, I'm a NYC Broker/Landlord.... it is REALLY important I don't put in a bad tenant. NYC has one of the strongest pro-tenant laws. Hence why I ask for 6 months Bank Statements.
It's also competitive here in NYC, so I have an advantage when considering the less than 3% NYC vacancy rate. It's a normal thing for Candidates to expect to go through hoops here for an apt. I have never had anyone that was seriously looking for an apt turn down applying for my apts when I ask for the Bank Statements. But's that's NYC. Hopefully you are in somewhat of a in demand area as well.
Easily faked, I've seen it before, and it happens all the time. Bernie Maddoff faked statements to show his investors that he was making a profit, bilking them of over 20 billion from investors. And just because they paid rent for 6 months doesn't mean they are great tenants. They could have trashed the place in that time and left or had a meth lab and got a cash for keys offer. Critical thinking...
BUT... if you are doing that for an apt, you risk committing a crime by falsifying information.
So, let's say a tenant has the following:
- NO CRIMINAL HISTORY from the Report
- HIGH CREDIT Score from various sources
- Qualified and Verifiable Income from their Employer
- NO Evictions
After checking all of that, they then submitted a FALSE 6 months bank statement?!
Ooooook!
Why would anyone risk that for an apt that's not a penthouse on Park Ave?!
SO... I would say you are correct, anyone can fake it, but the chances of someone risking committing fraud while having the above verified via 3rd Parties strikes me as being somewhat low.
In fact, it would be someone who would be willing to commit other crimes then just giving false information to a Landlord.
If the person got away with it like Bernie Madoff (haha... his last name is really a Pun), it's very difficult to blame the victim in this case because 99% of people will wind up renting to this person.
I don't think you will find that there was a Landlord that had issues with a tenant after getting all that verifiable evidence.
If there was a few tenants, it is so rare that it would be deemed insignificant risk.
Rental Property Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 401 posts · 221 votes
8y
What I normally do when calling is testing the landlord reference with some questions such as:
- How long has they been renting?
- How many people lived in the house?
- How much was the rent?
That, plus some googling, and looking up who is the owner of the house would help weed out the liars.
Personally, I had gotten one almost perfect applicant, until I checked the landlord reference and found out the real landlord / owner is actually my coworker. I suspect that almost perfect applicant was trying to rent multiple house to run a network of brothels.
I frickin love this site. Wow, so many ingenious tactics in this thread. Thanks! Also, I my pops taught me that the most recent landlord may have vested interest in getting the new tenant into your place, and more importantly for them, out of their place. Imagine you get a problematic tenant to voluntarily leave, would you torpedo their exit? He always liked to check the second previous landlord, for that reason.
Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2017 · 184 posts · 253 votes
8y
Very good point @Isaac S. As a landlord, I wouldn't be willing to sabotage the next landlord to get rid of a nightmare tenant, but I know many others would! I might just make myself unavailable to tell them anything negative because I want them gone ASAP...so beware of the landlord who is unavailable or doesn't make it easy to get your questions answered!
@Michael Kiley lol, I was just thinking that In L.A. most of landlords, agents and managers are hard to get a hold of and often times intentionally vague and make you jump through hoops to prove you have permission to get reference.
I like using credit score, job stability and distance/type of commute(LA newbies think 14 miles is an easy commute, when in reality that could be 1.5 hours) public records check for evictions and criminal records and my personal interview with them.
I can't remember ever having a landlord or manager risk any liability to inform me of a problematic tenant.
Has anyone else actually had a past listed landlord reference give them negative feedback that helped them avoid a bad tenant?