Zillow rental information inaccurate

Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes

I’ve had pretty good luck with them for years. But I don’t use them for the credit/background check, just advertising. First red flag would have been a fake bank statement with $200k in it. $20k would have been excessive, $200k is stupid.

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Ken M.

Investor · Get yourself trained before doing something inadvisable. · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes

1y

Quote from @Rita Chuang:

Has anyone had issues with Zillow Rental?

In December, I had a tenant with over 700 credit score, no evictions or bankruptcies, 100% on time payments, and landlord said she was a great tenant. First month, rent was late. I offered to let her out of her lease. Every month, I had to serve her a 7 days notice and she would make partial payments. I contacted that landlord again and he texted that he did not know her. I finally evicted her and she had 2 Amazon packages at the house which was addressed to someone else. She had a pet in the house which she was not suppose to have.

I finally got the house fixed up and listed the same house again on Zillow. I found a tenant with 650's credit, no evictions/bankruptcies, provided bank statements with over $200K, and spoke with landlord who agreed he was a great tenant. Because I've had some people give a false landlord telephone number, I even ask the landlord the address of the house, the rent amount, how long the tenant has been there etc. Tenant and I agreed to meet and thank God I went to the Nevada court website because I found 5 bankruptcies within 3 months in his name all from different plantiffs. He has a common first name which is spelled differently. I think the new scam must be sharing an ID.

I now don't know if I can trust this website although previously, I found some great renters.

What's the address of the property?

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Carlos Hennings

Lancaster, NY · Member since 2021 · 92 posts · 53 votes

1y

Sorry so late. Hopefully this helps in the future.

You’re definitely not the only one running into this. Over the past couple of years, rental application fraud has exploded — fake IDs, forged pay stubs, and “shared” identities are way more common now. Even applicants who look great on paper can slip through if the screening relies only on credit, eviction, and reference checks.

A few things that can help tighten your process:

Start with ID verification before screening.
There are tools that use facial recognition and ID cross-checks to confirm the person applying is who they say they are before the background check runs. That’s been a big safeguard against identity-sharing scams.
Verify income and employment directly from the source.
Instead of relying on uploaded pay stubs or bank screenshots, newer systems can connect directly to payroll or bank providers to confirm real-time income and flag fraudulent documents automatically.
Automate rental history verification.
Manual landlord calls are often unreliable. Some modern verification services can confirm actual payment history, late payments, and even prior lease violations — often within 24 hours and with over 90% completion rates.
Include searches beyond credit reports.
Judgments and liens no longer appear on credit reports, and most listing platforms or basic screening packages can’t access those records. Adding those searches can uncover major red flags that credit alone would miss.
Keep cross-checking public records.
What you did with the court site was exactly right — sometimes that’s the only way to catch recent filings before they hit standard databases.

If you combine identity verification, income verification, verified rental history, and judgment/lien searches, you’ll catch most of the issues before lease-up. It’s worth using a more comprehensive screening provider rather than relying solely on what the listing platforms include.

1 Reply

Allison Park

Member since 2024 · 158 posts · 88 votes

11mo

Thanks for sharing this. It might be worth reporting it to Zillow so they can improve. I noticed that they do now have an identity verification that shows up if an applicant has done it and they use experian. I require renters to send me a picture of their license. I have found a lot of bad information provided in Zillow by the applicant, especially in the income section so that they meet 3X rent number. This is easy to catch when you actually verify income, but it goes to character which I consider in my decision. I typically use Innago for my background checks because they include income verification.

1 Reply

Ken M.

Investor · Get yourself trained before doing something inadvisable. · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes

11mo

Quote from @Rita Chuang:

Has anyone had issues with Zillow Rental?

In December, I had a tenant with over 700 credit score, no evictions or bankruptcies, 100% on time payments, and landlord said she was a great tenant. First month, rent was late. I offered to let her out of her lease. Every month, I had to serve her a 7 days notice and she would make partial payments. I contacted that landlord again and he texted that he did not know her. I finally evicted her and she had 2 Amazon packages at the house which was addressed to someone else. She had a pet in the house which she was not suppose to have.

I finally got the house fixed up and listed the same house again on Zillow. I found a tenant with 650's credit, no evictions/bankruptcies, provided bank statements with over $200K, and spoke with landlord who agreed he was a great tenant. Because I've had some people give a false landlord telephone number, I even ask the landlord the address of the house, the rent amount, how long the tenant has been there etc. Tenant and I agreed to meet and thank God I went to the Nevada court website because I found 5 bankruptcies within 3 months in his name all from different plantiffs. He has a common first name which is spelled differently. I think the new scam must be sharing an ID.

I now don't know if I can trust this website although previously, I found some great renters.

Please clarify "

the Nevada court website because I found 5 bankruptcies within 3 months in his name all from different plantiffs.

Bankruptcies are Federal, not state. The court would not allow "5 bankruptcies within 3 months". From the time a bankruptcy is filed to a dismissal, is usually about 3 months per bankruptcy, so 5 bankruptcies in succession would take about a year and a half to dismiss. He would be barred from filing after perhaps the second or third filing, then the petitioner would be facing legal consequences.

I must misunderstand what you are writing.

Since this post is from two months ago and is a single post & the poster has not returned, I vote that it is a phony post that is simply trying to bad mouth Zillow.

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Zillow rental information inaccurate

Zillow rental information inaccurate

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