If there is money to be made you can bet someone is figuring out a way to scam people. This PD article by Michael O’Malley gives examples of the latest rental scam where someone poses as the owner of a house, gets up front money from a potential tenant, then disappears and in this case, doesn’t even own the house.
The truth is, doing your own homework on the owner/landlord is the way to go no matter what. There is another issue not mentioned in this article, and it involves homes on the brink of foreclosure. You can run into a whole slew of problems if you sign a lease and move into a house and don’t know it is soon to be taken over by the owner’s lender who may then ask you to move. And then you are right back where you started, looking for a place to live.
The article didn’t tell you how to avoid issues, so I am going to do that. First is the Cleveland Tenants Organization. You could call the City of Cleveland Department of Building and Housing.
If you are considering renting a single family house, I would definitely check out the owner/landlord on the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Website. You can type in the address and the real owner of a house will be listed. Peace Out - 3C
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