{"id":751,"date":"2011-05-03T07:27:21","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T07:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.legal4landlords.com\/?p=751"},"modified":"2016-09-20T16:56:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:56:37","slug":"avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Latest landlord News by: Madalena Penny<\/p>\n

As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent, the rise in unethical letting agents riding on the continued wave of tenant-demand is also reaching unprecedented levels.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Property Ombudsman (TPO) revealed that over 5000 tenants had been affected by lettings scammers.\u00a0 Fraudsters demanding money for rental accommodation are charging unsuspecting tenants for deposits and rents for non-existent properties owned by someone else.<\/p>\n

Last week, one teenage was given a two-year custodial sentence after admitting to 17 charges of fraud and one attempted fraud.\u00a0 Cameron Corsie posed as a landlord, taking rent and deposits for property he did not own, mainly from students and having them transfer funds to specific bank accounts, which he purposely established for the scam.<\/p>\n

Corsie who posed as a potential tenant was only caught when a landlord<\/a> he had contacted recognized his name and voice as that of the son of former world champion bowler, Richard Corsie.\u00a0 Cameron, who also attended the same school as the landlords son first became suspicious due to Corsie\u2019s attempt of concealing his identity by giving a false name.\u00a0 It was later revealed in court that Corsie had recently been imprisoned for a previous series of frauds, revealing a total scam of \u00a337,000.<\/p>\n

Along with the blatant scams, online and off, another breed of fraudster has joined the ranks of rental scamming.\u00a0 Calls by the TPO to curb \u2018hit and run\u2019 letting agents, who are unethically operating in the UK, are still awaiting approval by the Office of Fair Trading.\u00a0 Currently an unregulated sector, dubious letting agents are raking in tenant deposits and rents without forwarding it onto landlords then closing down only to open elsewhere under another name.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year one pair of letting agents where expelled from the TPO\u2019s voluntary Code of Practice scheme for mishandling deposits and failing to pass on rents to landlords.\u00a0 In an industry that has been thrown into the forefront of the housing sector, it is struggling to keep ahead elaborate criminal targeting and professional monitoring.\u00a0 To avoid such scams \u2018Legal 4 Landlords\u2019 are advising that landlords should administer complete tenant reference<\/a> checks on all tenants, regardless of any circumstances and that landlords should thoroughly check the status, track record and liability of letting agents<\/a> to avoid any loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latest landlord News by: Madalena Penny As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent, the rise in unethical letting agents riding on the continued wave of tenant-demand is also reaching unprecedented levels. Last year, the Property Ombudsman (TPO) revealed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[76,16,86,21],"yoast_head":"\nAvoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents - Legal For Landlords<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents - Legal For Landlords\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Legal For Landlords\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-03T07:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-20T16:56:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.legal4landlords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Letting-agents-scams-300x180.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joanna Plane\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joanna Plane\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/\",\"name\":\"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents - Legal For Landlords\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-03T07:27:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-20T16:56:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#\/schema\/person\/946561f510196f73204ff7c85e521669\"},\"description\":\"As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/\",\"name\":\"Legal For Landlords\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#\/schema\/person\/946561f510196f73204ff7c85e521669\",\"name\":\"Joanna Plane\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06c5b9674c084673a3fdc88deb9d7ad9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06c5b9674c084673a3fdc88deb9d7ad9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joanna Plane\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/legal4landlords.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/author\/joanna_plane\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents - Legal For Landlords","description":"As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents - Legal For Landlords","og_description":"As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent","og_url":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/","og_site_name":"Legal For Landlords","article_published_time":"2011-05-03T07:27:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-20T16:56:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.legal4landlords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Letting-agents-scams-300x180.jpg"}],"author":"Joanna Plane","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joanna Plane","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/","url":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/","name":"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents - Legal For Landlords","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-03T07:27:21+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-20T16:56:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#\/schema\/person\/946561f510196f73204ff7c85e521669"},"description":"As residential rental scams reach an all time high, involving elaborate cons costing unsuspecting tenants thousands of pounds in lost deposits and rent","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/avoid-the-rental-scammers-and-dodgy-letting-agents\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Avoid the Rental Scammers and Dodgy Letting Agents"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/","name":"Legal For Landlords","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#\/schema\/person\/946561f510196f73204ff7c85e521669","name":"Joanna Plane","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06c5b9674c084673a3fdc88deb9d7ad9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06c5b9674c084673a3fdc88deb9d7ad9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joanna Plane"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/legal4landlords.com"],"url":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/author\/joanna_plane\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2950,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions\/2950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}