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Sounds like a hi tech version of a scam in my city where a guy rents an apartment (or just squats it) and then turns around and sublets it and stops paying rent
by jhfdbkofdcho 8y ago
Sounds like a hi tech version of a scam in my city where a guy rents an apartment (or just squats it) and then turns around and sublets it and stops paying rent to the actual owner. People actually living in the unit stuck holding the bag.
- dmix 8y agoSubletting is entirely legal is it not? And it’s not a free ticket to do whatever you want with the property either.
- larkeith 8y ago> and stops paying rent to the actual owner The idea is they take the sublessee's deposit and first rent payment, don't pay the owner the rent, and vanish. The sublessee has now payed deposit + rent but has nowhere to live (as the landlord is unpaid).
- dmix 8y agoRight. That’s different, I misread. This happened to my relative when someone owed her $9000 in rent. We were able to retrieve most of it via small claims court. It also helped he was dumb enough to leave bank papers behind when he was evicted so it made the process easier. A credit agency is handling the rest.
- jhfdbkofdcho 8y agohttps://www.citypaper.com/bcp-cms-1-1034317-migrated-story-cp-20100929-mobs-20100929-story.html https://www.citypaper.com/bcp-cms-1-1034317-migrated-story-c...
- cimmanom 8y agoWhether subletting is permitted depends on the terms of the lease (and in some cases policies of a homeowners association or coop board).
- jwhitlark 8y agoNo, it depends on the contract, and usually you forbid it, at least without approval, as things can get pretty nuts. There are some real horror stories.
- koolba 8y agoI’ve seen the commercial version of this scam where a guy rented out floor space at a mall, collected rent from subletting pop up vendors, and never actually paid the rent to the facility, then skipped town.
- jakobegger 8y agoHappened to me. I paid rent for a couple of months to a lady that I thought owned the appartement. Then one day someone knocked on the door, asked who I was, why I was living in his appartement, and why his tenant stopped paying rent. In retrospect, it was eye opening how gullible everyone involved was (myself included), and how little the police did about it. For every appartement I've since rented I checked the official register to make sure my future landlord actually owns the place...
- jamescostian 8y ago> I checked the official register Sorry for the stupid question, but what does this mean? How does one check this?
- jakobegger 8y agoIn my country (Austria) there is a registry (called the "Grundbuch") where the owner of every parcel of land (and buildings, appartements, etc) is formally recorded. It costs about 10€ to get a record online. You type an address, pay 10€, and the website tells you who are the owners of the land and buildings at that address.
- ksaj 8y agoDoes it also tell you who is managing the property? At least where I live, renters deal with property managers, and very rarely the owners. It doesn't apply to houses and other single-home properties, but does for just about anything else.
- tonyztan 8y agoIn most (all?) states in the U.S., the local and/or state government has an official record of real property ownership. In some states it's available online; otherwise you may find it at the local courthouse, city hall, or county government.
- dopeboy 8y agoHow's that work? In every situation I've been in, the landlord opens the place for me, gives a tour, and eventually gives me a key.