Lying and Cheating Applicants - Are You Getting Them Too?

Question

I expect them in the winter months, but normally our summer applicant pool is much better. Lately it seems it seems we can't find anyone who hasn't lied on their application. The application we took on Friday took the cake. I wrote a blog about it on Saturday after I came to the realization that her W-2s were fake and her so called employer didn't exist. I told the woman very straightforwardly that I couldn't approve her because I could not substantiate that there employer really existed. I even gave her the reasons - company address on your W-2s is a residential building, company phone number on your boss's e-mail isn't a published land line, company website on your bosses, e-mail didn't exist when she sent me the message then miraculously appeared at midnight after I questioned it but the graphics on the page were for a completely different industry and not a single link on the page worked, boss referred to you as an employee yet there were no taxes taken out of your check, not a single employee in the company can be found in Linked-In or Facebook, and google can't find any evidence of the company in the state you said it is headquartered. You would think she would stop. She claims she can't send me proof she is receiving survivor benefits for her kids because she has has had her identity stolen and she had to close all her bank accounts. She claims to have reported the fraud to all the credit bureaus. She knows I already pulled her credit. Last night she continued e-mailing me, asking what we needed to do to move forward with her lease signing.

Anyone else seeing fake employers and W-2s among their applicant pool?

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9232/65113-app...

Anyone else seeing fake employers and W-2s among their applicant pool?

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9232/65113-app...

Patrick M. · Answer

I am fortunate to be in a small town/ transit hub to NYC. I think with the renovated rentals I put on the market I have effectively priced out a lot of the problem people.

The small town atmosphere is nice as well because if they are from the area my network of friends and colleagues know of them. That can be a good first step.

Account Closed · Answer

Side question to yours @Patti Robertson.  I have had a bad application cross my manager's table too - not just one, but two judgments against them!

That said, it seems that activity overall has been slow, not many tenants to choose from.

Michael Noto · Answer

Interesting thread. We do not experience this issue much, but we are not heavily concentrated in the low income areas either. Is there a specific class of tenant you are running into this issue with or is it widespread?

Debra Grumbach · Answer

Ya know.....I have to say that it's understandable that people go through hard times. My husband and I know that FIRST HAND. But we have NEVER lied on an application. FOR ANYTHING. We had a negative financial situation and we have learned from it. We have been straight up since day 1 with perspective landlords and loan officers when we were applying to rent or applying for a loan. It really hasn't hurt us much. We have taken serious corrective steps (not the ones "advised by the pros") and are in a much better situation. I guess they think if they don't "admit it" they aren't "guilty."

Gail K. · Answer

I've had so many applicants that lie on their applications I no longer believe what any tell me.  I believe part of the issue is that there often is no consequence to tenants who end up evicted.

When I review our online Marshall's Service (that handles all the notices for dispossessories in my county) it is not unusual to see the same names being repeated over and over again....sometimes the folks filing are the same ones who evicted them before!  My "winner" so far in regards to someone who applied for one of my rental properties was a 26 year old male who has SIX pages (yep; SIX) of evictions from other places.  Course on his application he claimed no history of evictions.

His response when I printed all of this out, shoved all this back into an envelope with his application and mailed it back to him?  He left a message saying he was "willing" to give me double the security deposit.

Remember these deadbeats will often focus on small time landlords with the idea that we may not screen as closely as bigger companies would.  Or, we might be suckers for a sob story.

Gail

Patti Robertson · Answer

I totally agree! I expect this in the winter, but summer isn't usually this bad..

Tracey Smythe · Answer

We had 76 applicants for our recent vacancy.  Basic criteria of 3 times income, no pets, no smokers, no evictions, no felony criminal background, no more than three current negative credit items....one person met the criteria.  Probably close to half of the applicants had evictions, even after I spelled out all the criteria in the ad, and they all told me they didn't have any prior evictions or court filings.   One applicant had over 15 evictions that I found just on the local clerk of court records.  She wanted to fight with me because I wouldn't rent to her.

The tenant pool seems to be getting worse, compared to a decade ago when we started landlording.

Kim Meredith Hampton · Answer

@patti I feel like everyone lies too, and we are the FBI. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in now. 😭

Lying and Cheating Applicants - Are You Getting Them Too?

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