How to Determine if a Landlord is Trustworthy?

About Rental Fraud and How to Identify a Scammer

With the housing rental market becoming increasingly tight, it has become a ripe target for scammers. If you’ve been searching for a rental house or apartment for months and stumble upon a ‘great opportunity’ on Marktplaats or in a Facebook group, your heart may race when you see it listed for less than you dared to dream.

Too Good to Be True

You get in touch with the provider who asks you to transfer the deposit in advance and then reserve the apartment for you. What could go wrong, you think? The address exists, the response is polite, you get quick answers; everything seems like you’re dealing with a serious party. In fact, we even encounter people who believe they are dealing with a real estate agent.

The day arrives when you stand with your belongings at the door of your new house, you ring the bell, and a surprised resident answers… ‘hey, you’re the fifth person to come to the door; this house is not for rent.’ What the heck do you think… and now?

Filing a Report?

What does the police do? The report is reviewed by the National Reporting Point for Internet Fraud. If there are five or more reports about the same suspect, banks are informed. The police assess all reports regarding internet fraud for clues for further investigation.

How to Get Your Money Back if You’ve Been Scammed?

First, the bank sends a refund request to the perpetrator. If the money is not returned within three weeks, you’ll receive the person’s details. You forward these details to the bailiff, who will reclaim your money.

It sounds quite promising, but in your case, the landlord happened to be abroad for work and now only has a foreign bank account. Even his LinkedIn profile proves he lives abroad. A refund request to a foreign bank or a bailiff trying to reclaim your €2,000 abroad suddenly seems much less promising.

But I’m Working with a Real Estate Agent, Aren’t I?

Some scammers go so far as to impersonate employees of a real estate agency like… RE/MAX. An email address with remax in it, a logo in the email, and sometimes even a lease agreement that appears to be drawn up by a real estate agency. Technology knows no bounds.

10 Tips to Uncover a Fraudulent Landlord:

1. Check the email address; a landlord posing as a real estate agent doesn’t have an official email address but probably something like kenwillems.remax@gmail.com. A ‘real’ real estate agent also has a real domain name and therefore an email address from that domain such as myname@remax.nl.
2. Real estate agents also verify the employer of a tenant, so why wouldn’t you check the employer of the real estate agent? Give the real estate agent a call and ask for the person in question. If they don’t exist, you know enough.
3. Do not transfer money to a foreign account. 99.9% of landlords of a house in the Netherlands have a Dutch bank account.
4. If you have to transfer money in advance, do this only to a professional party whose existence you can actually verify.
5. If dealing with a private landlord, ask for an ID proof from the landlord.
6. For a few euros, you can check the name of the owner at the land registry. If it differs from the name of your contact person, you’ll probably get the answer that it’s the house of the partner. The more excuses, the more you should start doubting.
7. If you’re not in the country yet, ask someone you know to stop by the address.
8. If you’re unsure about a offered property, ask a local real estate agent for advice.
9. A scammer is often in a hurry (it usually doesn’t take long before they get caught again and have to assume a new identity), don’t let yourself be pressured with stories that you’re just one of many.
10. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is…

You may also want to read our English blogs on:
– How do you choose your selling agent? –
– How to make an offer? –
– Buying off leasehold, or free hold? –
– Is a buyer agent useful? –