Woman who lost $1,000, leaving her short for her bills, among rental scam victims in Kenora, Ont.
Century 21 sales rep says housing scams on the rise in northwestern Ontario
A woman from Wauzhushk Onigum Nation is warning people in northwestern Ontario to be wary of rental scams after her daughter lost $1,000, leaving her short for next month's bills.
Ruth Skead said her daughter jumped at what appeared to be a perfect property: a two-bedroom home on Cambrian Drive in Kenora for $1,000 a month, all utilities included.
Her daughter transferred money for the first month's rent to a person claiming to be the landlord. Skead had offered to help with the last month's rent, but quickly saw red flags in the arrangement.
The purported landlord said they were based in Kenora but had a New York phone number. They said they were out of town and had to mail the house keys from Vancouver, but before doing that, needed the first and last months' rents paid and a lease signed.
After Skead refused to send last month's rent, the purported landlord kept pushing.
"I told them, 'You're not going to get [any] money until I see those keys and until somebody opens that door,'" Skead said.
"Almost right into midnight, sometimes, they'd be calling."
Skead's daughter has reported the incident to police but is left $1,000 short for her current rental, which Skead said is a rundown house without consistent access to heat and electricity. Her daughter pays more than $1,400 a month to live there with her two teenage children — rent that's harder to afford on Ontario Works.
Rental scams have become more common in the region over the past few years, said Susan Lemay, a sales representative with Century 21 Northern Choice Realty Ltd. based in Kenora.
Skead's daughter wasn't the only victim to the Cambrian Drive rental listing; Lemay knows of another person who lost a $2,000 deposit for the same house.
See the residence in person, say police
The property was familiar to Lemay because it was recently sold, which is why when Skead called her about it to ask her advice, she knew something was off.
"The landlord, or the potential landlord, was a totally different name from what the actual registered owner of the house was, so we definitely knew that it was a scam at that point," Lemay said.
Const. Phil Mays of Kenora Ontario Provincial Police told CBC News in an email that while he wasn't familiar with the Cambrian Drive situation, similar scams have been reported in the Kenora area.
"We advise people to ensure they complete their due diligence and either reach out to someone in the area where you look to rent, so they can physically visit the site," Mays said.
"If this option isn't available, nearly all people can video chat and request a tour of the residence from the prospective renters. Generally these types of scammers use pictures from recent listings and don't have access to the residence, so they wouldn't be able to do a live tour."
Skead said her grandson checked out the Cambrian Drive property from the outside, but the family was never shown the inside of the house.
Lemay, who has been working in the real estate industry for more than 16 years, said the sweet spot for scammers is the time between when a house has been sold — after the "For Sale" signs have been taken down — and when the new residents have moved in.
The scammers will send photos they've found online to prospective tenants, "and the clients will do a drive-by and say, 'Oh yeah, the house is vacant and ready for us to move into.'"
Other tips to avoid being scammed
Renters should never send money without meeting the individual behind the purported rental and seeing the property in person, Lemay said. She encourages people to reach out to local real estate agents to help fact check which properties are for rent or sale, and ensure someone claiming to be a landlord is the registered property owner.
Caycie Soke, a staff lawyer with the Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic based in Thunder Bay, said once money is lost to a scam, it can be nearly impossible to recoup it.
You can report the incident to police or file a proceeding in small claims court, but if you don't know who the scammer really is, that likely won't go far.
"I'm sure people who fall into these situations feel really stupid afterwards, but I can also appreciate when there's limited housing stock and it seems like a good deal, you want to jump on it, right? You want to get that unit that seems like the one unicorn that is affordable for you," Soke said.
People should always get an agreement in writing using Ontario's standard form of lease. In addition to checking with real estate agents, legal clinics and social service agencies know the names of a community's landlords and which ones to watch out for, she added.
"You could call an agency and say, 'Have you ever heard of this landlord? Is this a real person? Is this a real company?'" said Claire Littleton, co-ordinator of legal services at the Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic.
While it may seem cliché, Soke said, the proverbial phrase rings true in these cases: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Skead said she's not holding out hope her daughter will get her money back, but is helping her search for other rentals in the meantime, with a "scam alert" app on her phone at the ready.
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