Nearly 8 in 10 landlords say tenant fraud more common
Nearly eight in ten (77%) of UK landlords believe tenant fraud is more common than it was three years ago, with 39% saying it has become significantly more common and a further 38% believing it has become somewhat more common.
41% say they are very concerned about tenant fraud in today’s rental market and a further 37% are somewhat concerned.
The figures, from a survey of 1,034 UK landlords by LegalforLandlords, follow the broadcast of a recent BBC Panorama documentary titled There’s a Gangster in My Flat.
One in ten experience fraud
One in 10 landlords say they’ve experienced tenant fraud, with almost a quarter (24%) of cases costing £5,000 or more. A further 22% reported losses of between £2,500 and £4,999. Just 2% said they suffered no financial loss.
Many were unable to recover their losses. Nearly a third (31%) of landlords said they ultimately absorbed the financial loss with no recovery, while 22% resolved the matter through formal eviction proceedings. More than one in 10 (12%) said the issue remains unresolved.
Fraud included unpaid rent, properties being used for criminal activity, unauthorised subletting, false identities and misleading affordability claims.
Deliberate non-payment of rent after providing misleading application information accounted for a third (34%) of cases. Meanwhile, almost one in five (19%) said they had unknowingly seen their property used for criminal activity, while 10% experienced unauthorised rent-to-rent or subletting. False employment or income information and undisclosed occupants each accounted for 9% of the most significant incidents reported.
While most landlords who had experienced tenant fraud said it had happened once during the last five years (69%), almost one in three reported multiple incidents.
Sim Sekhon, group CEO at LegalforLandlords, said: “The recent Panorama programme has shone a light on some of the most serious examples of tenancy fraud, but our research suggests the wider concern among landlords extends far beyond the cases that make the headlines.
“Most tenants are genuine, but the financial impact when fraud does occur can be significant. Whether it’s misleading affordability information, undisclosed occupants, fraudulent identities or organised criminal activity, landlords often don’t discover there’s a problem until after the tenancy has begun, when resolving the issue becomes considerably more expensive and time-consuming.”
