Ways to reduce rental fraud

Rental fraud is a growing issue and has become a reason for concern among property owners and tenants alike. While many people are familiar with rental scams that target tenants, what is less talked about but equally as prevalent is renter’s fraud (fraud committed against property owners by tenants). Nearly 97% of property management companies report that they’ve experienced rental fraud. Although this issue affects so many, a lot of property owners still don’t have plans in place to protect themselves against rental fraud. We’ve put together this guide for some tips to help reduce rental fraud.

Protecting your property from fraudulent renters

  • ID Verification- Among the most important and effective methods in preventing rental fraud at the start is ID verification. At the time of apartment tours, property owners should use an ID verification system that can verify prospective tenants in real-time to ensure that they are who they say they are.
  • Background checks: Conducting criminal background checks and credit score checks are perhaps the most important places to start. This will help you to catch any red flags with prospective tenants upfront. It’s also helpful to call current employers and require proof of income to ensure they’ll be able to pay rent each month.
  • Cross-check application information: Checking the information provided on the prospective tenant’s application against the information on each tenant’s credit and background reports will ensure that all information is accurate. This is a crucial step in determining if they are honest and will be reliable tenants, and prevent rental fraud right from the start.
  • Collect first, last, and security deposit upfront: This helps to add an extra layer of protection for property owners. Should your tenant stop paying rent for any reason, you’re already one month ahead and it will give you some time to figure out a solution, whether it be finding new tenants or figuring out a plan with your current tenant. Additionally, the security deposit will help to cover any damages or non-payments. Charging all 3 fees at the time of signing helps to protect landlords and property owners.

Reducing rental fraud

Reduce rental fraud with ID verification

With CheckpointID, you can scan prospective tenants’ IDs, and in seconds know if the ID is valid or not. Our verification system takes it a step further than traditional ID parsing, which only checks to ensure that all fields of an ID have an entry. With our verification system, it matches up thousands of lines of code with our proprietary international database to ensure all fields are not only filled out but also accurate. It has the capability to scan domestic and international government-issued IDs.

The benefits of ID verification for property owners

Verifying IDs provides property owners with a multitude of benefits, with the most critical being the ability to help prevent rental fraud. It helps to keep your employees and tenants safe, and also save property owners time and money in the long run. Additionally, CheckpointID’s verification system can integrate with your property management system to streamline data, create a guest card and provide real-time marketing insights. The user-friendly interface is simple to use and has helped many property owners to protect their team members and assets alike!

Contact CheckpointID to request a demo

It’s time to make reducing rental fraud a priority! If you’re a property owner or work for a property management company and are interested in learning more about how our ID verification system helps to reduce rental fraud and protect your property, contact us today! We’ll provide a demo to show you how it works and answer any questions you may have.