How to rent an apartment and not be deceived

The real estate market is constantly going through ups and downs. Today, people massively rent, rent apartments, sometimes demand exceeds supply. In order for the search to be fruitful, some turn to realtors, these are people who help both parties in the rental process.

Private owner or realtor?

Increasingly, we hear about fraudulent activities between tenants and landlords. This is not a new phenomenon, it has always been, only today the demand for rental has increased in the housing market, and, accordingly, cases of fraud too.

Realtors will help you at least rent an apartment in the seaside area, even in the center of Moscow, all real estate companies cooperate with each other. Today there is no shortage of agencies or private realtors, they do not divide clients among themselves. But, some offices work in good faith, but some are engaged in deception.

Usually the realtor should bring the matter to the end, give the keys to the hands. But, some real estate agencies hide their essence, and often act as information agencies, they simply sell information, and the final result does not bother them. This is a classic deception that cannot be punished by law, since the client signs an agreement where it will be written in small print “only information is provided”.

The second common deception is this: the landlord rents an apartment for a couple of months, then appears as a realtor, shows his apartment to everyone, takes payment for six months, draws up a linden contract and is hiding, and then all the tenants begin to agree with different keys.

Some fraudulent realtors give you the opportunity to get into the apartment, and after a couple of days they change the locks, others simply do not pick up the phone after receiving the money. Often in ads, fraudulent realtors pretend to be owners of apartments, indicate the price is much lower, lure customers, because it is much easier to influence a person directly.

It is quite difficult to protect yourself from scammers, you should be careful, do not pay attention to dubious ads, where apartments are rented for cheap in prestigious areas, carefully read the contracts in order to protect yourself by involving a third party (notary) in this matter, do not hesitate to ask questions, the more information the better for you. You need to know how many times the apartment has been rented out, get the phone numbers of former tenants, get to know the neighbors.