Tenant Application Fraud

csswiift

Evening.

I’ve recently rented a flat to a group of four Korean people (man, wife and two brothers).

I asked for references from all four parties including bank statements, pay slips, passports and landlord references. All of these checked out at first assessment - payslips showing income corresponding to their bank statements etc.

They got the keys today and whilst I was filing their references I had another check and noticed the tax deductions don’t add up and all payslips were the same format. I spoken with the ‘employers’ and they don’t recognise them.

What would you all do in this situation? I have two months deposit and a months rent upfront.

Thanks

user1977

Not sure you can realistically do much about it if the tenancy has already started.

_Penny_Dreadful

csswiift said:

Evening.

I’ve recently rented a flat to a group of four Korean people (man, wife and two brothers).

I asked for references from all four parties including bank statements, pay slips, passports and landlord references. All of these checked out at first assessment - payslips showing income corresponding to their bank statements etc.

They got the keys today and whilst I was filing their references I had another check and noticed the tax deductions don’t add up and all payslips were the same format. I spoken with the ‘employers’ and they don’t recognise them.

What would you all do in this situation? I have two months deposit and a months rent upfront.

Thanks

The contract is signed, the tenants have keys and if they’ve taken up occupation of the property the tenancy has started. You can’t issue a valid section 21 now for at least 2 reasons, firstly because you cannot issue a valid section 21 notice during the first 4 months of the tenancy, and secondly because the deposit you have taken exceeds the 5 weeks worth of rent cap. 

A section 8 could be used with ground 17: False statements

The tenant is the person, or one of the persons, to whom the tenancy was granted and the landlord was induced to grant the tenancy by a false statement made knowingly or recklessly by—

(a) the tenant
(b) a person acting at the tenant’s instigation 

Ground 17 is a discretionary ground and frankly no sane landlord would walk into court with just a discretionary ground. It can be difficult enough to secure a possession order using a mandatory ground. 

This is a slightly long winded way of saying I’d be irritated but ultimately as there’s very little I could do I would wait and see how things pan out with the tenancy. As the amounts on the payslips match the amounts on the bank statements I’d put this down to stupidity rather than malice. Maybe a couple of the tenants couldn’t find their payslips so decided to recreate their own rather than asking their employer to reissue them or provide a letter. 

anselld

csswiift said:

 I have two months deposit

Illegal under the tenant fees act. (In England)

Mr.Generous

Every landlord insurance policy I've had requires a number of tenant checks to be carried out - what did the vetting say? If you did everything yourself I'm afraid this is going to be a steep learning curve.

user1977

I suspect they'll still come up with the rent, they may just be doing so from sources which are more difficult to reference...

propertyrental

anselld said:

csswiift said:

 I have two months deposit

Illegal under the tenant fees act. (In England)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tenant-fees-act-2019-guidance

Have you done everything else right....?

theartfullodger

Two months deposit and a month's rent up front?
.
May i humbly please ask, how much training have you done in how to be a landlord, the 100+ laws and regulations a landlord may be liable to?

csswiift

Apologies, I meant I have two months up front which is one month rent and one months deposit - my mistake.

london21

Did their payslips match the bank statement?

How many months tenancy did you sign. 

Max deposit allowed is 5 weeks rent. 

If you haven't done things properly serving a s21 would be invalid. 

mark_cycling00

Can I ask - assuming their ID was also forged - is your apartment very close to a military base?

South Korea is a pretty rich country, I wouldn't expect a married couple and two brothers from South Korea to be renting. North maybe ...