Family locked out of own home in rental scam
By Greg Collier
A family from Fresno, California, moved to Tennessee earlier this year. While they were living in Tennessee, they were trying to sell their house in California. Even in our always connected world, that must be difficult to do from two time zones away. That’s also what made it easy for scammers to take advantage of an empty home whose owners were thousands of miles away.
People moved into the California house just a few months after the family moved to Tennessee. The family still has relatives in the Fresno-area who sent pictures of a U-Haul in the driveway, and the for sale sign had been removed. The relatives were provided the access code to one of the electronic locks, but when they got to the house, the keypad had been removed. To make matters worse, all the locks had been changed as well.
Police were called to the house, but the people who moved in showed police a rental lease agreement. They also claimed that they found the property listed on craigslist, and paid $3000 in cash to move in. The police were unable to do anything at the time.
The family contacted a local news station in Fresno who looked into the lease agreement and the signature on the lease didn’t match the signature on the home’s deed. This allowed the news station to contact police, who were then able to have the people vacate the house in 48 hours. But the problems didn’t end there.
The first thing the family had to deal with was the belongings the people left behind. Under California law, the family had to keep the items for two weeks, then they had to pay to have the items taken away. The house had also been vandalized when the people living there allegedly broke the appliances and plumbing. Unfortunately, their homeowner’s insurance wouldn’t cover the damages because the hose had been left vacant for than 60 days.
If you’re moving to a new area while still trying to sell your home, don’t rely on the realtor to keep the home safe. We’ve seen too many instances where scammers have fooled realtors into giving them access to the home. Instead, consider investing in a security solution where you can monitor the home remotely. While it might be an additional cost, it can prevent you from having to pay even more in the long run.
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