Fraudulant rent collectors

*NOTE – This article was originally written in December of 2006 for the newsletter.

Getting your tenants to pay their rent can be a tough enterprise. Especially when you aren’t the only person trying to collect rent at the building. As crazy as it sounds, this has actually been happening in the St. Louis rental market.

Apparently, a man has been coming to apartment units in the late evening at the very beginning of the month claiming to have just purchased the property. At this point he asks for the month’s rental payment. Most tenants seem to realize the oddity of the situation, but some have been taken through the scam.

Whether urban myth or fact, to protect yourself and your tenants, it would be prudent to contact all parties involved with your properties and warn them of this scam. Explain to your tenants both verbally and in writing, that rental payments are to made in the same fashion each month unless you, the landlord, personally notify them of a change.

This small investment of time could save you from major headaches down the road.