Tenant referencing platform HomeLet reports a 400% increase in cases of tenant applicants falsifying documents.

The number of tenant applicants faking documents to secure rental properties has increased 400% during the past two years, according to HomeLet.

The tenant referencing platform says would-be renters are doctoring bank statements and inventing job histories to improve their chances.

FALSE EVIDENCE

Almost all the documents that had been changed (90%) were bank statements in order to bump up income evidence, HomeLet told The Times.

The remaining cases, HomeLet said, involved false job or criminal records.

Of those tenants caught falsifying documents, most were not ‘career criminals’, but were doing it out of desperation.

Some were using AI to doctor evidence, and this made it more difficult to detect.

The lengths people go to to secure the property they want … is incredible.”

Rebecca Baker, Head of Customer Operations at HomeLet, says: “Whilst we see many examples of people adopting a do-it-yourself approach with basic computer software, we’re receiving more intricate, complex examples of deception every day.

“From changing pay slip dates and employer details to hiding transactions and changing income amounts, the lengths people go to to secure the property they want … is incredible, but no longer surprising.”

In one case, someone had applied for a £2,000-a-month property, claiming to earn £28,000 as a sales assistant. The bank statements had been changed to make universal credit payments appear as salary.

Rents increased again in January with the cost of a property up by 7% year-on-year, Goodlord’s index revealed earlier this month.

The strong close to 2023 continued with rents increasing by 1% during January with the average monthly rent for a property in England at £1,154 per month – 7% higher compared to last year.

The North West saw the biggest increase in rents, up by 9% compared to the same time last year.

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