Canada is rife with rental scams and they've risen 15% since last year

Suspicious or fraudulent rentals and rental scams are a growing threat in Canada, rising 15% between 2020 and 2021.

In Vancouver, they’ve nearly tripled since last year.

According to new data from liv.rent, as Canada is prepared to welcome hundreds of thousands of foreign students this fall, “there is an urgent need for Canada’s rental industry to take action to safeguard vulnerable renters.”

Some of the data come from a liv.rent feature that allows users of the rental listing platform to report suspicious activity. There’s also publicly available data from the Government of Canada on the top scams in 2021.

Compared to June 2021, liv.rent saw a 47% increase in overall rental activity on the platform during June 2022.

liv.rent suggests that various factors, like soaring interest rates and low supply, have led to high prices and increased competition, “compounding the danger to tenants.”

“Opportunistic scammers are more prevalent now than ever, costing Canadian renters $12.3 million through merchandise scams — which include rental scams — in 2021.”

liv.rent also spoke to a few of its platform users who gave their own accounts of suspicious interactions with potential renters.

“Throughout my housing search, there were multiple instances where I felt uneasy or uncomfortable while communicating with potential landlords/agents. Speaking from personal experience, some situations required me to provide sensitive personal information, with no guarantee that it would be protected,” said one user.

Daily Hive Urbanized reported on an incident of suspicious rental behaviour last week when a Metro Vancouver renter said that they were asked to provide a security deposit just to apply for a New Westminster apartment unit.

liv.rent has some valuable information on how to identify potential rental scams.