How to Identify Rental Scams When Searching for an Apartment or Housing

Fortunately, there are warning signs to look out for and preventative measures you can take to lower your risk of becoming a victim of rental scams.

Key Takeaways

• Rental scams usually target your money or your sensitive personal information.
• There is a wide range of rental scams, ranging from unethical landlords trying to have you overpay for a property to fake ads from criminals who want to steal your money or personal information. Being informed is your best defense. 
• Using trusted platforms, like Rentals.ca, or property managers can help to reduce your risk of falling victim to a rental scam. 

What is a rental scam? 

A rental scam is any scheme that uses a non-existent or misrepresented property to trick someone into paying money or providing personal information. They often involve fake or misleading rental listings, hidden fees, forged documents, and false promises (more on common types of rental scams below). 

How common are rental scams in Canada? 

It’s tricky to know exactly how common any type of scam is in Canada, since victims often don’t come forward. But we know that rental scams are impacting people every day in Canada. The Toronto Star reported that Toronto Police received over 380 reports of rental scams in 2024, indicating that it’s relatively common. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and multiple other law enforcement agencies and government departments have all issued warnings about rental scams, again highlighting that it’s a very real risk in Canada’s housing market. 

When to be Suspicious of Rental Scams

As the saying goes, ‘if it seems too good to be true, it probably is’. Any rental property that has a surprisingly low price or offers many more amenities than similar listings should be treated with skepticism. 

Here, we’ll dig into some of the common types of scams and what to look for to avoid falling victim to rental scams in Canada. 

7 Top Rental Housing Scams

1. Fake Listings: Scammers post ads with photos of real homes they don’t own, often stealing photos from legitimate listings.
2. Phantom Rentals: Crooks advertise units that don’t exist. They demand money before you even see the home.
3. Hijacked Listings: Scammers copy real ads and repost them with their own email or phone number. They collect deposits by pretending the property is theirs. 
4. Identity Theft: They ask for your Social Insurance Number or banking info for a “credit check.” They use that data to steal from you.
5. Fake Keys: They give you keys to a home they don’t own (often it’s an AirBNB) or they say they’re overseas and they’ll send keys once you send a wire transfer. By the time you learn the keys aren’t theirs or that the keys aren’t being sent by mail, they’ve disappeared with your money.
6. Phishing Emails: They send official-looking messages to get personal details. They claim it’s for rental paperwork, but it’s really a trick.
7. Bait and Switch Rentals: These listings often state that they include utilities or amenities that aren’t included to attract premium rent prices for a subpar rental.

What are the common signs of a rental scam?

One of the best things you can do to avoid rental scams is to trust your gut. If something feels ‘off’ about the situation, or you feel like the landlord is putting too much pressure on you to pay or provide personal details, it may be a scam. 

Here are some telltale signs that you may be dealing with a scammer: 

• The advertised rent is below market rate – especially if it’s in a popular neighbourhood. 
• You aren’t allowed to view the property in person, or the ‘landlord’ is always unavailable for viewings (especially if they say they’re overseas). 
• You’re pressured to pay a deposit immediately. 
• The landlord offers untraceable payment forms, like cryptocurrency or gift cards. 
• The landlord demands that you provide your Social Insurance Number or other sensitive personal data. 
• No lease is provided or signed. 
• The landlord can’t provide references or proof of ownership. 
• Keys will only be provided by mail after you pay a deposit. 
• The property is listed on multiple sites with different prices or contact details. 
• The lease provided lists the landlord’s address as the property being rented (unless they are renting part of their home, ie. A basement suite). 

It’s also helpful to ask the landlord for identification. They have no obligation to provide it, but most landlords are happy to verify their identity if they’re legitimate. Note that this serves more as an orange flag than a red one. 

Tips For Avoiding Rental Scams in Canada

Okay – now you know what to look for in a rental scam, but what if there are no red flags? We know rental scams are getting more sophisticated, so we’re sharing some more advanced tips for weeding out those highly complex scams: 

Learn your region’s rental laws

Canada’s rental market has a lot of rules, and landlords can lose their rights if they don’t follow them (as can tenants). One way you can avoid a rental scam is to know your local rules, and to call the landlord out if they violate them. 

Here are two examples from two of Canada’s biggest rental markets: 

• In Ontario, landlords can ask for a security deposit of up to one month’s rent, and many will also ask for the first month’s rent when the tenant moves in (often called first and last month’s rent). If they ask for more – that’s a red flag. Asking for key deposits and other fees comes with rules in Ontario, so if a landlord is asking for fees for moving in, that can be a red flag or against the rules. Learn them to protect yourself! 
• In British Columbia, a landlord may only ask for half of one month’s rent for a security deposit (unless you have pets, in which case you may be asked to pay an additional half month’s rent). Application deposits are illegal in BC. 

Research the property you plan to rent

There’s a lot of information available online these days. You can use that to your advantage to uncover scams. And while it may be annoying to spend the time researching the home you hope to rent, it can save you thousands in the long run – it’s time well spent. 

Here’s what to do: 

• Before you offer to view the property, search the property address to make sure the details listed on Google Maps match those in the listing. 
• Conduct a reverse image search to see where else the property is listed. Check those sites to see if the details match. 
• Research the landlord or agency, including searching for their names and seeing if you can find social media profiles for them. 
• Check property tax or land registry records to confirm the person renting the property matches the name listed on official records. There are often fees for doing this, however. 
• Ask to speak to the current tenants or for references from your landlord. Your landlord does not have to provide these, but many will. 

Submit your own credit check instead of providing sensitive personal information

Your landlord may ask for more sensitive personal information, like your Social Insurance Number, but you aren’t obliged to provide it in many instances. They can complete a credit check without your SIN or banking details, but handing those details over might leave you vulnerable to identity theft. You’re within your rights to learn what personal information you must provide in your province or territory and to only provide that information. 

Another option is to provide your own credit check. You can ask whether the landlord will accept a credit check you provide, and you can request yours for free from the credit check providers (Equifax and TransUnion) directly or through a free credit platform such as Borrowell.

Use a safe rental platform instead of online classifieds

Online classifieds, like Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace, do not require landlords to verify their identity before posting. This protects criminals and poses a risk to those looking to rent a home safely in Canada. 

The challenge is that these online classifieds sites are often seen as more convenient or a cheaper option, and there may be some truth to that. Renting through a property management company comes with fees either for the tenant or the landlord (though if the landlord pays them, they will be passed onto the tenant through higher rents). 

Luckily, there is a happy medium – online rental platforms that verify landlords before publishing their listings. Rentals.ca is one of those platforms. 

Which platforms are safest for housing searches?

If you’re looking for an online rental platform that offers relatively safe search options for prospective renters, look for a platform that: 

• Verifies the landlord’s identity by requiring identification checks. 
• Ideally, the platform you choose should also ask for a biometric verification of the landlord to make sure that the photo ID matches and that the landlord is a real user (not a victim of identity theft). 
• Continuous monitoring for suspicious activities or changes. 

Rentals.ca offers all this – and more. It also pulls listing details from Canada’s MLS to showcase a broad range of listings from a variety of reputable sources. 

Moving2Canada has partnered with Rentals.ca to bring information about available rental properties in Canada to newcomers like you! If you’re looking for anything from a one-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto to a family home in rural Saskatchewan, Rentals.ca has you covered. 

Plus, the Rentals.ca website is packed with helpful information for renters. It covers everything from Rental Budgeting 101 to a monthly rental report that shares insights about average property prices (so you can learn when a property you see online might be priced a little too low). 

Find your new home in Canada with Rentals.ca