Casey Batiste and Anthony Colar set out to rent a house in a cut-throat market. Homes were receiving multiple applications within days; some renters were offering above asking rent to make their applications stand out.
So when, after they found an online listing for what seemed like the perfect home, they agreed to a walk through via video call, and sent over $2,500 for the first month’s rent and a security deposit, even though they found the leasing agent’s exhortations — “I need you to act fast” — a bit odd.
Shortly after that, all communications stopped. Batiste and Colar realized they had been conned.
Rental scams are on the rise, according to the FBI and Houston Association of Realtors.
Text messages between Robia Massey and her landlord on Thursday, May 12, 2022 in Houston.
Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerAs a historically hot housing market has rippled into the rental sector, pushing rents to record rates, the squeeze is being felt across the board, with renters being forced to pay up or move out. Rent for an average apartment in the Houston area was roughly $130 more this April than it was the year before, according to the multifamily research company Apartment Data. And as inflation surges and evictions…
