ATTENTION REALTORS®: TENANT WARNING

A habitual fraudster is trying to rent an apartment, condo or house in the Barrie area. 

This person, Nina Willis, habitually fails to pay rent, flouts the rules and procedures of Ontario tribunals and courts and leaves a trail of eviction notices and frustrated landlords behind her.

Verifying the identity and documents of a potential tenant, landlord, buyer, or seller is critical; fraudsters may provide false information that closely resembles legitimate company names, contacts, documents, and logos.

The following tips have been previously provided by BDAR, TRREB and a reporting Member:

• Be thorough on all tenant applications
• Meet the applicants in person
• Ask a lot of questions
• Review physical copies of documents, if possible
• Ask for at least three references each for work; personal; and previous landlords, if possible
• Carefully examine ALL documents and look for inconsistencies
• Search the potential tenant's name on the Canlii site and in the Landlord and Tenant Board Cases
• Be cautious of anyone that:
• seems anxious or their demeanour is off
• will sign up for a lease without a showing first,
• seems overly anxious to sign the lease documents and move in, and
• wants you to delay their identity and document checks until after the lease is signed.