[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

I may be needing to find a new apartment to live in.

When I moved up here, we were shown around town and possible apartments by someone with a relocation firm, so they handled all the legwork to set up places to tour and the leasing paperwork.

Now, however, I may need to do all of the property research, touring, and leasing paperwork on my own.

As such, I'm a little concerned about the possibility (however remote it might be) of getting scammed and dealing with someone who isn't really the owner of the property that we are looking at, and forking over $2K to $3K as a "deposit" and never seeing that money again. Call me paranoid if you wish, but I worry about such things.

Accordingly, any advice on how to avoid getting scammed and ensuring that I'm dealing with the actual owner (or owner's representative) of the property in question? And how to make sure that any rental deposit that I hand over is not just going to be pocketed and spent in Vegas or wherever by the non-owner, leaving me without a place to live?

I have not rented for years and years, but is this a common problem?