Rent payments down, fraud up, say multifamily landlords

October 15,2020 | By Erickson Ocasio

Landlords say that more than half of their tenants are having trouble making rent, according to new data from real estate tech company Snappt. According to Snappt’s 2020 Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Residential Rentals survey, 53% of residential tenants are struggling to pay their housing costs, mostly due to the economic fallout from the pandemic. A quarter of people are paying late, while 17% now pay less than full rent, and 11% have stopped paying at all. This is also driving a 75% increase in evictions, with a current eviction rate of 21%. “Many of these evictions are awaiting the expiration of moratoriums, with the typical building having 15 evictions stacked up,” Snappt said in an email to MPA. Twenty-five percent of these evictions are associated with application fraud, which has increased dramatically in the wake of COVID-19, according to Snappt. “The survey sh

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As COVID-19 lingers, fraudsters having continued success targeting borrowers

July 10,2020 | By Erickson Ocasio

In remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 9, the assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division described for lawmakers a range of schemes being used to defraud unsuspecting Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than being brought under control, Calvin A. Shivers explained to the SJC that the threats have only become more frequent and sophisticated. “Moreover,” Shivers said, “they adversely affect the United States by destabilizing our financial system and institutions and harming people at higher risk, including older adults and people with underlying medical conditions.” Shivers provided multiple examples of fraud schemes that are still proving effective: Busine

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