WESTFIELD – It isn’t just tenants who need to be aware of rental schemes: landlords have to be careful, too.
A city couple put an ad for their rental home on a Westfield State University website, according to police logs.
WSU’s Department of Residential Life maintains a listing of off campus properties available in the area to students looking to live off campus, according to the university’s website.
The couple placed an ad on January 8 for an apartment listed on White Street, according to the WSU website.
Subsequently, the property owners corresponded with a woman, claiming to be a WSU student, who was interested in renting the home.
The couple agreed to accept one month’s rent ($800) as a deposit upfront with the rest due when the prospective tenant arrived, according to police logs.
The prospective landlords received a check for $2,324.73 “followed by correspondence that they overpaid along with a request for a partial refund so they could afford to travel here,” according to Westfield police.
Westfield Bank informed the couple that the check was fraudulent.
Since the check was not cashed a crime had not been committed, and since police will not be able to identify the suspect, the detective bureau decided not to pursue this matter any further, according to police logs.
“The University does not act as a party to any of these off-campus housing agreements,” according to http://www.westfield.ma.edu/images/uploads/reslife/Off-Campus_Housing_Listing_1.25.16.xlsx
The bottom line: tenants and landlords both need to be savvy when trying to rent or lease property if the transaction is not conducted face-to-face.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
