Renting safely

Not at any point, for any reason: your Social Security number, driver's licence, passport, bank account or card details. If a credit check is needed, a licensed screening service collects that from you directly and sends us a yes or no.

Anyone claiming to be Easy Rental and asking for those is not us. Forward the message to leasing@easyrental.ai and stop replying to it.

• A person reads every listing. Not a queue that auto-approves when nobody objects — each one is opened and read before it can appear.
• The address has to resolve. An address that doesn't exist is one of the strongest signals there is.
• The photos are examined. Images lifted from elsewhere are how most scam listings are built, so each photo is checked for whether it looks like the owner's own or like marketing material taken from somewhere else.
• The wording is screened for the phrasing scams rely on — payment before viewing, wire transfers, an owner who is conveniently abroad — and for language that would breach the Fair Housing Act.
• Rent far below the local floor is flagged. “Too good to be true” is the single most reliable indicator of a fake listing.

None of this makes fraud impossible. It makes it much harder, and it means a listing here has been looked at by someone whose job was to doubt it.

These checks cover listings submitted to Easy Rental. The listings on our rental map and in the chat assistant are collected from other listing sites and have not been through them, so apply the warning signs below with extra care and confirm everything on the original listing.

• Money before keys. No deposit, no “holding fee”, no first month before you have seen the home and signed a lease. This is the one rule that stops almost every rental scam.
• Wire transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram, gift cards, crypto. These are chosen because the money cannot be recovered. A real landlord will take a normal payment.
• The owner cannot meet you — travelling, posted overseas, working abroad — but will happily mail the keys once you pay.
• Pressure. Several other applicants, decide today, send the deposit to hold it. Urgency exists to stop you checking.
• The conversation moves off-platform immediately, to a personal email or a messaging app, before you have seen the place.
• The rent is far below everything comparable nearby. Check two or three other listings on the same street.

• See the home in person, or have someone you trust see it.
• Confirm the person showing it is the owner or their agent.
• Read the whole lease. You can ask for a paper copy instead of signing electronically.
• Keep every message and receipt.

If a listing here looks wrong, or someone contacted you claiming to be us, write to leasing@easyrental.ai. Include the listing link and anything you were sent. We would rather look at ten listings that turn out to be fine than miss the one that isn't.

If you have already lost money, report it to the FTC and to your local police. Tell your bank immediately — speed matters.

You are targeted too: someone copies your listing, reposts it at a lower rent, and collects deposits from people who then turn up at your door. If you find your photos on another site, tell us and we will confirm which listing here is genuinely yours.

Listing with us is free, and every listing goes through the checks above before it appears.