Renting off CL
 

So me n a few buddies r gonna be renting a condo for the stampede in calgary off CL. What are the things I should do and look out for so I don't get scammed. Cause I assume it would be pretty easy to scam someone who doesn't live in the area to see if its legit.
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ask for pics of the place, address of the place, and phone # of the landlord to personally talk to them on the phone

if you have friends local to calgary, ask them to swing by to check it out as well

pay any $ in person and with a check noting the purpose (for rent)

that's what a few out of province tenants did when they rented our basement.

get a written rental agreement. ask for proof of ownership ;).

i could easily try to rent my buddies joint in calgary , with a pre-paid phone so you can talk to me and a key that will not work when you get to the place, and you can pay me in person when i meet you at the starbucks which is 1.5 blocks away from the apartment. i will also send you pictures of my place saying thats what the rental condo looks like. am i convincing enough to fool you?

few things
1) property of ownership
2) Driver's license
3) everything done in cheque (as a valid proof)
4) a contract if possible.

to tell you the truth, it's more dangerous for the owner cause if you break anything, how are they ever going to find you? when you have no collateral, u can literally take their break their tv and run off. They can sue you but when you have ilke 20 bucks in ur bank account they cant' do shit; imagine you're from another country. Deposit can only be so much to cover for any hidden damages.

this is also the reason why a lot of people didn't rent their suite out during the olympics.

do not send any money.. do it in person... see proof of ownership as someone has mention...

Do a walk around and inside the house and NOTE down any damages or anything before signing anything.... just incase theres damage already and they try to pin on you!!!!

learn from what happen with the incident at the Olympics

oh, it's best to take pictures or videos so you have proof. totally forgot about that. then again, you woudl have to sign a conditional report.

CL is sketchy imo.. I think you should try renting off http://www.vrbo.com instead.
Most of those rentals have pictures and actual reviews too..

I'm in Calgary so if you need help with anything, let me know... :thumbsup:

^thx for the offer, but a friend of a friend that will take us in for the stampede. so now i dont have to worry about getting scammed and what not. thx all for the advice.

i rented a place in Ottawa for my co-op term from CL...

i just asked for the address, pics (inside/outside), and their bank account number for deposits.

before i paid them, i check google street view to see if the place actually existed and they had me sign a lease agreement that looked legit.

i got to Ottawa, got the keys from the mail, went into the house, and have been living okay since.

finding a place via craigslist isn't really any more sketchy than say finding a place in the newspaper. if you have any common sense you'll still be going there in person to look at the place before renting.

all these things people say "to do", you should be doing it anyways regardless if it's via cl or not.

take pictures of the place before you move IN!

Get the landlord to sign the back of the pictures to prove there were damages prior to you moving in, and they are legit.

Learn this the hard way when my deposit got swallowed by the landlord for previous damages.