Attempted fraud in the letting sector has risen sharply over the past two years, it’s been claimed.

Tenant reference provider Homeppl claims that 91 per cent of the fraud it flags up in UK rental applications stem from applicants attempting to conceal their true affordability by modifying original financial documents or creating completely fake ones. 

It adds that on average it now costs £44,000 to evict a fraudulent tenant in the UK. This includes legal fees, eviction costs, and damages. 

“We’re in the middle of an economic crisis where demand for rent is high, the cost of renting is high, the cost of food, gas and heating is high and because of that, we have seen people falsify their rental applications to secure property in a difficult market” says the company’s chief executive Alexander Siedes.

“People think if they edit a bank statement to reflect a larger balance then their application will get accepted straight away. Whilst that may be enough to fool some referencing companies, our advanced document analysis technology will flag any edit in seconds”.