Key West Vacation Rental Scam

I received an email inquiry a couple of days ago from a lady who feared she may have been the victim of Craigslist vacation rental internet scam. She asked me about 1022 Packer Street in Key West, a property that I wrote about in my blog when it was for sale. I didn't know if the new owner was renting the house or not so I contacted the buyers agent to ask him to let the lady know if the owner is renting the property. The answer was no, the property is not being rented.

The lady then sent me a copy of the purported Transient Rental License for 1022 Packer Street. I copied it and added some red letter markings to help potential renters compare if they receive a similar license. The City of Key West has a very short list of very specific houses and condos that have a transient rental license. Most of those properties are located within two blocks of Duval Street, but not all properties within that area have transient licenses.

Last week I received a phone call just as I was about to eat dinner. The lady who called started the conversation by saying "We're here." To which I responded who are you and where are you? She said 510 Frances Street to which I instinctively said I wrote about that property a few years ago when it was for sale. She asked when I would meet her at the property with the key. I repeated I wrote about the property in my blog. She then said I was the contact person on the internet. I assume she Googled the address and saw my name and number and assumed I was the person she sent money to when she rented the house. I told her again I had nothing to do with the rental. I waited a couple of minutes and then decided I better check the address.  Once I did that I knew the property and really doubted that it was a rental. But I did not know for a fact whether it was being rented or not. 

Shortly thereafter I got a phone call from a different phone number. This time a man was on the phone who asked about 510 Frances Street in a less strident tone. I told him I only wrote a blog about the house but did know what house it is. I told him I doubted it was being rented and said it could not be rented as a weekly rental.  I asked him the name of the company he rented the house from. He did not know. I suggested he find out and contact the property management company if in fact he rented the place from a real company.

Several agents in my office have had similar phone calls from people who show up expecting to check into homes they rented using Craigslist or VRBO. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ACTUAL SCAM WEBSITE.   Other scam addresses this company uses include 517 Margaret Street Key West, 1023 Packer Street Key West (note the license misidentifies the street address), 1409 Reynolds Street Key West, 2105 Dlophin Drive, Marathon.  I looked at the photos for a couple of the houses to see if they were of the actual houses. The photos for 510 Frances Street are actually photos of a Meadows Condominium on Pine Street or Petronia Street. Last Key Realty in Key West rents a 3 bedroom home there. Last Key Realty is a well known and legitimate company. The photos of 517 Margaret Street are actually photos of the interior of a ground level one bedroom apartment on Amelia Street and the pool is of a "cocktail pool" on Virginia Street.

If you want to have a great vacation in Key West, rent your house from a licensed real estate company or property management company. Don't be a victim.

Key West Vacation SCAM - Don't Be a Fool!

Each week I receive at least one phone call or an email from someone who has performed a Google Search on an address of a vacation rental in Key West.  The person normally found a blog I wrote about a particular place and decided to contact me to find out if the ad (usually found on Craigslist) is legitimate.  None of the calls or emails has ever been a legitimate rental.

The City of Key West has fairly simple rules with regard to nightly and weekly rentals of homes and condos.  If an owner has a transient rental license, the owner can legally rent the home on a daily basis - just like a hotel.  Most owners with a transient license require longer vacation stays so they can keep the "turnover" to a minimum.  A house or condo with a transient license must display a plaque at the front of the property so that neighbors and code enforcement know the rental is legal and who the property manager is in case of a problem.

There are only a limited number of homes or condos that have a transient rental license. 

The City permits owners to rent homes or condos on a monthly vacation rental basis. Stays of 28 days or longer are required.  And only one such rental is permitted for the property during that month.  For example, an owner may not rent three weeks to one renter and then rent the fourth week to another renter.

If you see an ad on Craigslist or any other place on the Internet that sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Unsuspecting renters are being victimized all the time by scammers who have stolen photos of real properties and then pass then off as the property they proclaim to offer for rent.  One particular scammer speaks in 'broken-English' to peole who call to discuss property rentals in Key West. He previously required renters to make advance deposits by Pay-Pal. Now he is asking for payment by direct deposit to a bank account.

One couple paid a several thousand dollar advance deposit on a large house with a pool and parking with broken-English speaking man.  When they got to the house they called the number where they made the reservation. The man said he had forgotten they were coming or something to that affect. He said to look in the mailbox or under the floor mat for the key. Sure enough the front door key was in the mailbox. The vacationers went inside and spent three days enjoying the house until the man who is actually responsible for watching the house showed up.  He called the police and had the vacationers evicted because the house was not a rental.  He had left a key where anybody could find it.  Shame on him. And shame on the renters for being so careless with their money.

 

Key West is a wonderful place to visit for a week, a month, or season.  I suggest that you contact any of the Key West property management companies that have identifiable street addresses, land line phones that you can verify as belonging to the company you are calling, and an actual website apart from Craigslist, Homeaway, or VRBO.