Snappt today released the 2020 Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Residential Rentals Survey. The survey shows that more than half of residential tenants are struggling to pay their rent, mostly driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is driving a 75 percent increase in evictions, with a current eviction rate of 21 percent. Many of these evictions are awaiting the expiration of moratoriums, with the typical building having 15 evictions stacked-up.
One in four of these evictions are associated with application fraud, where applicants fraudulently alter their financial documentation (such as pay stubs or bank statements) to fool property managers into accepting their application. “The survey shows that nearly a third of applications now exhibit application fraud,” says Daniel Berlind, CEO and co-founder of Snappt. “That represents a nearly doubling since the pandemic hit.”
Survey results showed that application fraud is widespread. Property managers reported that 85 percent have been a victim of application fraud, up from 66 percent last year. And, the culprits are upping their game. Pre-pandemic property managers felt just one in ten fraudulently altered applications went through undetected; they now say one in four application fraud attacks go undetected.
Property managers surveyed report more than half (53 percent) of tenants are having trouble making rent. In fact, a quarter are paying late, one in six (17 percent) now pay less than full rent and one in nine (11 percent) have stopping paying at all. With the increase in tenants not able to pay rent and increase in application fraud, the COVID-19 pandemic has cost the typical building $71,500 since March.
The full ‘2020 Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Residential Rentals Survey is available at https://www.snappt.com/survey-covid-19-residential-rentals. The free report includes a list of top strategic tips property managers can take to detect fraud and decrease evictions.
