Fake rental application: how to spot it

Start with what you are allowed to ask for

Tenant screening rules differ from one country to another, so begin with your local law: a check built on a document you had no right to request is a problem in itself. France makes a useful example because its rules are explicit. For private rentals, Decree 2015-1437 sets the list, and the French government’s guide states that landlords may not demand more. Social housing applications fall outside this decree. An applicant may be asked for:

• Identity: one valid photo ID (ID card, passport, driver’s license) or, for a foreign national, a document showing the right to stay.
• Current address: one document only, such as the last three rent receipts, a letter from the previous landlord, a sworn statement from a host, or a property tax notice or title deed.
• Occupation: one or more documents, such as an employment or internship contract, an employer’s letter, a company registration extract under three months old, or a student card.
• Income: one or more documents, such as one of the last two tax notices, the last three payslips, the last two balance sheets for the self-employed, three months of pension or benefit statements, or a scholarship award.

Guarantors have a similar list of their own, with some differences: a utility bill under three months old proves a guarantor’s address, for instance, but is not on the applicant’s list. Copies are accepted, in French or translated, with amounts converted to euros. The landlord may ask to see originals, and that is the first legitimate move when something looks wrong.

What a landlord in France cannot ask for

Anything off the list stays off the list, even to settle a doubt. CNIL, the French data protection authority, names family record books, health insurance cards, bank statements, marriage contracts, divorce judgments and criminal records. Its rental management framework adds medical files, cohabitation certificates and proof of alimony payments.

Bank statements may look like an obvious solvency check, but in France they are off limits: article 22-2 of the 1989 tenancy act lets the prefect fine a landlord up to €3,000, or €15,000 for a company, for demanding an unauthorized document. It also bans forcing a parent or child of the applicant to co-sign. No money may be requested to reserve the home before the lease is signed.

Two further limits are easy to miss. CNIL considers that a viewing should not depend on handing over supporting documents, which come afterwards. And if an applicant sends more than was required, the framework says to delete the extra documents or send them back.

Screening must not become a filter either. Under articles 225-1 and 225-2 of the French Criminal Code, refusing someone a good or service on a discriminatory ground such as origin carries up to three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.

France’s DossierFacile: helpful, but not a guarantee

DossierFacile is the French state’s digital rental file. Applicants upload their documents, operators review them and help make the file complete and consistent, and the applicant then shares a link with each recipient. Documents carry a watermark that restricts them to rental use. The service is free, and landlords get their own space, which flags points to watch in each file.

Read the label for what it is. The service’s terms of use state that it does not guarantee the authenticity of uploaded documents, and that a labeled file is no guarantee. Its partner page adds that the label has no legal value and that the service does not stand surety for the tenant.

The takeaway applies to any verified-file service: it saves time, but ask what exactly was verified, and by whom, before you skip your own checks.

How to spot a fake rental application: a 6-step method

1. Check the identity across every document

   The name must match everywhere, and match the person you met. A married or former name often explains a difference, so ask rather than assume.

2. Verify tax notices with the issuer

   Where an official channel exists, use it. France’s tax notice verification service, open to landlords among others, compares two 13-digit numbers on the notice with the latest one on record. “Non-compliant” does not prove forgery: a newer notice may exist, which happens when an applicant supplies the previous year’s, as French rules allow, or the numbers were mistyped. See our pages on fake tax notices and 2D-Doc codes.

3. Compare income across documents

   Payslips, contract and tax notice should tell the same story, allowing for dates: a tax notice covers a past year. Our page on fake payslips covers the checks specific to that document.

4. Check the employer

   Look the company up in an official register. Does it exist, and do its registration number and address match the contract and payslips? To contact it, use its official details, never those printed on the document, and tell the applicant first.

5. Examine the files themselves

   A PDF keeps traces: software used, dates, saved versions. Our free tool reads these properties in your browser without sending anything, and our guide explains how to tell if a PDF was edited. Be careful, though: an applicant who watermarks documents for protection, a practice CNIL mentions, has also changed the file.

6. Cross-check before concluding

   A single clue proves nothing. When in doubt, ask to see the original or another permitted document instead of accusing anyone, and note what you checked.

The inconsistencies that should raise a flag

One document on its own can look flawless. Problems tend to surface when you put them side by side:

• Employer: a company name or number that differs between contract and payslips, or a company created after the stated hiring date.
• Dates: seniority on a payslip that contradicts the contract, or an employer’s letter dated before the job began.
• Amounts: net pay that does not follow from the lines of the payslip, a salary far from the one in the employer’s letter, income unrelated to the tax notice.
• Address: different addresses on rent receipts and tax notice, with no move to explain them.
• Rent receipts: a landlord or rent that changes from month to month, or does not match the previous landlord’s letter.
• Appearance: a layout that varies between payslips, or one area of text sharper than the rest.

Legitimate situations that look odd

A recent job change or a move to part-time work makes income vary between documents. Freelancers show balance sheets, students have no employer, people staying with a host may only have a sworn statement, and applicants arriving from abroad bring a foreign tax notice with a translation. A rent receipt made on a word processor is nothing unusual either, as our page on fake proof of address explains. These files call for one more question, not one more suspicion.

How to respond to a doubtful application

1. Ask a neutral question

   Point out the gap without mentioning forgery: “These two documents show different employers. Could you help me understand?” Errors and changes of circumstance often clear up this way.

2. Keep a factual record

   Note what was found, when and by whom, without judging the person. Do not share your suspicions with other landlords or agencies.

3. Decide on the whole file

   You can turn down an application whose inconsistencies remain unexplained, based on those facts.

4. Hand it over if forgery is established

   In France, article 441-1 of the Criminal Code punishes forgery and the use of forged documents with three years in prison and a €45,000 fine, rising to five years and €75,000 for documents issued by an administration, such as an ID card. Whether to file a complaint is for your legal department or a lawyer. Our guide on document fraud says more.

If the lease is already signed, never take matters into your own hands. In France, forcing occupants out of their home through threats, pressure or force, without state assistance, carries three years in prison and a €30,000 fine (article 226-4-2 of the Criminal Code). Get legal advice first.

Respecting the applicant’s privacy

A rental file reveals someone’s finances and private life, and checking more does not entitle you to collect more. In the EU, the GDPR applies. CNIL’s rental framework, adopted on 6 May 2021, and its inspections of letting agencies offer concrete benchmarks for France:

• Transparency: tell applicants and guarantors who handles their data, why, and what their rights are, for example alongside the list of documents to provide.
• Access: restrict files to the people handling the rental, and offer a secure channel for submitting them, such as an HTTPS form.
• Agency mandates: if the agency picks the tenant, the owner should not normally see every file, only those shortlisted if the owner wants the final say.
• Retention: three months in active storage is in principle adequate for solvency data. CNIL asks that documents be destroyed once no longer needed for the decision, especially after a rejection, unless the law requires archiving.

If you hand the analysis to software, its vendor acts as your processor: our guide to choosing detection software lists what to pin down. For professionals, the framework says a data protection impact assessment appears necessary in principle, so raise it with your data protection officer. And keep a person in the decision: individuals have, in principle, the right not to be subject to a fully automated decision that significantly affects them.

Automating the check as applications pile up

An agency or property manager receives too many documents to study each one closely, and a careful edit can leave no visible trace. Docusan analyzes each file you receive, as a PDF, PNG, JPEG or TIFF, in any language, and gives a verdict: No detection, Warning or Alert. The anomalies are located on the document, and the decision always stays with your teams.

Docusan does not contact the issuer or government databases: it complements the checks above and does not replace them. You can use it from the platform or integrate it into your property management software with its API, and your documents are never used to train our models (security and privacy). Our real estate and rental page covers uses in the sector.