Gardaí investigating number of incidents of accommodation fraud in Cork

Gardaí in Cork have confirmed that they are investigating a number of incidents of accommodation fraud that have been reported since the start of the year.

No arrests have been made.

They say if people feel they have been the victim of crime, they are asked to report this to their local Garda station.

Rental scam 

It comes as a house-hunter in Cork warned about a rental scam that requests personal information from those who enquire about a property.

Cork man James recently contacted the alleged landlord of a rental property that was posted online.

However, after they requested passport details and a copy of his utility bills, he noticed something was amiss.

Speaking on The Neil Prendeville Show on Red FM, he said: “I drove to the property and I knocked on the door.

“I asked the girl was the house for rent and it was news to her,” he said.

James noted the difficulty in trying to find a property to rent and said that people were often willing to do what they could to get their foot in the door.

He said that it is “so hard to get anywhere” to rent in Cork.

“You’re trying to stay one step ahead of the posse,” he said.

'A crisis situation'

Sinn Fein TD Thomas Gould also noted the difficulties in finding a property in the city.

“People are so desperate now get a property that they will share information that they should never share but if they think it is the only way to get a rental property, or it’s the only way to get a roof over their heads in the case of being evicted. They’re doing things they shouldn’t be doing.” 

He described the rental market in Cork City at the moment as “a crisis situation”.

“For years we have been talking about the housing crisis. The rental market now is certainly in a crisis situation and I think Covid has made it worse,” he said.

“We were actually at a crisis point before Covid and we knew that…but Covid has pushed us over the edge,” he added.