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Staying safe

Handing over a lease means meeting a stranger and moving real money. Here is where it goes wrong, and how not to be there.

Last updated Aug 2026

Draft wording, written to show what this document covers. It has not been through counsel and is not binding on anybody yet.

The one rule

No money changes hands until the leasing office has approved you in writing. Not a holding deposit, not a good-faith payment, not "just to take it off the market". A lease you have not been approved for is worth nothing, and the request itself is the commonest scam on a marketplace like this one.

Before you go and see it

  • Keep the conversation on TakeOver until you have met. It is the only record either of you has.
  • Check the listing against the complex’s own site: the address, the floor plan, the rent.
  • A price well under everything else nearby is a warning, not a find.
  • Somebody who will not do a video call, but wants a deposit, is not in that apartment.

Meeting

  • Meet at the property, during the day, and go through the leasing office where you can
  • Take somebody with you, and tell a third person where you are going
  • Ask to see a photo ID and the lease with the name on it
  • If the person who shows up is not the person you have been talking to, leave

Money

  • Pay the leasing office, not the other student, wherever the office allows it
  • Never wire money, send a bank transfer to a stranger, or pay in gift cards or crypto
  • A deposit usually sits with the complex and is settled by them. If somebody asks you to pay them the deposit directly, ask the office first.
  • Get the amount, the date and what it covers in writing before you pay anything

Signs to walk away from

  • Pressure: another applicant, an offer expiring tonight, a deposit needed within the hour
  • A reason they cannot meet, cannot call, or cannot show the lease
  • A request to move to WhatsApp or email before you have met
  • Anybody asking for your Social Security number, bank login or a photo of your card

What we check, and what we do not

A verified badge means we have seen a university email, a phone number or a government ID, depending on which badge it is. It is not a background check, it does not mean we have inspected the apartment, and it is not a promise about how somebody will behave. Treat it as one signal among several.

Tell us

Report a listing or a member and it goes to a person. You do not need proof and you do not need to be sure. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 first and report it here afterwards.