Is this Craigslist rental ad legit or a scam? Please help me decide?

[Zackary]

So i responded to an ad on craigslist about renting out a shared room in an apartment in Los Angeles while i live about 5 hours away in Arizona. I consider myself fairly savvy on detecting craigslist scammers since most of the scams are pretty common sense but I am very uncertain about this one. What makes me believe that he is legit is that we talked on the phone extensively, he has a facebook page created in 2007, and i asked him to send me a picture of his drivers license and he did. All the information that he shared about himself was consistent, including the address. I also google mapped the address and it does exist and matches the photos in the ad. He does seem quite specific and knowledgeable about the surrounding area as well.

BUT he said there is no landlord in the complex (that has no name apparently) that i could call for reference since he pays rent to a realty company (called B & H Real Estate) (i also can't find any information or phone number about this company). However, the biggest red flag is that he's requesting the deposit and first months rent via western union which i know is the biggest no no. The reason being is that he can cover himself and reserve my spot since it is currently the first day of the month. I asked if i could use credit card and he said i could not because he is not "licensed" to receive payments or deposits that way.

So my predicament is that he does sound legit as i couldn't find any dirt on him and his information all adds up.....but I'm aware he could simply be posing as another person's identity. Just to see how he'd react, i bluffed and said that I wanted to make a trip to personally see the room and make the deposit in person and he complied and say he'd be home all day. So the only red flag (not to mention the biggest) is that western union is the way to make payment and i know this a huge no no.

Can anyone shed some light on my situation and let me know if i should do it? And does he even need some form of license to accept credit card payments or is he just making that up? Could I ask to do a bank transfer or thru paypal instead and I'd still be somewhat protected?

Please share your thoughts....this is a huge decision and i would really appreciate your help! Thanks
Some of you may have seen an exact duplicate of this question. I revised the question and included more details so you assist me better. Thanks

[massiverifle833]

Of course it's a scam.

[R P]

Listen to your gut. It's a scam

[Glenn]

drive there and meet him in person. Look at his drivers license in person. Walk thru the house in person. Then make a decision. I just would never look on Craigs list for a place to rent ever. Odds are it is a scam.

[loanmasterone]

Normally if your gut tell you something, you should go with your gut. No one, but no one send money to any person without seeing the rental unit, speaking with the landlord in person.

Anyone is able to take a picture outside a property, however, this does not make him the owner or is authorized to rent the rental property.

In this case it would benefit you to speak with the neighbors and find out information about any potential owner or about the property itself.

This might not be a scam, however, if it quacks like a duck, walk like a duck, guess what you have Yep a duck.

I hope this has been of some benefit to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

[Landlord]

Scam or not you don't want to get involved. It is likely a scam. But even if it isn't he is subletting, he doesn't own the place, so you will not have a legal rental agreement. You need to rent from the landlord, which would be the RE company if what he his saying is true. But real RE companies are easy to find.

A bank transfer will NOT protect you, just the opposite. A personal check is your safest bet, but even that does not mean you would recover your funds if you are scammed.

[Bugsy]

First, subletting, including adding a roommate, is illegal. ALL tenants MUST be listed on the lease. This requires Landlord approval.

An on site landlord is not a requirement, and many landlords hire management companies instead of handling it themselves.

Do NOT send him any money. Insist that you be added, via addendum, to the lease.

Not only is this a legal requirement, but it will give you legal rights should you have problems with the roommate in the future.

[ApricotDanish]

As other answerers have said, tenants are not allowed to sublet their apartments without landlord approval, and even if they have that approval, you would be on safest ground not to deal with a tenant but with a landlord.
Also, it is not reasonable to request the whole deposit and first month's rent as a "hold the room" deposit. I am a landlord and when someone at a distance wants to hold the room, I only ask for about $300 for a hold the room deposit...the rest they pay when they move in. I also never ask them to pay by Western Union. They pay by check or PayPal.
Even if this is not a scam, it does not seem like a good situation to get into. For instance, you don't know that this tenant has authorization to rent out a room in his place. If he rents to you and the landlord finds out you are there, and then the landlord/realty company tells you to get out because you aren't allowed to live there, you likely will not get your money back from the tenant.
My advice is don't take this place and rent directly from property owners, not from tenants, unless the tenant can provide a copy of their lease which shows that they have permission to sublet.

[flower]

It's no big deal to drive there and see the place in person. It's only 5 hours. He may not be legitimate because there are ways to make everything appear to be and he still may not live there. If you cant contact landlord to find out if he is allowed to get a roommate, dont pursue it.

There is no reason to send any money until you see this place and find out if he really has a place and is allowed to have a roommate. You dont know any of that. Why would you do this long distance? Do you even know what kind of neighborhood it is and what part of L.A. it is in? Los Angeles county is 450 square miles. You should move there by yourself, get a furnished rented room for a week or month.

Dont send someone you dont know money for a place that probably may be an illegal rental that you havent even seen.

[StephenWeinstein]

It is possible that he cannot accept payments by credit cards.

However, it is not possible that Western Union is the only way that he can get paid.

Even if he can't get paid by credit card, for whatever reason, he can get paid other ways.

If Western Union is the only type of payment that he will accept, then it is probably a scam.