What Happens When a Tenant Forges a Lease and Won’t Leave?
If you’re a landlord, this scenario may sound familiar—or it may sound far-fetched until it happens to you.
You’re trying to get someone kicked out or raise the rent. They refuse. Then one day, they show up at your place with a lease that you didn’t write, sign, or even know existed.
This has happened a lot during my time as a forensic doc examiner, in large condominium complexes, restaurants, and office buildings. A scammer will just show up and say, “Hey, I belong here. This is actually my place. Check out my lease!”
There was this really interesting case a few years ago where the defendants had a 10-page lease allegedly signed by their landlord’s deceased father. I was representing the other side, the landlord.
The investigation turned up more than just a bad signature. After reviewing the lease, I decided that the signature was not the only part of the lease that was faked. All the pages were typed word-for-word from the original lease, with the scammers making typos.
Because they made typos on every page, I was able to find the original draft on their computer where they manufactured the lease. So obviously, the tenant in that case lost significantly and probably had to pay all the bills for all the experts and attorneys because the tenant had created a fake lease. Now that’s a multi-million dollar case. You probably can’t afford that if you’re just a single homeowner or a landlord who owns a triplex—but you can still likely afford and use the help of a forensic document examiner to prove that the lease is fraudulent.
What If I Have Been Scammed by a Tenant With a Fraudulent Lease but I Have Limited Resources?
This happens quite often with my clients who rent or take over a small property. Their tenant says, “Hey, we have a lease, or we’re in rent control, and here’s this lease that you signed or your dad signed, even though he might have passed away.” The client panics because they can’t find any corresponding copies of the previous leases. That’s where the examiner comes in. The examiner will look for a pattern. If someone in your family, let’s say your dad, had been renting properties for 20 years, they probably have a standard lease.
And if the lease that shows up does not match the formatting, font, notary, time, or any of the other stuff that matters, the examiner will be able to tell. We do an investigation to determine where, if anywhere, the lease deviates from the previous set.
So, if you’re a landlord and you have a tenant who has created a manufactured lease, you can win in court, get them evicted, and turn that property. But you will probably need a real estate attorney, and you’ll probably need a forensic document examiner to help prove that case in court. The tenants will likely lie. They could say that you signed it, that your friend signed it, and that a notary is your friend.
In that case, another approach that your examiner may take is to look at the paper, specifically the age of the paper. Or if you’re lucky and get access to the renter’s computer, you can find the computer file where they manufactured it. I even had one case almost 20 years ago where they had downloaded a template of a last will and testament, and the copyright of where they downloaded it was 2 years after the person died.
Pretty hard to sign a will and testament when you’re dead, right? The good news is that manufactured leases almost always leave a trail—and that’s exactly what a forensic document examiner is trained to follow.
We’ve handled lease problems in San Francisco, Tennessee, Dallas, L.A., and with our other experts around the country. It is not uncommon.
How Do I Know Whether to Pursue Legal Action if a Tenant Is Scamming Me?
The question you have to ask, if you’re a landlord, is: Is it worth the fight? Is it worth the fight to get this person evicted, get that property back, and turn it into a new one, or is it better to let them stay?
And in most cases, if a tenant is forging leases, they’re probably way behind in their lease. They’re on rent control, and they want to stay forever. In most cases, pursuing an investigation is the right financial decision, especially when the alternative is letting a fraudulent tenant stay indefinitely.
Some States Are More Landlord-Friendly than Others
If you own property in California, you face a second layer of challenges. The state strongly favors tenants. There was a case where someone lived in a property for two and a half years without paying rent because the state blocked the eviction. That’s why many investors prefer Texas or Tennessee, where the laws are more balanced. If someone doesn’t pay rent, they are effectively stealing from your business and your family. Most landlords in the US are mom-and-pop operations—1 to 3 units, their nest egg, their retirement plan. Four months of unpaid rent is $12,000 gone. That’s not a victimless situation.
That’s why a lot of people don’t like owning property in California; they prefer to own property in Texas or Tennessee, which are more landlord-friendly, where you can actually evict someone if they steal $5,000 a month in rent from you. That’s the way I look at it. If someone doesn’t pay rent, it’s like putting a gun to your head and stealing money from your business and out of your family’s pocket.
But the state doesn’t see it that way. Tenants don’t see it that way. They tend to think, “Oh, well, landlords are rich, and tenants are poor, and you need to fight.” No. If you sign a contract to pay $3,000 a month rent, you pay it. That’s just the rule. And if you don’t pay it, you’re stealing money from someone else.
What to Do If You Suspect a Forged Lease
If you have a situation where you know someone forged a lease and they’re trying to get to stay in standard rent control, you need to hire a forensic document examiner.
You need to hire an attorney. And you need to immediately proceed through the proper legal and regulatory channels, such as notifying them, posting an eviction notice on their door, and getting the case before a judge as soon as you can. Because once you get to an evidentiary hearing, they’re going to have to move out, or they’re going to give up, because if it gets proven that they’ve manufactured false evidence in a court case, they could actually be prosecuted for a crime. The police might investigate it. Police generally don’t like to investigate civil crimes or “he said, she said” type cases.
But the threat of a civil or criminal action for putting in a false document and lying under oath is serious business. So, that’s something you might want to consider in negotiations.
If you’re a landlord, a real estate investor, or just a big fan of fraud investigation, we can help. We mainly handle the forensic aspect, where we analyze the evidence. However, we have experts all over the country and can recommend some great attorneys who handle these kinds of cases in all the states where you live and work.
My name is Bart Baggett. I own property and have tenants myself, so believe me, I understand this from both sides of the desk. Landlords, keep your chin up. You have rights, and we’re here to help you enforce them. If you believe a tenant has forged a lease, don’t wait. The sooner a forensic document examiner can review the evidence, the stronger your position will be. Reach out to us at handwritingexpertusa.com.
Bart Baggett
The Nation’s Leading Forensic Handwriting Expert
CEO of Handwriting Experts Inc.
Forensic Document Examiner • Expert Witness • Legal Consultant
“We solve million-dollar forgery cases.”
Telephone: 1-800-980-9030
YouTube: @thehandwritingexpert
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What can a forensic document examiner do if a tenant presents a forged lease?
A1: A forensic document examiner can analyze the lease for inconsistencies in formatting, font, notary stamps, paper age, and signatures. They can also identify whether the document was manufactured using a computer template—potentially tracing the fraud directly back to its source.
Q2: How does a forensic document examiner detect a fake lease?
A2: Examiners compare the suspected lease against the landlord’s known standard lease format, looking for font deviations, unusual notary details, typos, and paper-age anomalies. In some cases, the original fraudulent file can be located on the tenant’s computer, as occurred in a multimillion-dollar case handled by Bart Baggett.
Q3: Should a landlord hire an attorney if a tenant forges a lease?
A3: Yes. Landlords facing a forged lease should retain both a real estate attorney and a forensic document examiner. Together, they can build a legally sound case, file proper eviction notices, and present forensic evidence at an evidentiary hearing.
Q4: Can a tenant face criminal charges for forging a lease?
A4: Yes. Submitting a forged document as evidence in court and lying under oath are serious offenses. A tenant proven to have manufactured a false lease could face criminal prosecution, in addition to losing their civil case and being ordered to cover all opposing legal fees.
