When June Walker made the last payment on her rent-to-own lease, she thought she’d finally achieved the American dream — a home of her own. But, the Detroit woman soon found out she’d been scammed.
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In 2019, Walker told NBC News she signed a rent-to-own lease on a three-bedroom home in Detroit with a man named Maurice, who gave her a copy of the deed for the house. The house had no furnace, no front door, and a basement full of water. But despite the bungalow’s condition, June saw a home, and she worked hard to make the $550 monthly payments and fix up the house with the help of friends and donations.
“It took a lot of work, you know … I’ve been homeless seven times in my lifetime. [I was a] drug addict for 36 years and got clean, got my kids back, went to graduate school, got a master’s degree in paralegal studies,” Walker told Click On Detroit.
In June 2021, two months after she had made the final payment, a Florida-based real estate company Boccafe LLC filed to evict her from the home she thought she owned. The man who offered the lease to Walker in 2019 was not the property manager he claimed to be. In fact, he had nothing to do with the home’s owners at all. All in, Walker paid the scammer $15,000 over four years for the home.
Walker’s case was one of several the network highlighted in a report on “fake landlord” scams in Detroit. Luckily, this one had a happy ending.
In April 2022, NBC reported that Boccafe pledged to sell Walker the house for $45,000 and a Texas entrepreneur, who grew up in Detroit and had asked not to be identified, was going to donate the money. He was deeply moved by her story when he read it and wanted to help.
Later that year, Click On Detroit reporter Devin Scillian revealed the donor to be his old friend Jerry Gumbert, the president and CEO of AR&D, a media and strategy firm.
“To give Miss June Walker back the house that she deserves and rightfully owns is, boy that’s a one in a lifetime opportunity, and I’m going to seize it today,” said Gumbert before meeting with Walker, until then a complete stranger to him. “Our best friends were strangers when we first met them, right, and so I’ve just got me a new best friend.”
The “fake landlord” scam
Thanks to the generosity of a man who wanted to give back to the city he used to call home, Walker finally owns her home. But many victims of landlord scams aren’t so lucky. This is reportedly a common scam in Detroit, a city decimated by foreclosures that left thousands of homes abandoned or with out of town landlords. Housing lawyers estimated that nearly one in 10 Detroit residents facing eviction are victims of this elaborate scam, according to NBC. The report added that it’s “fueled by discriminatory lending practices and limited access to conventional home loans in the predominantly Black, high-poverty city.” Even worse, scammers are rarely held accountable because they are difficult to catch and, without enough evidence, nearly impossible to prosecute.
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It’s reported that in some cases, people who have lost their house to foreclosure keep collecting rent from tenants without letting them know that they no longer own the home. In others, con artists break into vacant houses, change the locks, and then collect payments from unsuspecting victims. One victim, Janell Poydras, said that after confronting the individual he thought was scamming him in 2019, the man padlocked the door to his house, leaving him and his family with no place to go. “I’m still angry about it,” Poydras told NBC. “We didn’t have nowhere for our kids to go.”
“People have gotten away with this stuff for years and years and years, and they do it because there’s no penalty for it,” said Ted Phillips, a veteran Detroit housing lawyer, to NBC.
How to protect yourself
There are steps renters can take to protect themselves from fake landlord scams. When you receive a copy of the property deed, always verify its legitimacy before making any payments. These records are often accessible online.
Visit the property in person and avoid deals that require cash payments or wire transfers or pressure you to act quickly. Use written lease agreements and read them carefully before signing. According to NBC, Walker didn’t notice that the owner’s address on the lease had no city or ZIP code, and she didn’t look into the company it said he worked for, City Manager Group, which does not appear to be a legally registered business in Michigan. If something feels off, trust your instincts and wait to make payments until you’re sure.
If you think you may have fallen victim to a landlord scam, reach out to law enforcement and your local housing authority. They can provide guidance on your rights and help verify the true owner of the property. If you’re facing eviction, contact your local legal aid society. These organizations often offer free or low-cost legal help to victims.
While June Walker’s story has a happy ending, it’s a reminder of how easily things can go wrong. To protect yourself, stay vigilant and take steps to verify the ownership of a home.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
