Pennsylvania couple arrives at their new rental house and discovers another family already living there and is paying a fake Facebook landlord: ‘Their lease was a single page and their rental payments make no sense’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Mar 25, 2026 7:00 AM EDT

Moving day is already a disaster movie, but this is next level. Imagine dragging your whole life to a new place, opening the door, and finding out someone else has already called dibs on your future. Boxes in the truck, pets in the car, and surprise, there is a stranger's laundry where your couch is supposed to go

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  • Two people arguing beside an open car trunk with suitcases, appearing frustrated during travel.
    via NOWRA photography

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Showed up to live in rental property, someone is already living in it.

    Location: West PA, near Pittsburgh. Hello, Upon arrival to a property we rented in West PA we discovered someone already living at the property
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  • Clearly, someone has been scammed. We believe it was them as their listing was found via Facebook marketplace and it looked sketchy all around.
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  • Their lease was a single page and looked really unprofessional, their rental payments make no sense ("$800/mo rent + $500 utilities", way too cheap for the area & house), and the property owner listed on public records matches the information I made my security deposit to via our property management company.
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  • Their "landlord's" name is nowhere to be found. We have no idea how to get this situation sorted.
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  • We called the police & they showed up to the property to take information from us & neighbors, but the person left before they arrived.
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  • What you have here is the modern housing market in one cursed scene. On one side, a legit lease, a management company, deposits sent to the correct name. On the other, a Facebook listing held together with cheap rent, bad formatting, and blind optimism. Two tenants, one house, and somewhere in the middle is a fake landlord who has already disappeared into the internet like fog.

  • Couple loading a large suitcase into a car trunk, with additional luggage on the ground nearby.
    via NOWRA photography

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • This screams squatter who discovered their time is expiring, but all of their belongings are still at the property and they have kids, and they didn't know that we called the police.
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  • The contact information she gave us was also real, the police had us confirm that it was her via a picture.
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  • We also attempted to contact our property management company but their business hours are Mon-Fri 9 AM - 5 PM, so we have not yet received a response.
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  • The worst part is nobody in charge moves at the speed of your panic. Property management works banker hours while you are living out of a hotel and a running car. The person in the house has kids and all their stuff inside, so it is not like anyone can just drag them out and toss the keys over. You have real paperwork and zero actual access. They have fake paperwork and a roof.

  • We were able to get in contact with someone on a property maintenance line and were told that someone should be able to help us tomorrow (Now today), but we have no idea what they can do for us.
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  • The property obviously wont be move in ready for a long time, especially if the person doesn't want to leave, but we need housing.
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  • So now everything costs extra. Extra nights in a hotel. Extra fees on the truck. Extra stress on the animals in crates in the parking lot. Your job is on pause because your life is parked behind the lobby. You did everything the adult way, and still ended up camping with WiFi.

  • We've had to pay out of pocket for a hotel, our rental truck will cost daily late fees while we have it, and we have animals that can't stay at the hotel currently stuck in kennels in a car.
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  • We also cannot work while our living situation is up in their air. We figure the single solution that would solve our problem as soon as possible would be the rental agency moving us into another local property.
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  • They do have availabilities, but even if we can move in as soon as today or tomorrow, we were entirely screwed here.
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  • What can we / should we do? Thank you. UPDATE: We were able to get in contact with someone at the property management company who could at least point us in \some\ direction / give us some information.
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  • And of course the solution is not even satisfying. A different place, later in the week, more money, worse house. Technically a fix, emotionally a scam with customer service. You get to be grateful while being downgraded.

  • For now, the plan is to move us into a comparable property as soon as Thursday.
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  • Problem is, the only available house in the area is more expensive and not as nice, pretty considerably worst.
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  • But anything is better than living out of hotels & cars. More information to come on Monday when their offices are open and someone with more authority can solidify things.
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  • In the end, everyone in this story is paying for someone else’s fraud. The woman inside paid for a fake lease. You paid for a real one that came with a bonus tenant. The only person who walks away clean is the ghost who posted a bargain house on Facebook and cashed out.

  • Thank you for all of the comments and advice.
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  • Candid Ad_3312 Wait till you hear back from the management company. Hopefully you can either get your money back from the rental company to plug into a new situation or they put you up in a similarly available unit. I'm sorry you're going through this. I'd ugly cry on the street
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  • aHappyPhantom Agreed. Leave a message stating the problem and that it is an emergency. They might be willing to reach out to someone and let them know you have a true emergency that can't wait until Monday.
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply See update, we were able to get in contact with someone, but we still have to wait for Monday. Nobody with authority is available til then, all weekend personnel are just coordinators.
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  • robb7979 Getting you moved in and reimbursed for your costs is the remedy here. What else are you looking for?
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply I'm not sure what I am looking for other than that, that's why I made this post in legaladvice. We aren't just losing money via paying for hotels/ animal boarding / food / gas / etc, we are also losing wages. And of course it has been an extremely emotional, stressful time suddenly being homeless with no available immediate recourse.
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  • peanutneedsexercise Did the rental company force you guys to get renters insurance? Most places that I rented when they were managed by a rental company required that. definitely reach out to the renters insurance ppl it'll cover.
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply They did, thanks for the tip. We'll look into that.
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  • BinxieSly Did you rent this property site unseen? Because this is why you always should do a walkthrough beforehand.
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  • Lolcincylol It's insane that you can't reach anyone in an emergency like this.
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply It is insane. They are totally unprepared for dealing with a situation like this.
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  • BinxieSly They've been there less than a month then, so they've not got squatters rights yet? If you're certain of that and this isn't a mistake made by property management (which it probably is) then they need to remove that other tenant ASAP before those claws are vastly more difficult to remove. I would be saving receipts for everything as well; property management should be reimbursing you for causing this issue.
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply Yes, they moved in March 1st. The property management company definitely made a mistake, but I don't think it was a double booking mistake. The woman living there never heard of the property management company, she just rented from a random individual. Our best guess is someone abused the "self-guided tour" option via the property management's website to gain access to the house, change the code (easily done once you're in the home), then posed as the property owne
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  • tinselt Unfortunately however the perpetrator of this crime is unknown. You could sue them in civil court if they can find them, but scammers aren often "judgment proof." I'm sorry. Crime like this is expensive.
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply We actually found the fraudulent listings on Facebook marketplace and might be able to pin it on a specific person / group of people, they have a ton of listings all over the country for unreasonable prices.
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  • 567Anonymous Not if they have only been there a couple weeks. How did they even get keys???
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply Self guided tours. You can just show up to the property alone and go inside it after submitting an ID & doing a face scan online. They claim they dont store information after you submit it, but even if they did, how would they know which person did the scam?
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  • BinxieSly Wait, so you did or you didn't view this apartment beforehand? It sounds like you may have view general tour videos like many realtors put in their sites, but did not have a direct video of the actual apartment you were intending to rent? Certainly not in that overlapping period or the realtor would have noticed the issue of another family living there; or are you saying the family quickly moved in AFTER you'd view this apartment and it was empty?
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  • QAACCO Original Poster's Reply We viewed the house through a general digital tour, not a live guide (not physical or digital), but as I said, even if we did get a live physical/digital guide it would've been BEFORE the family moved in, so it wouldn't have changed our current situation. Our lease started late February. They would've given the live digital tour before our lease started. The family moved in early March. We attempted to move in yesterday. edit: typo.
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