Tenants in Amherstburg facing fraud charges after allegedly lying on their application, landlord says

When Martene Sementilli and her husband purchased a town home in Amherstburg, Ont., they were hoping to give their children a leg up in the housing market years from now. 

Instead, the couple will sell their property this summer after their tenants allegedly defrauded them, resulting in criminal charges from the Windsor Police Service. The couple says it has cost them thousands of dollars.

"Watching the housing market change so drastically from when we entered, we just wanted to give our children something that they were going to be able to leverage when the time came," said Sementilli, who owns the property with her husband Dan.

After purchasing the home in November 2021, they signed a lease with their current tenants in October 2022. 

Their rental application looked good, Sementilli said, and references checked out.

"In fact, they got a glowing reference from their former landlord …and truth be told, while I did follow up on their other references as well, I put the most stock in the former landlord," Sementilli said. 

"We felt really comfortable at that point. Very shortly after they moved in, things started going sideways … So we started digging."

Sementilli said they received rent in November and December 2022, but both payments were late. They haven't received any money since January 2023, Sementilli alleges. CBC has contacted the tenants for comment on this story.

Though they called the previous landlord and other references, Sementilli said in April she visited the previous rental in person — only to discover the "landlord" she'd spoken with wasn't the owner of the property. 

"Unfortunately, she had a very similar story to ours."

Other references also turned out to be different people answering the phone, Sementilli said. 

The Sementillis had a hearing earlier this month at the Landlord and Tenant Board, where their tenants were given an eviction order. Sementilli said they were able to secure an expedited hearing — more than four months after they filed their application — because of demonstrated financial hardship. 

Sementilli said they approached the Windsor Police Service because of the allegedly fraudulent rental application.  A copy of a Windsor police report shows police have laid charges of fraud over $5,000. 

"If they weren't paying their rent but they had filled out an accurate application, I would not have had any recourse to lay criminal charges," Sementilli said. "The only reason the criminal charges were able to be laid was because they obtained the lease agreement under false pretences."