Almost eight in ten landlords believe tenant fraud has become more common over the past three years, according to research from LegalforLandlords.

A survey of 1,000 UK landlords found that 77% believe tenant fraud has increased, with 39% saying it has become significantly more common and a further 38% reporting it has become somewhat more common.

The findings come in the wake of the BBC Panorama investigation There’s a Gangster in My Flat, which examined serious cases of tenancy fraud.

One in ten landlords told the survey that they had experienced tenant fraud first-hand. The most common form involved tenants deliberately failing to pay rent after providing misleading information during the application process, accounting for 34% of reported cases.

Nearly one in five (19%) landlords who had experienced fraud said they had unknowingly allowed their property to be used for criminal activity, while 10% reported unauthorised rent-to-rent arrangements or subletting. False employment or income information and undisclosed occupants each accounted for 9% of the most significant incidents.

The financial impact was often substantial. Almost a quarter (24%) of affected landlords said the most serious incident had cost them £5,000 or more, while a further 22% reported losses of between £2,500 and £4,999. Only 2% said they had suffered no financial loss.

Nearly a third (31%) said they had absorbed the financial loss without recovering any money, while 22% resolved the issue through formal eviction proceedings. More than one in 10 (12%) said their case remained unresolved.

Although most landlords who had experienced fraud said it had happened only once in the past five years, almost a third reported multiple incidents.

Sim Sekhon, group chief executive of LegalforLandlords, said: “The recent Panorama programme has shone a light on some of the most serious examples of tenancy fraud, but our research suggests the wider concern among landlords extends far beyond the cases that make the headlines.

“Most tenants are genuine, but the financial impact when fraud does occur can be significant. Whether it’s misleading affordability information, undisclosed occupants, fraudulent identities or organised criminal activity, landlords often don’t discover there’s a problem until after the tenancy has begun, when resolving the issue becomes considerably more expensive and time-consuming.”

He added thorough tenant referencing, identity and affordability checks, together with appropriate legal protection, remained the best defence against increasingly sophisticated fraud.