Call Kurtis Investigates: Rental Website Offers Homes Not for Rent

SACRAMENTO (CSB13) —  Needing a larger place to live, Faith Hayes found a listing of a home with a swimming pool for $1,800 a month on ApartmentHunterz.com.

"It said this is available for immediate occupancy," she recalls seeing.

The site promises 97,000 plus exclusive listings including many not found on free sites or in newspapers. In order to get the landlord's contact information, Faith had to pay $29.95. When she called, she says she was surprised at what she heard.

"That house was sold 2 years ago," she said she was told. "We're not renting any properties whatsoever."

According to the California Bureau of Real Estate, it's not the first time they've heard of this company.

"They've been operating knowingly without a license for quite some time," said Spokesperson Tom Pool.

He says the state revoked ApartmentHunterz license in July after his department went after the owner for a variety of violations. Some violations dated back eight years.

"Renters would pay the money and find out the property was not in fact available," he said.

He says ApartmentHunterz also took ads from other places and posted them on their site without permission, which the state says is illegal. CBS13 found more than a month after the company's license was revoked, the website is still up. We reached out to the company repeatedly, but never heard back.

"Clearly at this point we can work with law enforcement in order to pursue a criminal investigation and lead to some sort of criminal penalties," Pool said.

After Faith told ApartmentHunterz she planned to call us, she says they refunded her $29.95.