London Students Beware Of Property Rental Scams
I have written a few articles on the subject of property rental scammers, cheats, con men, crooks or whatever you want to call those people that try to trick people into parting with their money for accommodation that doesn’t exist. I will list my articles at the end of today’s article and if you are looking to rent somewhere to stay in London or in any city for that matter read them and learn.
From what I have been reading online and hearing in the news, is that not enough people have been paying attention to what I have being saying about property rental scams in London. It is of course the time of the year when thousands of International students are heading to London to begin their studies in the capital of Cool. You guessed it the bright lights of London have made some people lose there common sense.
I don’t know what it is about students in particular, why it is that so many lack common sense. I was just reading about, would you believe a Canadian law student that was conned out of £1000 for a flat he thought he was going to be renting in London. Is he stupid or what. WTF would you part with your money before you come to London and hadn’t even seen the place. Anyway you couldn’t even rent a garden shed here for £500 a month let alone a 1 bedroom flat. He paid £500 deposit and £500 for first months rent.
I know from personal experience, hell I was even one once myself and by that I mean a student, there are more interesting things to worry about than finding a roof over your head. Such as drinking, partying and girls. But then again when you don’t have a roof over your head it will become your most important issue and a major problem, especially when you have been conned out of your rent money.
I would say to all students no matter what city your going to study in, that you must use your common sense, okay maybe not, because it seems that many of you don’t have any. Just read my articles and you will know what to look out for.
If anybody ever mentions the dreaded words Western Union to you during your search for a place to stay, instantly delete the email or hang up the phone, it is a sure fire scam. Also never and I mean never pay for a property before you have seen it with your own eyes and never give anybody your banks details. That is the basics, which you should ingrain into your minds.
Ad scams are a huge money earner for crooks and they keep on doing it because they keep on luring in the unsuspecting and those that drop their guard. My motto is never give any prospective landlord the benefit of the doubt, don’t trust anybody, especially in a city like London.
Believe me there are plenty of places to rent in London, there just aren’t plenty of cheap and bargain places to rent. That is where the scammer lures in the fish, by advertisings cheap or bargain properties. As PT Barnum once so famously said, “There is a sucker born every minute”. Don’t become that sucker or you could end up living in a tent in a park.
I hear that The Metropolitan Police’s Fraud Prevention Team have been monitoring the situation, aint that good. I think they need to actually be doing something to start catching the crooks and sending them to jail where they belong. Because they really fuck up peoples life’s.
Students, gullible people and those without common sense please read the following articles:
Also for those of you that are coming to live in the London, you should already be aware that it is an unbelievably expensive place to make your home, but help is at hand, It Sure Isn’t Cheap In London, But You Can Make It Cheaper
London is the coolest city in the world, and an amazing place to live, but unfortunately it is also a real life Gotham City, where there are crooks and con men on virtually every street corner waiting to take what isn’t theirs. Stay alert, keep you wits about you and most of all try to use your common sense!
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I can only imagine what rents are like in London now. We used to pay 350GBP a month for a studio flat….and that was nearly 20 years ago (GOD I’m old lol). The first flat we were in was a bit cheaper but it was also a bedsit and had shared shower and toilet facilities, not fun! As long as people keep sending these scammers money then they will continue to try to scam people.
I created a rental scam detection quiz if anyone is interested finding out if they are dealing with a scammer:
http://www.rentvine.com/tools/rentalscamquiz/
Dave Dugdale
You will be surprised at how many students are prepared to fork out the security deposits without even looking at the property. That’s how many conmen got a away with it.
That’s what happened to a student featured on BBC Breakfast yesterday.
I was wondering, does that mean people should only stick to agency adverts? I mean, there are genuine landlords renting properties but it’s so hard to tell. Especially after reading some articles about scams with actual existant properties, but landlords cheat students out their deposits etc after viewing the property. What gives? And how to avoid this? I’m sure we may even run into scam agencies.
Molly.
I know there are plenty of crooked agencies out there, I have personally came across them. Companies such as Flatland and Spaclet should be avoided at all costs.
The bottom line is when people are cheated out of deposits by seemingly legitimate estate agencies, people have to kick up a stink and don’t give up till they get their money back. Citizens advice, the police and the press can all be used to fight back against scammers and fraudsters.
There are also plenty of genuine landlords out there, the 3 properties I have lived in since I arrived in London, were all found via shop window adds. My advice is to do as much research as possible and don’t trust anybody.
there are so many scams running on the internete so watch out`~;