Bizarre Landlord - What do you think?!

Will_K

I was looking for a rental property on GumTree and found one that looked good so I sent a message asking for more details and got this reply...

"I am Alan by name, a psychologist and a christian, i have a daughter who does not stay with me and I was once a widower but later re-married, but since my wife passed away i have ensured the future of our only dauther and it has been a success which was my wife's priority to see her out of school and stand next to her when she'll graduate, but time never allowed her which i believe God knows best about her sudden exit from the earth surface, also the nature of my work has made me much of a traveller and has really exposed me to different types of race and i have learnt that there is so much attached to this life than laughter. Anyways below is the address of the place in which you are interested.
[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]Address: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, England , United Kingdom[/FONT]

[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]This unit is Available immediately Modern 1 bedroom 1 bathroom, 1250 square foot
Flat is strategically located in a very cool and lovely environment with five (5)
appliances including dish washer with in suite laundry room and plenty of storage
space. Professional and mature neighbours ensure peaceful living arrangements.
Freshly painted and immaculately clean.[/FONT]

[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]The rent per month is £100 pw( £400 for a month and no deposit required) and also this
Flat can only be given to you with a good reference so a couple of good reference will
be highly appreciated from you. Kindly take your time to swing by the exterior of the
building as i am not presently in town to show you around the place, but i'm pretty
sure you'd like the exterior and incase you wish to proceed further I can forward you
the full interior pictures for you to have an idea how beautiful and spacious the inside
looks and we can proceed to the application process.[/FONT]

[FONT=times new roman, new york, times, serif]Thanks for taking your time in writting me and hope to hear back from you.
Regards."

The property seems too good to be true for the area and he seems like a bit of a weirdo. I think he might be trying a scam or something, but would be good to hear other opinions.
[/FONT]

G_M

It's a scam.

It could be anyone's property. He wants you to apply (and doubtless pay a month up front) without even letting you go inside!!!

I'm afraid Gumtree is full of scams.

Will_K

I thought that might be the case, but figured I'd ask here anyway.

Thanks for your reply, G_M.

jenny_13

It is a scam I used to work for the fraud department for a major high street bank and we used to have alot people get involved in scams like this.

Intastella

If they say anything about proving that you have enough to cover the rent by sending them a scan of a Western Union transfer reciept, get the hell out of there!

Unless of course you want to string him along by making up a fake one... http://www.spyrkes.info/generators/

Geenie

When I advertise a property I want to let, I only mention the property, and don't go into my private life!! Perhaps I am missing something! :rolleyes:

Then again, it would cost a fortune in local rags if I gave my life story along with the house details! It ain't cheap per line to advertise now. Gumtree sounds a strange and unsafe place by comments on here and on other sites, so I would stick to local papers and agents OP, just to be sure. Good luck with your search.

PS. The LL could be genuine, and thinks by stating his christian beliefs and life, he will get a like minded sort of tenant, .....but it seldom works like that. Letting is a business, and trying to do this with ones own personal constraints can lead to problems.

bitsandpieces

Absolutely scream scam :eek: I'd report to Gumtree as a scammer (for what good it'll do) and certainly not hand over any money. Though you could try something like this, if bored and if the bloke doesn't have any of your personal details already http://www.419baiter.com/

DVardysShadow

Geenie wrote: »

... PS. The LL could be genuine, and thinks by stating his christian beliefs and life, he will get a like minded sort of tenant,

It sounds so ... Nigerian to me.

Jowo_2

Fantastic - a massive flat, the size of a 3 bed townhouse, for only £100 per week and no deposit required - I'd snap that up quick, if I were you.

G_M

jenny_13 wrote: »

It is a scam I used to work for the fraud department for a major high street bank and we used to have alot people get involved in scams like this.

Which bank did you work for? If the fraud dept are getting involved in scams god help us all! :rotfl:

(No, I'm not a Christian)

jenny_13

G_M wrote: »

Which bank did you work for? If the fraud dept are getting involved in scams god help us all! :rotfl:

(No, I'm not a Christian)

Sorry that was badly worded the fraud department were only involved in investigating!

We used to investigate alot of customers accounts that received fraudulent funds and then were asked to forward them on via Western Union. One popular one was when someone posted a room for flat sharing they would get an email from someone interested who was very keen to overpay on the rent and have it sent to their "uncle" who lived abroad!