can the rent be too cheap?

lil_umka

Hi everyone, hope somebody would be able to clear this up for me.

We are looking to rent a bigger house sometime next year. I just had a quick look on local websites and found one agent renting houses £50 to £100 cheaper than others in the area. Admittedly it's a rural area and market is slow, but price difference looks a bit suspicious.

I'd jump to the chance to move in one of their houses right now if I wasn't so sceptical. Houses look immaculate, exactly what we are looking for, but the price seems too good to be true. Do you think I'm being too cautious?

Thanks
Anna

G_M

The only way to tell is to view the property. Does it really exist or is it a 'teaser' to get you in the agent's door "Sorry that's been rented but we have another...."
Or is it a dump inside?
O is the agent just being realistic and advising his landlords to ask less rent in order to get tenants in fast?

theartfullodger

May be legit - but before handing over any money for any property I think I'd pay £4 online at..
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/
to check if the name on the Land Registry deeds is the one they tell me is the landlord

(btw a sensible check to do anyway ..)


Cheers!


Artful

Owain_Moneysaver

Neighbours?

Local pig farm smells when the wind turns?

Electricity goes off when the wind turns?

poppy10_2

lil_umka wrote: »

I just had a quick look on local websites and found one agent renting houses £50 to £100 cheaper than others in the area.

By local websites, do you mean gumtree? There are loads of scammers out there - basically they will advertise a house or houses (using fake showhome pictures stolen from the internet) at a price that is far too good to be true. When you contact them they will ask you to send them a deposit via Western Union "to prove that you are serious" because they have had timewasters in the past. A variation is that they ask you to make the WU payment to a family member, but ask you to send a copy of the details so they can collect the payment themselves.

As always, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. You can have a look, but never hand over any money until you have been in the house and confirmed it is legit, and never use Western Union/bank transfers under any circumstances.

WolfSong2000

As other have said - go visit the property. I'm currently renting a property which is a fair way below what I would normally expect to pay (under £600pm for a 5 bedroom property close to St. Andrews), but I really did just luck out. I have a lovely house, great landlords and reasonable rent, so it can happen. I would advise caution, though, as there are a lot of scams out there, but being optimistic, there are deals out there to be had!

casper_g

This is getting samey, but as others have said, go and look at the property. Don't hand over any money or commit to anything until you've done that. If the property exists and you like it, take it from there. If you're really worried about paying too little, I'm sure you could negotiate the rent up a bit!

savanajhones

I have tried lot on gumtree and found many Scammers. The only source I can trust is Craigslist and it is really good. Here, one can get better renting services according their affordability.

charlie792

I think unless you view the property its probably going to be hard to tell - most one bed flats in our area were £375 but we came across a 2 bed in a much better area for only £400 - assumed it was always going to be too good to be true - viewed it and it was relatively fine, carpets a bit old but I didnt really care about that, just turns out it had been empty for a long time so they had slashed the rent on it, happily living here now and landlord has got things sorted out quickly whenever we've had problems...

lil_umka

thanks a lot for your replies. quite a few good points I didn't think about.

The agency is legit, I've been to their office few years back and looked at few of their properties. We didn't look at house yet, but will do. My husband knows the area, his comment was that kids are a nightmare around there, but where aren't they plus the area where we are now is much worse in my view, police are often visiting estate across the road.

When I spoke to agency they said that they'd gladly accept bigger rent if we are willing to pay. Apparently the house belongs to a local who just bought a bigger one, so I suppose they won't be kicking tenants out if have to sell in a rush.

My only worry is that they are trying to get someone in only to pump up the rent a few months down the line. How quickly can they raise the rent? Can we refuse to pay any more and move out?

thanks again
Anna

princeofpounds

If it's a real agency, then the normal reason you see suspiciously good deals on rightmove and the like is the kite-flying. When they do let a good deal, they 'forget' to remove it on the website. Draws in the prospective tenants onto their list so they have a bigger pool to market to.

But there might well be nothing suspcious. Often letting agents encourage LLs to list a higher rental price than they expect to receive so they can discount it to seal a deal with a tenant. Maybe these guys don't bother with such games. Maybe they operate in an area that just tends to be cheaper.

Just make sure you do your due diligence, especially by checking on land registry who the landlord really should be.