Has anyone found a tenant through Gumtree?

scooby75

greenjellybean wrote: »

I just happened to type into Gumtree details about my flat and area to get an idea of the going rate really and there was a post from a person requesting exactly what I have to offer. He put a mobile number but although we called him yesterday and left a message, he hasnt called back. Wondering if it's a scam .

Quite probably unless you are lucky. I am looking to rent and put an ad up. I specified the area, requirements that I wanted and got all sorts of replies - mostly from people who had my ideal property (but didn't) or who had not bothered reading the post and offered completely unsuitable properties.

I would not necessarily think that anyone on Guntree are there because they are on DSS and can't get past an agency's checks. I used it because I am necessarily particular in what I want.

Li0nhead

fridaypassion wrote: »

I guess it could be area dependent. All I have got from gumtree is calls From dss tenants when the adverts states no dss and calls in broken English asking daft questions which were covered in the ad such as how many bedrooms.

Our properties are in a small town near Leeds I don't think gumtree is as popular as it might be in bigger cities. An ad in our local free press is the best for us. People have to call rather than email which I think in itself weeds out the genuine prospects.

Problem with gumtree when searching for rental properties round the Leeds area (like i am) is that the student let/multiple occupancy properties by agents bury all other ads.

Horsa_2

Hi guys,
I've used gumtree for years and yes there were a few weirdo's but you get that everywhere.
I cant complain about thegumtree it works well as long as you use common sense and do a bit of screening on the phone, i used to offer to ring them back and have a quick chat with them over the phone before giving out my address.
This got rid of a lot of the dodgy real estate agencys and trouble makers before they even arrived at my door.
After that it was just a case of sussing the people out when they arrived and had a look at the room,
If they did not stay for a chat and want to meet the people living there or could not answer some basic questions then i fogged them off.
Most agencys idea of a background check consists of faxing/emailing off a form to there employer or previous landlord asking does this person exist and are you looking for a new tenant ?
In short a complete waste of time
It always comes down to your gut feeling at the end of the day
Yes the gumtree started charging ages ago but you can still post a single add for a single day free of charge.
So through a combination of 2 email addresses/ copy and paste/ and daily deletion and new add posting. well you get the idea :P

gRoberts

I've not had much experience of using GumTree however, as a tenant I have just found my next landlord and property via it.

The landlord and his agent (a family friend) have done absolutely everything to accommodate me and my families needs.

We're due to move in mid July and all they wanted was a small deposit up front to hold the property and then to pay the rest on signing the contract.

What impressed me the most, is the openness of the landlord/agent when it came to the tenancy agreement etc. As stated, we're not moving in for another month and they have given us a copy of the tenancy agreement etc so we can flag any issues before signing it on the day we move in.

Based on this experience alone, I'd be inclined to find my next landlord (if I ever need another) via GumTree or similar in the future

property.advert

Classic Gumtree fraudulent landlord also cannot meet you at the property due to working away or out of the country or hasn't got any legs etc. Even better ones say they were let down by previous people not being able to afford the place and they wasted time and money on train fares to come to meet tenants who could not afford the rent.

So they ask you to send your friend (not them by the way) £1000 or whatever by Western Union. They then ask you to scan and email them the receipt. This is where their scam hits but quite how I do not know.

They also never know where the nearest shop is or bus stop or who provides the electricity or gas. In the end you can weed them out but I some folk are truly stupid.

fixx

My tuppence…

If/when I return to the UK I’ll certainly be looking on gumtree as a tenant, though with my cynical head on I’ll be expecting most responses to my basic questions (can I see the gas certificate, what deposit agency do you use etc) to be “huh?”

I like the idea of it as I know there are some appalling agencies out there who I don’t want to be dealing with (yes, there are occasional good ones), and I like the idea of sitting down with the actual landlord themselves right from the start to check that they know what they are doing, I get all the details of the property up front when I ask questions with no middle-man, I can have reasonable conversations etc. with them.

Trawling gumtree is hard work though, and I’d be looking at any and every route I could find as well as gumtree to help me find the right place

jimjames

Very interested to hear experiences of the best places to advertise.

Our tenants have just given notice so looking to get new tenants which I haven't had to do for a long time. Previously used local papers but does anyone buy them/read them anymore for rentals? Last time I used the paper the phone was ringing constantly. Gumtree sounds an option but I'm not sure it has the volume outside of big cities and the property is definitely one for professional high end tenants.

Any other options to try?

NEH

greenjellybean wrote: »

I am about to become a LL for the first time (I have read the suggested guides on here - very useful. I have also ordered Renting out your home for Dummies - waiting for it to arrive) and just wondered if anyone has ever had any success, or nightmares, using Gumtree to find a tenant?
I like to think there are more honest people out there than dishonest - why shouldn't a genuine person post to find a flat in the hope of not having to pay agent fees? It feels like this method should work...

:idea:

We needed somewhere asap and as properties to rent were going within hours and there was a severe shortage over the whole of Scotland when we were looking we turned to gumtree in desperation and posted an ad. We got a lot of scammers but it was very easy to weed them out. We did have some genuine people trying to help. In the end we found somewhere via gumtree though the property advertised page not through our ad. So it worked for us.

aliasojo wrote: »

When we were looking for a place to rent in an new area, I placed an ad on Gumtree saying we were looking for a family home.

I got a reply from 'Trevor' who sent me some pictures of 'his' property and a request to send him a deposit asap before someone else snapped the place up.

In the folio of pics he sent, he had one very obvious 'American' style living room, a very quaint 'cottage' type bedroom and a kitchen that was so modern and new he must have copied and pasted it from a Vogue magazine. And all this was available in a very small Scottish village.

Bless, he couldn't even scam properly. :rotfl:

That said, we did also go view a property that was advertised in Gumtree, the place and the LL were both genuine but neither of them were for us.

It is do-able but perhaps not the easiest way.

I think we must have had the same scammer as we were sent some pictures of a property in a Scottish village including one outside picture. The laugh of it was he didn't bank on my husband having grown up in the next village and he knew it wasn't genuine. Boy we had some fun with him...:rotfl:

gRoberts

NEH wrote: »

We needed somewhere asap and as properties to rent were going within hours and there was a severe shortage over the whole of Scotland when we were looking we turned to gumtree in desperation and posted an ad. We got a lot of scammers but it was very easy to weed them out. We did have some genuine people trying to help. In the end we found somewhere via gumtree though the property advertised page not through our ad. So it worked for us.



I think we must have had the same scammer as we were sent some pictures of a property in a Scottish village including one outside picture. The laugh of it was he didn't bank on my husband having grown up in the next village and he knew it wasn't genuine. Boy we had some fun with him...:rotfl:

I had posted a "wanted" ad on GumTree informing them of my requirements.

Not long after, I received an email via GumTree stating someone had a property and to contact an email address for more information.

Naturally, I did and the guy replied with some poorly written spiel and included some pictures... Even though I had asked for a 3 bedroom property, I thought I would look further into it and thankfully being a geek, I know Google can match pictures based on an uploaded picture now

So I uploaded one of his pictures to find he had stolen them from a cleaning company in the states

I kindly replied stating I wanted a 3 bedroom property and thanked him but I could see where it was going...

koloko

We found a landlord on Gumtree.

The dishwasher broke within a week and was never fixed, the boiler broke and we were without hot water for 6 months until we moved out, and we are currently in the midst of threatening to sue her for witholding the entire deposit despite returning the house in a better condition than as we took over it. (painted walls, new furniture for her etc.)

Other than that we were ideal tenants.