Has anyone found a tenant through Gumtree?

Supermop

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.

Totally agree - I'm also in Yorkshire, not too far-ish from York and have the same experience with Gumtree in trying to find a lodger, it's just not used as much up here.

A friend of mine lets out a property, she used a letting agent originally and was charged the first months' rent plus VAT (about £650) and all they did was advertise the property in the paper, do viewings and use a template Tenancy Agreement. Plus they charged the tenants something like £250 to reference them and do the 'move in'. Total rip-off. The tenants left after 6 months, so the agents wanted to charge her all over again! Not sure how she let is again, I think by word of mouth or Facebook and did all the paperwork herself. Plus she got to see the tenants for herself rather than relying on an agent who may not be as exacting as she is!

ETA: I imagine it's expensive but I think most people head over to Rightmove to find a property now. It's not the only method, but until the next big thing arrives, it's the most popular. As a landlord I guess you want to advertise somewhere where it's easy for a load of potential tenants to find (local papers limit your reach; individual websites have diluted traffic and Gumtree only seems successful in specific areas)

indigo739X

I used to use Gumtree all the time to advertise my apartments in Cardiff. And Yes! I did get tenants. However the new costs have put a stop to that. The practice of charging on free ads made me mad - and there are plenty of free alternatives. I now use IYAN Free Ads (inyourareanow) to post my flat rentals because it's completly free and I can publish up to 7 ads at any one time, which is enough for me. :rotfl:

adindas

mchale wrote: »

Really, it's my sole source of advertising and i'm currently running with a 98% occupancy rate and with decent tenant's

I have been moving to a rented accomodation quite a few times, different cities, different places. I have found all of my rented accomodations from Guntree. I know from my former LL that they have been using gumtree to advertise all the time.

The best feature if you are a prospective tenant is that it is free. Not like many other sites you need to pay for subscription.

I know for a prespective tenant, there are alot of scammers outthere, but it is a no brainer to spot any irregularity.

Now I am tired of renting and I am in the process of buying a house. and might become a LL sometimes in the future.

adindas

property.advert wrote: »

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.
.

Unfortunately, some of this old trick is still working. That is why it is still exist to this date. Say for instance young people from EU countries who just move to UK and want to find accommodation quickly close to where they work. Many of them have less experience, which earn for their living, never travel abroad, and come from least educated and poor background.
I am really sorry that it takes the victim of the most vulnerable people. Do not expect this trick will ever work to people who are working in Canary Wharf.

samwich1979

Found a nice flat with a terrible LL last June via Gumtree, didnt find out until it was too late but we left promptly!
Our new house we also found this way and its been great, LL very efficient, safety checks done, inventory done, even let us pay our deposit over 6 months as we were struggling for money. Deposit has been put in the TDS, unlike our last one!

Had a damp problem which was there before we moved in but it was sorted asap, also replaced the 14 year old kitchen for us.

So definitely no complaints this time!

Doubledrop

I've always used gumtree when looking for a flat to rent. Using an estate agent is a big no no, what with silly costs for credit checks etc and then always finding a way to keep your deposit its just not worth it.

I moved in with a friend and when the lease was up we accidently paid a week and a half's extra rent, the estate agent didn't give it back to us as he said it was just like checking out of a hotel, just because we've paid for the room until 12 and we're checking out at 8am doesn't mean we're due any money back.


Never ever put any money in a western union to show a potential landlord you have cash to pay the deposit. the scam is that when money is paid into a western union it can be taken out of any branch and some not so nice western union worker based in Africa will allow the cash to be taken out without I'd.

jimjames

Supermop wrote: »

T
ETA: I imagine it's expensive but I think most people head over to Rightmove to find a property now. It's not the only method, but until the next big thing arrives, it's the most popular. As a landlord I guess you want to advertise somewhere where it's easy for a load of potential tenants to find (local papers limit your reach; individual websites have diluted traffic and Gumtree only seems successful in specific areas)

I used an online agency that posts directly onto Rightmove for fixed fee. The cost was £39 and I've had plenty of calls from suitable tenants all of whom want to rent the property.

Gumtree may be free but I thought for £39 it was worth using a dedicated property site that allows photos and full listing details and so far have been very impressed.

greenjellybean

Thank you all for your input. We met our Gumtree guy and he seems really genuine. We really intend to be good landlords (despite it being our first time) so I hope we wont be, in 10 years time, the subject of posts similar to the bad tenant experiences here!
I hope in a few months time I will be reposting on my thread that Gumtree is a huge success for finding tenants!

mazkiwi

Hi - I wrote the mini article below as I wondered the same question. Hope my experience helps you and others...

Recently when I went to advertise a West London property I was surprised to learn Gumtree had been taken over by eBay. The result; Gumtree’s free ads have been reduced to just two ads per user per year. All subsequent ads cost £9.95. Refreshing or ‘bumping’ up an ad now costs £5.95 a day. A ‘featured’ ad, which appears at the top of the page (but only in rotation with other featured ads) costs £63.29 for 7 days.

The knock on effect seems to be that fewer private landlords are now using Gumtree and, from my own experience, I believe fewer prospective tenants are too.

So where do private landlords now go? At first I was at a loss. The ‘new’ main sites, Rightmove, Zoopla, Primelocation, FindaProperty etc don’t allow private landlords to make one off listings. They deal direct with agencies. Some online research and phoning around revealed packages available via intermediary online agencies.

I read some good reviews posted by private landlords about one such company called Upad. It was set up 3 years ago by James Davis, who as a landlord himself, was frustrated by the lack of user-friendly sites available for private landlords.

Upad uploads a property listing on all of the major portals for £99. Landlords also have the option of paying more for additional services such as having a ‘To Let’ sign erected in front of their property and professional photographs taken for advertising.

I decided to give them a go, and because old habits die hard, also pay for a few additional Gumtree ads myself. I was abroad when I sent my ad to Upad. A few hours later from thousands of miles away, it was somewhat surreal to see my professionally edited and processed Upad ad looking stunning, complete with half a dozen photos, on all of the relevant UK sites.

When prospective tenants responded Upad asked them a few pertinent questions, took notes and emailed me immediately with the details. My own Gumtree ad attracted interest from a broad spectrum of people with notably more DSS enquiries. I also had numerous high street agents calling despite a clear request written at the bottom of my Gumtree ad stating ‘no agents thanks.’ Scam emails were pretty obvious to spot - so I didn't bother responding to them.

On the subject of agents, if you’re looking for a property to rent, beware. A minority of agents are repeatedly advertising properties for rent that are no longer available. It must add to the frustration of people looking for accommodation to call in good faith to be told; ‘I’m sorry that one’s gone, but what are you looking for, perhaps I can help….?’ I called a couple to confront them about their ‘false shop windows’. Their mitigation was that their head office must have forgotten to take the offending ad off the system. Clearly a falsehood as many had recently added straps to the ads concerned stating ‘new price’ or ‘premium property’.

After lining up viewings from my Upad and Gumtree ads I had 7 offers from eligible tenants. It came down to who could move the swiftest as my property was available within a week. This didn’t faze Upad. They got straight onto our prospective tenants’ reference and credit checks, for which Upad charges each tenant a fee of £50. Within 3 days it was done. It certainly took the pressure off me and allowed me to focus on reworking my tenancy agreement and inventory. Upad offers landlords help with both but I opted to update my existing templates.

Would I use Upad or an online agency like it again? Yes. While I preferred the old days when it seemed everyone used Gumtree – the big attraction being it was free – I do think you get good service and value for money with Upad, and I'm sure other companies like it. Our tenants also seemed pleased with the referencing experience.

As online advertising evolves the challenge for companies like Upad, will be to maintain that all-important personal touch, when dealing with tenants and landlords.

sarahjones4397

I have a few properties so maybe in a position to offer advice. I've found their is no one ideal solution to advertising a property. The lower end properties that are suitable for DSS tenants are best advertised in the local paper/freeads or shop windows.

I've found gumtree quite a good source for tenants down in Hastings but in London I seem to attract a number of nutters. You should also continue to credit check tenants as some use the private ads as a way of circumventing these checks.

When I want to attract professional tenants I tend to advertise on Rightmove and Zoopla As someone else has quite rightly pointed out you tend to get better quality tenants using these venues. I've used Upad in the past and paid £99.00 which I found to be good value, particularly as the letting agents charge around 50% of the first months rent and then charge the tenant admin fees as well. More recently I advertised on Home Abode as they only charge £25 including VAT and again you get access to Rightmove, Zoopla etc

Make sure you do proper referencing on the tenants and that includes checking employer references and seeing some bank statements. It's fantastic if a tenant has an income of £50K verified by their employer but if £45K of that is spent on bills then you'll never know unless you look at some bank statements to see what's going out as well as in.