Can I trust Spare room website ??

RAS

Defiantely consider the university halls; many very central. You may be able to negoitiate a whole summer rental rather than day or weekly rate.

dominoman

I have rented for over 10 years using rooms and flatshares found on Gumtree. Personally I've never had any problems.

Be sensible though. Never ever pay any money in advance, until you've met the person / your housemates, and been into the house. Your gut feel will tell you if something is a scam.

Ask a few questions, check Google streetview and be nice! The other people in the house are generally normal people - not hard nosed estate agents.

Sending deposit money to a Nigerian Western Union account is a big red flag...

Locky

SuzieSue wrote: »

Someone asked a similar question a little while ago and someone else suggested that they contact the some of the London universities as they rent out their halls of residences during the summer. I also heard this on a tv programme recently (either Watchdog or Martin Lewis')

My friend has done this a few times (just for a couple of nights) and recommended it. Here's the website:

http://www.universityrooms.co.uk/

Angie_B

On Spareroom, you could check out the "rooms in existing houseshare" option. Quite often over the summer there are people who are going travelling for 2/3 months and just want to cover the rent for their room for that period until they return, which sounds ideal for your son's internship.

I have used Spareroom for both finding a room myself and for finding housemates for rooms we have had become free in our flat and would recommend it, providing you are sensible and use a bit of common sense. The vast majority of people on there are legit, particularly if they are the current housemates looking for someone to replace a moving out friend. But you won't get anywhere on there if you cannot go and view the room and meet the current housemates. If you are only in the Midlands, get the train down for a Saturday and organise plenty of viewings all on the one day.

inatdeepend

Just rung her and harrassed her, oh my god, she is totally evil! I thought I was talking to the devil himself. I think I could hear the bones in her neck cracking as her head twisted 360 degrees!

I would get some angry people together with pitchforks and torches and shout "Burn the witch!" loudly and angrily outside the property.

ruggedtoast

wanderer wrote: »

My son is doing an unpaid internship in London this summer. He is trying to find affordable student accommodation reasonably near zone 1. Plenty of houses in spare room website. But as we live in the midlands it is impossible to check them out. Estate agents dont do short term lets. any suggestions?

Finding somewhere to live in London is a nightmare at the best of times. Sight unseen lodging scams have been around since Roman times too.

Generally, finding a room in a houseshare anywhere even halfway decent involves scheduling in person interviews, going to them, and waiting anxiously by the phone to see if you were selected.

No landlord if is going to take a room off the market for you without payment, and no house share is going to agree for people to move in whom they haven't met.

Doshwaster

Sparerooms and similar websites just provide a listings service. Just like your local paper or newsagent window does Whether the room is acceptable or not really has nothing to do with them. Your find scammers and dodgy landlords everywhere.

Other sites to try:
http://www.flatshare.com/
http://uk.easyroommate.com/
http://www.gumtree.com/flatshare/uk/flat+share
https://www.housepals.co.uk/

BitterAndTwisted

The fault wasn't with Spareroom.com which is purely a listing-site, it was with you being utterly naive. Who would hand over THIRTEEN HUNDRED QUID and not insist on seeing a contract and getting the keys? Oh, that's right, it was you.

thequant

You can't blame a website for your own stupidity, a fool and their money is easily separated.

Sean27

Whilst that is true, it is actually very easy to get scammedin London. A friend and I were shown round a flat 3 times between us and then paid a £700 deposit each, we signed contracts got a receipt and then....bam....she disappeared. We did pay in cash (which was the only imprudent thing) but I've dealt with landlords in cash before and it's been fine. Plus the golden rule is don't part with any currency until you've seen the place and we did 3 times! I thought that, at the very least, this would provide us with a link to her but no avail.

Truth be told, the police have subsequently told me that the fraudsters concerned actually use layer upon layer of stolen identities, so had we bank transferred, probably would have been the same outcome: they would have taken the cash and run, leaving whoever wasn't careful enough with their sensitive data to deal with the agro. Police are, as well, also pretty inept when it comes to sophisticated crimes like this so once you part with your cash, there's scant likelihood you'll see it again if it is dodgy.

The upshot is, the only safe way is through letting agents, although they scam you the legal way with the frankly ridiculous fees they levy and you have no choice but to pay. If you do part with cash after you've seen a property, at the very least check that the landlord is registered with the NLA (national landlord's association). There are legitimate landlords who aren't registered, which is frustrating, but you're better off walking away than taking the risk: increasingly sophisticated scams are an ever-growing feature of a city full of desperate renters and are becoming increasingly sophisticated.