Can I trust Spare room website ??

IslandDweller

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but just as a warning to folk out there.
We've just been scammed for £7,000 (and rising by the day) in unpaid rent on a house we let out on an assured shorthold tenancy. The tenant has vanished but we now find he's converted every room in our house to a bedroom and let them out through sparerooms. Sparerooms do zero validation on folk who place adverts - no checks that the advertiser has the right to let the property. To those who say it's like the old ad in a newsagent window - at least then the newsagent might recognise who posted the ad - with spareroom they're anonymous and can vanish without trace.
By the way - spareroom are doing nothing - nothing at all - to assist us trace this conman.

Gary_Harnwell

Hi.
I've just advertised my spare room next to Tower Bridge on this site and have been bombarded with scammers from Asia wanting me to pay for their shipping cost, how stupid do they think we are?
I've looked at lots or profiles and lots have no pictures, no nationality, no mention of what they will be doing for work or why they want to rent or how long for, one person I question got really angry when I told him he couldn't open a bank account and business loan at my address, and one girl coming from Spain won't be able to show me her passport, I'm getting a bit feed up with it all, I thought these were just common sense security questions.

aneary

I've used both Gumtree and spareroom, spareroom is far better as you have the option of choosing areas based on commuting distance, off the top of my head a monthly travel card from zone 1-2 is £120ish zone 1 is stupidly expensive so I would look at zone 2 properties. As others have said check out the halls of residence and also rooms where people are going travelling for 2-3 months.

Check the pictures if they are grainy these tend to be scam ones, do not hand over money without seeing the room and the room mates.

Only thing I would look at is requirements the last house share I was in was strictly over 30s the amount of people who applied (we had to advertise the room before passing to the LL) who were under 30 was stupidly high I do wonder if people read the advert or just look at the pictures.

NinaSwiss

IslandDweller wrote: »

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but just as a warning to folk out there.
We've just been scammed for £7,000 (and rising by the day) in unpaid rent on a house we let out on an assured shorthold tenancy. The tenant has vanished but we now find he's converted every room in our house to a bedroom and let them out through sparerooms. Sparerooms do zero validation on folk who place adverts - no checks that the advertiser has the right to let the property. To those who say it's like the old ad in a newsagent window - at least then the newsagent might recognise who posted the ad - with spareroom they're anonymous and can vanish without trace.
By the way - spareroom are doing nothing - nothing at all - to assist us trace this conman.

I can’t see how spare room is to blame here as you rented out a whole property without performing due diligence on the tenants to be? Even if you went via an estate agent, they would typically just get references from previous landlords and perform Credit checks. All for a fee.

Surely as a Landlord you read the sites terms and conditions before using it to ascertain what you are paying or not paying for?

NinaSwiss

Oops...Just notice that I responded to a very old post.

NinaSwiss

I have used spare room and Gumtree (as lodger and more recently as a Landlord) for over 10 years (since I was 20) and would recommend them. However as with most things in life you need to apply some common sense to avoid the scammers out there.

As a lodger in London I always (rooms where typically at £400-500 PCM):

• Never take up a place without viewing it
• Ask lots of questions, never decide on the spot.
• Speak to other flatmates/housemates in the house
• If I like a place I’m prepared to put down a holding fee of £50-£100(via bank transfer or cash) which forms part of my deposit (which I’m prepared to lose if I then change my mind later). However I expect to get it back if Landlord changes his/her mind.
• I only pay deposit and first month rent on move in day whilst signing agreement and getting keys

Now as a live-in landlord in London I follow the same rules above, specify the sort of tenant I’m after in my ads and always speak to him/her on the phone before arranging a viewing. This allows me to informally ask about job, reason for moving etc without making them feel like it’s the Spanish inquisition. I also ask for paperwork eg passport/ID, Employer reference and most recent payslip, Emergency contact.
I recently just got another one via Spare Room.

SuzieSue

Sorry if it's already been mentioned, but if your son will only be there during the summer then it is worth ringing around some of the universities as they rent out their student accommodation during holidays.