Renting A Flat For Just Four Weeks.

StudentScrimper

Thank you all.

moromir: At the price I'm getting the apartment, there is no chance that Travel Lodge or any other such company could match it.

talc1234: I don't remember mentioning London, but I am not going to be working in London. Also, thank you, but I don't want to share a house.

dancingfairy: I have seen the flat and I have met the guy. He seems nice, but even so, I don't fell comfortable giving him all the money upfront. He only mentioned this bit a few days after I had agreed to rent from him. Prior to this, I would have paid him on a weekly basis.

Edward: I don't know what this means. Do you mean a furnished apartment?

At the moment all I can think of is if I ask him if I can pay the weekly rent amount at the beginning of each week, but he has already said that he wants all of the money upfront. I'm supposed to trust him enough to pay him all the money upfront, but he doesn't even trust me. I'm unsure at this point what he does, no idea where he works, whereas he knows where I work, so it puts me in a much more vulnerable position than him.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. However, my original question was, would there be any recourse if I did pay him money upfront and something went wrong. I'm guessing there isn't?

ari11

Gumtree are notorious for scammers. Warning bells if they require the money upfront.

Have you tried a hostel? Some are fairly modern and you can get a room to yourself.

sandsni

Unless you have the guys genuine identity verified (so you can track him down if he scarpers with your cash) plus a signed receipt of the money you've paid and a written contract saying what the money was actually for, then you would be unlikely to have much recourse if it goes wrong. Did you see any proof he actually owns (or is even a tenant of) the flat he's supposedly renting to you?

ari11

+1 for Talc on Airbnb. You can get studios or one bedders. And they have locations all over the UK (and all over the world)

goonarmy

StudentScrimper wrote: »

Thank you all.

moromir: At the price I'm getting the apartment, there is no chance that Travel Lodge or any other such company could match it.

talc1234: I don't remember mentioning London, but I am not going to be working in London. Also, thank you, but I don't want to share a house.

dancingfairy: I have seen the flat and I have met the guy. He seems nice, but even so, I don't fell comfortable giving him all the money upfront. He only mentioned this bit a few days after I had agreed to rent from him. Prior to this, I would have paid him on a weekly basis.

Edward: I don't know what this means. Do you mean a furnished apartment?

At the moment all I can think of is if I ask him if I can pay the weekly rent amount at the beginning of each week, but he has already said that he wants all of the money upfront. I'm supposed to trust him enough to pay him all the money upfront, but he doesn't even trust me. I'm unsure at this point what he does, no idea where he works, whereas he knows where I work, so it puts me in a much more vulnerable position than him.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. However, my original question was, would there be any recourse if I did pay him money upfront and something went wrong. I'm guessing there isn't?

Serviced apartments are flats that you use like hotels self catering etc. I use them when working away from home rather than long term hotels. Will you be ina city?

onlyroz

Have you considered something like a youth hostel?

debsy42

Have you actually been inside the flat and seen what's inside or did you meet the chap outside? I suggest typing flat scam into Google and have a read at some of the stories there, here's one as an example http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9937197/Landlord-jailed-over-sophisticated-Gumtree-lettings-scam.html

Debt_Free_Chick

The problem is that you will not be "renting" in the legal sense, so you will not get any of the legal protections that tenants get when they rent. That would require an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement, for which you would need to rent - and the Landlord would need to give - a minimum - term of six months.

You would effectively be a housemate or house-sitting type of arrangement and neither of those have any legal requirements.

I'd be inclined to consider it, but ONLY on the basis of "what's the worst that could wrong in only 4 weeks" ....? But you would need to be confident that you could assess that risk eg what if there's a rat infestation? Can you assess that?

What if the electrics are life-threateningly poor? Can you assess that

I guess I'm suggesting whether you are able to assess what the worst could be and whether that would be unacceptable, for only 4 weeks.

In addition, the other suggestions about being generally wary of adverts on Gumtree and the like are equally valid. But this is equally about what the law provides in your situation.

Currrently, I'm a flatmate with an agreement for the next 12 months. I'm sure I don't have the legal protection afforded to a tenant, but confident that I have a legally enforceable contract, which may be to my advantage - if (and it's a big if) - I need to resort to the Courts ;-) That's not to say that "everyone" should do what I've done, but it works for me

StudentScrimper

sandsni wrote: »

Unless you have the guys genuine identity verified (so you can track him down if he scarpers with your cash) plus a signed receipt of the money you've paid and a written contract saying what the money was actually for, then you would be unlikely to have much recourse if it goes wrong. Did you see any proof he actually owns (or is even a tenant of) the flat he's supposedly renting to you?

Haha, I thought of this exact same thing! I was thinking I bet it's not even his flat and should ask to see deeds. Alternatively, he could be subletting which again, is not ideal.

I'm going to investigate further into this. I've been put off. I think because I'm desperate I'm just brushing aside all my concerns.

StudentScrimper

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

The problem is that you will not be "renting" in the legal sense, so you will not get any of the legal protections that tenants get when they rent. That would require an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement, for which you would need to rent - and the Landlord would need to give - a minimum - term of six months.

You would effectively be a housemate or house-sitting type of arrangement and neither of those have any legal requirements.

I'd be inclined to consider it, but ONLY on the basis of "what's the worst that could wrong in only 4 weeks" ....? But you would need to be confident that you could assess that risk eg what if there's a rat infestation? Can you assess that?

What if the electrics are life-threateningly poor? Can you assess that

I guess I'm suggesting whether you are able to assess what the worst could be and whether that would be unacceptable, for only 4 weeks.

In addition, the other suggestions about being generally wary of adverts on Gumtree and the like are equally valid. But this is equally about what the law provides in your situation.

Currrently, I'm a flatmate with an agreement for the next 12 months. I'm sure I don't have the legal protection afforded to a tenant, but confident that I have a legally enforceable contract, which may be to my advantage - if (and it's a big if) - I need to resort to the Courts ;-) That's not to say that "everyone" should do what I've done, but it works for me

I've thought about what's the worst that could happen. He could run off with all my money, or if I do decide to take recourse or something he could end up at my work place!