Possible Fraud renting

sava8

Hey

I am not sure if I have been subject to fraud or not, I went to see a place that looked ok, so I put down a deposit, I paid half in cash (got receipt) and the other half via bank account transfer.

Now after this the landlord began to be sketchy although we had the contract sent to us, it was not sign and also I asked him to add things to it, which he said he will do, and after calling him every hour it still has not been sent, despite him saying he was working on it straight away.

So that gave me cause for concern so I looked up the home ownership details on line to find out that the house belongs to a Housing trust.

There was other things that was suspicious as well, cloths were all over the place and the locks has been changed... However he does answer the call all the time...

I am not sure if I am just been paranoid and it is genuine, but I feel there is something wrong, and I already lost around £2000.
I asked the police for advice who said its a civil matter....

I am suppose to meet the person next week in order to give him the first months rent, as I refused to do so at the start till I had the keys?

Any advice??

D_M_E

Call the housing trust and ask them if the property is up for rent - also try informing them of your suspicions if they say no.

sava8

D_M_E wrote: »

Call the housing trust and ask them if the property is up for rent - also try informing them of your suspicions if they say no.

The trust is not open till Tuesday, and plus on there website they say that they deal mainly with people on the council housing list

t0rt0ise

Tuesday is fine. Give them a call and ask if this is one of their houses and if so then tell them what's happened.

Innys1

You can't do much until Tuesday. Probably best to try not to think about it for a day or so.

sava8

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Tuesday is fine. Give them a call and ask if this is one of their houses and if so then tell them what's happened.

But that mean, I still would lose the money

Innys1 wrote: »

You can't do much until Tuesday. Probably best to try not to think about it for a day or so.

Easier to say then do....

eddddy

sava8 wrote: »

So that gave me cause for concern so I looked up the home ownership details on line to find out that the house belongs to a Housing trust.

I assume you looked at the Land Registry website.

I guess it's possible that property was only bought recently as a BTL. It can take weeks or even months for a change of ownership to show. (If the owner is a new/novice LL, that might explain their 'sketchiness'.)

sava8 wrote: »

I asked the police for advice who said its a civil matter....

If somebody has falsely told you that they own a property in order to persuade you to pay them £2000, that is fraud, which is a criminal offence.

But at this stage you don't know for sure that you have been defrauded, so I doubt the police would treat it as a crime yet.

sava8 wrote: »

But that mean, I still would lose the money

On the plus side, it sounds like you have the bank account details of the supposed LL, so hopefully the police should be able to trace them from that.

alchemist.1

When did people start paying deposits in cash? I imagine it isnt a small amount either.

sava8

eddddy wrote: »

I assume you looked at the Land Registry website.

I guess it's possible that property was only bought recently as a BTL. It can take weeks or even months for a change of ownership to show. (If the owner is a new/novice LL, that might explain their 'sketchiness'.)




If somebody has falsely told you that they own a property in order to persuade you to pay them £2000, that is fraud, which is a criminal offence.

But at this stage you don't know for sure that you have been defrauded, so I doubt the police would treat it as a crime yet.



On the plus side, it sounds like you have the bank account details of the supposed LL, so hopefully the police should be able to trace them from that.

Yes I did look at the Land registry website, it says on the file it was last updated last month, the "landlord" told us he had past renters in the house and that is why it was so messed up.

There is this website called Action Fraud, I think they might deal with it, if it is fraud. I am not sure though....
But the police said (to my understanding) as its got to do with a rental contract its a civil matter and unless I was threatened they can't do anything. Also I could legally stay there till evicted by the courts.

I hope that is the case, but then I think why would he give his account details if it was fraud? :S sounds so confusing.... I must say though he was very sketchy with giving the account details.

sava8

alchemist.1 wrote: »

When did people start paying deposits in cash? I imagine it isnt a small amount either.

£600 of the deposit was paid in cash, which I have a receipt for, the rest was via bank transfer, one bank to the other

Majestic12

sava8 wrote: »

Yes I did look at the Land registry website, it says on the file it was last updated last month, the "landlord" told us he had past renters in the house and that is why it was so messed up.

There is this website called Action Fraud, I think they might deal with it, if it is fraud. I am not sure though....
But the police said (to my understanding) as its got to do with a rental contract its a civil matter and unless I was threatened they can't do anything. Also I could legally stay there till evicted by the courts.

I hope that is the case, but then I think why would he give his account details if it was fraud? :S sounds so confusing.... I must say though he was very sketchy with giving the account details.

Be careful, renters shuld not appear in the Land Registry. It is for freeholders and leaseholders, not people renting.