renting without an agent

Simba-ali34

hello,

abit of a follow up question to an earlier post, does anyone know any good websites to rent without an agent? and how risky is this?

regards

Simba-ali

theartfullodger

Are you a tenant or a landlord??

Upad

Pixie5740

The OP is a tenant.

You can find properties to rent on Gumtree but that can be risky. Landlords can advertise on websites such as Rightmove but they need to use an online agent as an intermediary but the landlord does all the referencing himself/herself. If I remember who the online agents are I'll post them.

Simba-ali34

tenant, sorry i should of mentioned that

[Deleted User]

Shelter often give good advice online about housing:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/private_renting

Simba-ali34

has anyone heard of "openrent.co.uk" and is it legit? seems to look pretty good

[Deleted User]

I've used openrent as a landlord, they put an advert up on rightmove and zoopla, and offered me lowcost referencing - I had the choice to pass on £20 fee to my tenants, or to pay it myself. No other fees to tenants - so that sounds pretty good right?

Although it will look quite official to the tenant, (as far as I remember) the only checks on me were that my phone number and email address worked.

There doesn't seem to be any checklist of what a prospective tenant can ask a landlord for. If I were to rent again, I'd probably send the prospective landlord a message in advance before meeting them:

"In case we would like to agree the tenancy, I will bring proof of address and picture ID. I would appreciate if you could do the same, and also show me the gas safety certificate."

HappyMJ

Simba-ali34 wrote: »

has anyone heard of "openrent.co.uk" and is it legit? seems to look pretty good

That site for my area lists just one property...a 1 bed maisonette on what looks like an awful multi-occupancy site for the same as I am paying for my 2 bedroom flat.

Try it and if the property you find is worth it then consider it.

Looking at the previous listings they seem to have a premium equal to what you would have paid in fees divided by 12 and added to the monthly rent. i.e all properties seem overpriced by an average of £30 per month.

HouseBuyer77

You might also try and find local rental agencies and avoid the big chains. When I was renting the agency was a small local business, their fees were very reasonable (~£80 per tenant when you first moved in and that was it, we actually took a second property from the same agent and we didn't get charged again as we were already known to them) and they were pretty decent at responding to issues.

Simba-ali34

so this seems to be the risk with renting without an agent that you can be screwed over? i dont mind going through an agent i just dont like the high fees. one fee is fair enough if it carried over if you were to be delined...but to pay £250+ each time? so if you get delined on 4 you are 1000 out of pocket???

HappyMJ

Simba-ali34 wrote: »

so this seems to be the risk with renting without an agent that you can be screwed over? i dont mind going through an agent i just dont like the high fees. one fee is fair enough if it carried over if you were to be delined...but to pay £250+ each time? so if you get delined on 4 you are 1000 out of pocket???

You need to evaluate your own credit before you apply. If you have unpaid CCJ's for unpaid rent you will find it very difficult to rent for the next 6 years so you'll need to pay that first and get the CCJ marked as satisfied before applying. If you have arrears and defaults on loans and credit cards the landlord can't see them so you'll be fine. If you have got genuine payslips and an employer who can be looked up in the phone book and called for a reference you have a very good chance of success. If you have a previous (not your current) landlord who can give you a good reference that will be good but it's not required if you don't have any.

Once you've got through the pre-screening interview at the agency which is always free and you've paid the fees as long as you've been honest in your answers to the agent you will get the property.

If you tell the agent you're on benefits, smoke, have pets etc... if they don't want tenants with those attributes they won't take a fee they'll just turn you away.