Issue with tenant pretending to be a landlord

CraigM1987

Hi everyone

So I'll try to keep it brief, basically I've got a friend who was meant to be moving into a new property on Wednesday, which is rented. The "landlord" asked her to pay £450 upfront, which she did. Upon speaking to her on Thursday my friend discovered that the "landlord" is actually a tenant herself and was planning on sub-letting to my friend without telling her landlord.

When my friend found this out, she asked for her money back as the lady said she didn't want to draw up a tenancy agreement, my friend thought this was odd so decided against it and asked for the money back.

The woman is now refusing to give back her money, telling her to come round today to collect the money, then changed it to tomorrow at the last minute.

My friend went to the police tonight and told her they can't do anything about it as it's a civil matter. Does anybody know what her other options would be?

Sorry for the brief, not so brief explanation. Any help would be appreciated.

PasturesNew

Download the landlord's details for £3 from land registry - get the landlord's name.

Then phone her and say "I will get my money back from you by the end of today or I'll be going round to see Mr ... who is your landlord and telling him the scam you are up to. I will then be issuing you with paperwork to take you through the courts to retrieve my money and if I have to get a CCJ against you "out of spite" then d4mmit you can trust that is EXACTLY what I'll be doing."

mrginge

Why doesn't your friend move in?

trevormax

If your friend moved in and then stopped paying rent to this subletter, I have to wonder what they would do.

Would your friend not be a tenant with all the rights and protection a tenant has? Including not being illegally evicted by the subletter (something the police would be interested in).

PasturesNew

trevormax wrote: »

If your friend moved in and then stopped paying rent to this subletter, I have to wonder what they would do.

Would your friend not be a tenant with all the rights and protection a tenant has? Including not being illegally evicted by the subletter (something the police would be interested in).

While that looks "fun" on paper... in reality it'd be a nightmare to live through - and costly. There could be all manner of nasty fallouts and unintended consequences to face.

eddddy

CraigM1987 wrote: »

My friend went to the police tonight and told her they can't do anything about it as it's a civil matter. Does anybody know what her other options would be?

If your friend wants to persue the police route, it sounds like her complaint would be of 'Fraud by Misrepresentation'.

Fraud by false representation

(1)A person is in breach of this section if he—
..(a)dishonestly makes a false representation, and
..(b)intends, by making the representation—
....(i)to make a gain for himself or another, or
....(ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

Link: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2

The woman made a false representation - i.e. she said she was the landlord...

In order to gain £450 (or put your friend at risk of losing £450).


But this is a route to getting the woman arrested/ cautioned/ prosecuted - it's not really a route to getting the money back.

If your friend told the police her goal was to get her money back, perhaps that's why they said it was a civil matter.

However, a visit from the police might scare the woman into paying back the money.

Marktheshark

90% of police business is a civil matter, complain the police are failing to act on a deliberate breach of the fraud act.

theartfullodger

eddddy wrote: »

If your friend wants to persue the police route, it sounds like her complaint would be of 'Fraud by Misrepresentation'.



The woman made a false representation - i.e. she said she was the landlord...

In order to gain £450 (or put your friend at risk of losing £450).


But this is a route to getting the woman arrested/ cautioned/ prosecuted - it's not really a route to getting the money back.

If your friend told the police her goal was to get her money back, perhaps that's why they said it was a civil matter.

However, a visit from the police might scare the woman into paying back the money.

She would be the landlord. You don't have to own a place to be landlord.

A tenancy of less than 3 years in England does not need to be written so refusal to provide an agreement is not unlawful, albeit see one details can be demanded in writing.