Renting. advice,can i pull out

kaazza

Ok, so back on 20/02/17, my daughter found a property to rent on a facebook gossip page. It was a really good price. Pictures were not available, as viewing was recommended. we viewed. loved it, and landlady liked us, so agreed to sign contracts following evening. we initially took a cheque, for 1st month advance & deposit,which was to be made out to ladies partner (who by the way does not live there) & signed contract. She called later to ask if we could do a bank transfer instead. I did that the next day, paid in to her acc. I asked for the cheque to be returned, & it was.
She assured us she would go through an estate agent to register deposit. A week later my daughter found out this person had a very bad background, & had actually been in prison, for fraud , not with housing , but selling animals. I contacted her to ask if she had our number for deposit bond,she replied, I sent a cheque last week am awaiting confirmation.
as of last week, the deposit has still not been registered, & I know that I can take legal action concerning the deposit. But there are other things that just do not add up. The house is not in her name, but owned by her partner ( if she is still with him). the name she gave to transfer the money is not her real name.
The date agreed on the contract to move in, was today 1st April 2017, so I knew that before this day I could not pull out. So on 29th march, I asked about getting the keys, & she said Saturday morning of the said date at 9 a m , to come round.But last night, Friday 31st March, she text to say, that day is now not convenient, as she is very ill & needs an operation, so can we make it the 10th April. I have not agreed as yet to this, as I want to know if I can now say I do not want to move in, without being penalized in anyway. Please please please can someone give me advice.

Cakeguts

How do you know that the owner of the house was this lady's partner? Was the house occupied when you viewed it?

The whole thing sounds like some sort of scam to me. What makes me suspicious is the "really good price" and the convenient operation just when your daughter wants to move in. The not real name is suspicious too.

melstar11

Sorry, but I think you have been scammed. Go to the police. Don't let this person know you are suspicious.

Pixie5740

Sounds like a scam to me. The fact the move-in date was moved back when you asked for the keys reeks like yesterday's kippers.

As for the deposits they do not have to go through an estate agent. Deposits do have to be registered with a deposit scheme though and an estate agent is not needed to do that. The landlord had 30 days to register a deposit.

robatwork

You lost me at "facebook gossip page".

There are so many dodgy sellers on facebook local groups - this sounds horrendous. I would worry about how you will get your money back.

Fireflyaway

Don't go ahead. Imagine your daughter moved in only to find her rent wasn't being used to pay the mortgage or the house is not owned by who you think it is and shouldn't have even be let out at all. You might end up parting with a lot of money just to get evicted.
The woman's behaviour sounds very suspicious. Changing her name and the move in date at the last second, especially that she has fraud convictions.
I'm sorry I don't know where you stand legally as these are suspicions not concrete proof. I think I'd be tempted to take the nice approach. Apologise and say that your daughter can't move in anymore and you are really sorry etc but could you back out. Hopefully she would return the deposit. If not then maybe speak to 'shelter' they have an excellent helpline.

horseymchorseface

Sigh, alarm bells should have rung with the word 'facebook' in.


Take this as an expensive lesson, you won't get your money back I'm afraid


You need to teach your daughter some online savvy rules

kaazza

Thank you so much for replies
Firstly yes, responsibilities have to be taken on our part for being so " naïve "
Secondly, I did contact shelter last week, who were excellent with there knowledge & advice. It was them that told me, that at that point in the situation, we could not pull out !!
But as they are not open until Monday morning, I just kinda hoped, if any one knew if we can pull out now she has changed the date. I realise there is a strong possibility that the money has been lost, but hoping there are no penalties for pulling out now.
Again, thank you all so much .

Pixie5740

There was a contract saying that your daughter would get the keys 1st April. The "landlord" cannot unilaterally change the contract so if it was agreed date of entry was 1st April then the landlord needs your daughter's agreement to do this. If your daughter doesn't agree to the later date of entry then it's the landlord who has fluffed the contract and your daughter can walk away.

Cakeguts

Tell your daughter that she is never going to get a really nice house cheaply. Letting houses is a business landlords know how much rent they can get for their properties they do not let them at well under the market rent.

There are always pictures available. If there aren't any that suggests that the property doesn't belong to the person advertising it to let. The reason why there aren't any pictures is because the person who is supposed to be the landlord either can't get inside at that point or doesn't want it to be recognised.

A bank transfer means that the money can be taken out straight away. A cheque could be stopped. The money you transferred will be long gone.

Your daughter is not going to be able to move into this house because the lady who you are in contact with does not own it and is not acting on the instructions of the owners.

You need to report this to the police as your daughter is very likely not the only victim.

[Deleted User]

I suspect you have been scammed. I'm afraid a person needs to view something that is 'cheap' with a very heavy load of scepticism. There's rarely no reason why something is cheap. Yes, the facebook thing should have rung alarm bells too.

Do you have any other contact details for this person? An address? You transferred the money though your bank account directly so have a bank account number etc. This might help. Did you get a receipt, tenancy agreement etc to prove what the money was for?

This might be the only way of getting your money back (through small claims) .

You could try tracing her (there are companies that do this, but how worthwhile depends on how reliable the names and contact details you have been given are). If there are any photos on the facebook page at all, you could try right clicking and go down to 'search google for image'. This will either help you find other scams or link to a real facebook page (if the person is a scammer).