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Renting a house in Scotland

Having real problems trying to rent a house in Scotland. It seems that in England you pay a deposit to reserve the property, they take it off the rental market, you complete an application and then they carry out credit checks. If successful, the letting contract gets prepared and it all moves forward. Great. I'm trying to rent in Scotland and what seems to happen is that you give the estate agent all the personal details of your banking, finances, copy of passport, etc. and they wait and see how many people apply to rent the property and then decide. In the meantime more viewings are lined up and it all drags on until the landlord chooses someone suitable, which can take a while.
I'm in a position now where I've applied for houses time after time, credit checks are done, have been passed but I still can't get to rent a house! I've offered to pay 6 months rent up front, pay the deposit straight away, etc. but still no luck. This has resulted in so much wasted time and in less than three weeks I will have nowhere to live. Also every credit check is leaving a mark on my, otherwise perfect, credit rating. Plus giving all your financial details and ID is surely a bit risky if all it's doing is sitting on some estate agent's desk? It's asking to be a target for identity theft! The properties I'm looking at are around the £1000 a month mark so paying over £6k upfront surely would be enticing for a landlord?
Does anyone have any tips on how to rent a house in Scotland?! It's driving me nuts :mad:
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Comments

  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,718 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Paragraphs.

    Shelter Scotland has excellent guidance (regarding housing)

    A tenant can choose a home on such grounds as they wish.

    A Landlord/agent can choose a tenant on such grounds as they wish, as long as any discimination is legal (eg those with a better track record of paying)
  • Aced2016
    Aced2016 Posts: 293 Forumite
    Which letting agents are you approaching ? I live in up here and have rented previously as well as working for a letting agent and didn't work like that.
    It worked the first way you described. Perhaps it's just the agents your approaching. If you say what areas your looking at I could give you names of local ones in that area.
  • ellie27
    ellie27 Posts: 1,097 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thats not the way it worked when we rented less than 2 years ago.

    We found a place on rightmove that we liked, arranged to view it the next day. The following day went in and reserved it - first person in gets it.

    They took copies of ID, they asked for employer details, and carried out credit check and that was it.

    There were 6 viewers all viewing at the same time we went, and knew it was a desirable property so husband was there at 9am waiting for the agents to open to make sure it was ours.

    Simple for us.
  • comeandgo
    comeandgo Posts: 5,930 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Who are you approaching to rent and in which city. In the past when I rented, and in the not so past past when my children rented you viewed and if you liked it you said I'll take it.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It seems that in England you pay a deposit to reserve the property, they take it off the rental market, you complete an application and then they carry out credit checks. If successful, the letting contract gets prepared and it all moves forward.

    I haven't known it to happen any other way in Scotland, so I'll join the chorus of those confused by your experiences. I would have said the normal procedure was just to rent to the first applicant who says they want to take it.

    And I wouldn't get paranoid about identity theft.
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,718 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    At least in Scotland you can check on identity of landlord (& if he is registered, and address) - see....
    https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/search
    - for free: Come on Engerland, catch up!

    Nothing to stop you contacting landlord direct (likely to p** off agent mind..)
  • glasgowdan
    glasgowdan Posts: 2,968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    We had the exact same experience as the OP and ended up renting direct from a landlord advertising on gumtree.
  • Thanks everyone for the info. The problem is I'm 350 miles away and can't get up to view a house immediately so have said to agents I would accept it on the basis of the internet description and pay a deposit to secure it. The nices houses get snapped up so quickly and there is no point in me driving 7 hours to view....and be told when I get there that it's gone. I think I'm going to rent locally in England for a while as it seems to be easier (although a lot more expensive and you pay fees that you don't have to in Scotland.)
  • Rosemary7391
    Rosemary7391 Posts: 2,879 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    When I moved from England to Scotland, I said as much to an agent who offered me multiple viewings on the same day, so we spent an afternoon walking around the neighbourhood I'd identified. This was for buying rather than renting but I'd imagine you could do something similar. Alternatively rent a room temporarily, if you're moving on your own? Little bit confused by your situation!
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I have applied to rent properties in Scotand where the process was as described by the OP, but they were the exception rather than the rule: one (over 20 years ago) I thought I'd lost but the LL decided he preferred me rather than the other applicant, and the other (3 years ago) was a property owned by a church where the applications had to be reviewed by a committee before makig a decision (I lost that one, perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned my membership of the Satanist Society :D). Every other property I rented I simply applied, had the place reserved until checks were completed, and moved in.
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