The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Pyxis

GDB2222 wrote: »

I am helping some family members let out a property. We have found a very nice tenant through advertising privately, so there's no agent involved.

We are going to get to the stage pretty soon where I am going to ask the tenant to send some thousands of pounds to my bank account to cover the first month's rental and deposit. This will be before she gets the keys and can move in.

If it were me sending this money, I'd be really worried. There's bags of scope for fraud here. At the very least, I'd be checking the owner's names on the Land Registry. But, I think I'd also be asking the LL for proof of ID. AFAIK, the tenant has done none of these things. Is there a list of precautions tenants should take?

That's very interesting.
You're absolutely right, of course.

Isn't there something about making the first payment a test payment of only £1 to check that the right person is getting the cash, or something?

Yes, checking the land registry to verify ownership, checking ID......these seem to be the minimum things a tenant could do to ensure they are dealing with the right person.

Maybe the first payment could also be by cheque?

michaels

GDB2222 wrote: »

I am helping some family members let out a property. We have found a very nice tenant through advertising privately, so there's no agent involved.

We are going to get to the stage pretty soon where I am going to ask the tenant to send some thousands of pounds to my bank account to cover the first month's rental and deposit. This will be before she gets the keys and can move in.

If it were me sending this money, I'd be really worried. There's bags of scope for fraud here. At the very least, I'd be checking the owner's names on the Land Registry. But, I think I'd also be asking the LL for proof of ID. AFAIK, the tenant has done none of these things. Is there a list of precautions tenants should take?

If I were the tenant I would by hoping that the amateur landlord was not handling them deposit correctly so that I could threaten them with a criminal record if they didn't give me a healthy discount on the rent.....

Pyxis

That's a point actually.

If using the Deposit Protection Scheme, which is advisable, doesn't the deposit payment have to be made direct to the Government body in question, as in a cheque given to the Landlord but made out to the DPS, to be deposited with the DPS by the landlord?

I think it was something like that when I was responsible for it.

GDB2222

It's common to pay the deposit to the landlord who has 30 days to protect it. Some schemes are deposit-based, but others are insurance.

LydiaJ

Pyxis wrote: »

Oh dear.

I do hope that was an accidental juxtaposition of facts.
(Not a 'cause and effect' iyswim).

Indeed it was. She used to hike in all the proper gear, and only change into her bikini for a moment or two at the summit to take the pics. She died fully clothed in all the right stuff, when she was injured falling down a ravine. So tragic.

Pyxis wrote: »

Btw, my cough is going on and on and on..........:(

michaels wrote: »

It doesn't even need to be cold for me, just a bit of a breeze and my ears are agony after 2 mins. Hoody goes up and if it is also cold then a hat goes on too and then the hoodie and often also the hoodie of my waterproof (tenner from sports direct but it does amazingly keep most of the rain out).

I have ears like that too.

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

So, give up, and you get helped.
Don't give up, and you're left to struggle.

Jeez.

In a nutshell...yes.

I did point out how ludicrous that was and she agreed it was but them's the rules (as ex hubby use to say) and she was stuck with them.

Edit - She did offer me a non powered chair via their service which was a bit silly bearing in mind I had purchased my own far superior chair to what they could actually give me just a year before. Why would I need two non powered chairs?

Actually make that three, I still have old faithful to use as a back up chair and despite being absolutely ancient and 2nd hand, still has more features than they would have given me....and it still wouldn't have solved the issue that I can't self propel any of the beggers which was the whole reason behind being referred to the wheelchair service!

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Several years ago I discovered Crocs, and wore them all the time, indoors and out. Then one day, I was out in them when it rained, and suddenly they became as slippery as walking on ice. It was so scary, I never wore them outside again.

You are absolutely right. On many surfaces they're utterly LETHAL. You can't take one step in them if the ground is wet. Slate's troublesome for that. I am super wary/petrified every time I've gone out in them and it's started raining! Mine aren't the branded ones, they're fakes at £4-5. You'd have expected "ah, rubber stuff... ideal", but no.

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

Is there a list of precautions tenants should take?

Not openly known/available... most precautions one could take are only discovered after you've been defrauded and your money's in Nigeria.

Then there's a backbone attitude of "do you want the place or not, you NEED to live somewhere and if you go annoying the LL they'll just let it to somebody else". There's an imbalance of power....

Finding places to rent is hard because there are so many agents, each with few that might do ... then there's all the checking etc, taking up time... and tenants are under tremendous pressure to get it sorted/assured. For a landlord, having a void is a nuisance, but they don't end up with the same "you'll have nowhere to live" fear over their heads about it...

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

You are absolutely right. On many surfaces they're utterly LETHAL. You can't take one step in them if the ground is wet. Slate's troublesome for that. I am super wary/petrified every time I've gone out in them and it's started raining! Mine aren't the branded ones, they're fakes at £4-5. You'd have expected "ah, rubber stuff... ideal", but no.

My 6 year old fake ones are falling apart. Where can I get some more for a fiver?

Pyxis

There was some very strange spam on the forum this morning.

Someone wanting to sell a load of embalming powders.

Of course, this forum is just the right place to find a buyer for embalming powders.


Perhaps they thought that MSE stood for MoneySaving Embalmers.