Rental Scam? Please help.

akaleon

I wasn't making demands. The rules on spareroom stipulate that you MUST provide a utility bill. I wouldn't expect you to know that though.

This is at least expected considering I have been lied to about the security deposit being held in a DPS. Again,

I was only asking for an answer. But thanks for being rude.

Tigger_looks_bigger

I take in lodgers and have never used a DPS, but I also don't tell potential lodgers that I will use one when I won't. I keep a separate bank account just for the deposit and I tell potential lodgers this if they ask (most actually don't).

This could be a scam or it could just be someone renting out their spare room who is a bit disorganised. No real reason to think it's a scam yet.



I certainly wouldn't return the deposit to you if I'd been holding the room for you for weeks with the agreement that you'd move in this weekend. I'd assume you had changed your mind and weren't going to move in then wait and see whether you did and return - any lost rent for time room held for you.


Does spareroom require a utility bill? I've never sent it one

akaleon

I think the fact that he told me he was going to put it into a DPS and then didn't is the reason I was concerned. But then I also didn't realise that as a lodger he doesn't need to do that. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have taken the room had I known.

They could be renting the whole property, I'm unsure. I just rushed into it because I was desperate.

Anyway, thank you for your responses, at leas the ones who kept it civil. I will just wait until Sunday with my fingers crossed.

Comms69

akaleon wrote: »

I wasn't making demands. The rules on spareroom stipulate that you MUST provide a utility bill. I wouldn't expect you to know that though.

This is at least expected considering I have been lied to about the security deposit being held in a DPS. Again,

I was only asking for an answer. But thanks for being rude.

I was being honest; not my fault you took offence.

I’m saying: as a lodger in my home, if you start making demands ( regardless of what spare room says ) of me, I would decline your application.

need_an_answer

Why would the LL or whomever you are renting the room from actually register the deposit with an agency before you move in?

Its my understanding that in the rules of renting a LL has 30 days to register the deposit.

I've never registered a deposit as a LL before the tenant actually moved in simply because its hassle trying to get it back from the scheme if perhaps the tenant decides to not move in.I have had a set a of tenants who pulled out of moving in 2 days before they were due to sign the contract so until contracts are signed and tenant is in I see little advantage to registering a deposit.

Does that make me a bad LL in your eyes OP simply because before you are due to move in your deposit isn't registered?

Smodlet

If you want to be a tenant with all the inherent legal rights, as opposed to a lodger, rent somewhere in which the LL does not also reside. It really is as simple as that although, I imagine, more difficult to do in practice in London than in most places.

I wish you luck and hope it all works out for you and, whatever the LLs on here say, I say "better paranoid than sorry."

Would you let us know how you get on, please, akaleon?

G_M

There is a 'lodger agreement'.
A is named as the 'householder', suggesting strongly that he lives there.
You have paid the deposit to A.
You expect o be paying your rent to A.

Therefore there is nothing to suggest that A is not your landlord and you are not A's lodger.

A lodger's deposit does not need to be protected. (see link below).

A's statement that it would be protected suggests some ignorance of the law (as you yourself are displaying - no insult just a comment!). Quite likely his deposit (as a tenant) to his landlord is protected (as the law requires) and he assumed the same applied. Then when he tried to do it, he found he did not have to.

It is possible you have been scammed, but until the weekend you will not know. And it is likely you will simply be admitted as a lodger and live happily (if worriedly!) ever after!

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

akaleon

Thank you, that clears everything up for me! Really appreciate the time and effort you put into your response.

[Deleted User]

I hope you haven't been but unfortunately moving in as a lodger gives you little protection, and it has to be said, unfortunately, asking for bills. DP confirmation when it wasn't applicable etc when the person has already given you his passport to copy etc might have soured things a little bit.

Obviously you have risked a lot of money so understand your concern but I'd just wait and see what happens on Sunday.

Pixie5740

akaleon wrote: »

I wasn't making demands. The rules on spareroom stipulate that you MUST provide a utility bill. I wouldn't expect you to know that though.

This is at least expected considering I have been lied to about the security deposit being held in a DPS. Again,

I was only asking for an answer. But thanks for being rude.

If the rules of spareroom stipulate that the landlord, live-in or otherwise, must provide a utility bill then I would have wanted to see that utility bill before handing over £925.

I don't think the landlord necessarily lied to you about using DPS. His own deposit is probably registered there and he didn't realise that lodger's deposits couldn't also be registered.