Renting and online bidding

Garfieldrocks

Hi everyone,
My daughter is coming to the end of her 3 yr Midwifery course at Uni. She's just had a bid accepted on a place to rent, via an online letting agency. We're new to this system of house-hunting (have looked at lots of MSE posts to see if this topic has been covered before).

My question is, are there any checks and balances in place for online bidding like this, as it seems it could be open to abuse by rogue landlords/letting agents? It's not an open system as there's no way of checking who/if there really are other bidders (I appreciate the need for data protection/privacy). The rent went up by nearly 10% from what was advertised. This is a lot for someone in her circumstances. Is this normal?

[Deleted User]

I've not heard of it before with a rental property. There are informal negotiations which will sometimes encourage a LL to take one tenant as opposed to another in high demand areas. I have so far only found one company that openly carries out bidding for rental properties as well as purchase properties https://www.letsbidproperty.co.uk/

This company is supposed to be pretty new.., surely they haven't taken over the rental market locally? I just wonder if there are other more traditional LA's in the area?

Its like when I was looking for a rental property, I avoided LA's with high admin charges (£600 compared to £100).

I don't think there is anything to stop bidding on rental properties or cap it. Just a case of voting with your feet. If your daughter can't afford to outbid others (which I can understand) in a high demand area, she will have to resort to traditional LA's. It does seem like an idea that is open to problems for prospective tenants.

Frannki

I have been bidding for 4 years now , my first bid is now 5th and my second bid is the 6th in the queue and it both shows “open”
Is there a chance in getting the property?

pinkteapot

Frannki wrote: »

I have been bidding for 4 years now , my first bid is now 5th and my second bid is the 6th in the queue and it both shows “open”
Is there a chance in getting the property?

You should start a new thread as you're talking about a different topic. The original post here was about an unusual method of advertising private rentals. It sounds like you're talking about council housing.

Cakeguts

Frannki wrote: »

I have been bidding for 4 years now , my first bid is now 5th and my second bid is the 6th in the queue and it both shows “open”
Is there a chance in getting the property?

It will depend on your need.

theartfullodger

A tenant is at liberty to rent from whoever they like - or not - subject to no unlawful discrimination.

Ditto a landlord is at liberty to rent to such tenant etcetc.

Lawful discrimination for landlords would be eg - over tenants ability to pay or good track record of paying in full on time & looking after their homes