Renting a house we havent seen from a landlord in another country

rik111

If it gor sale contact the agent and request a viewing.

Annisele

Zendetta said:

This is the bit im waiting to see. If its a UK bank account and the names match am i safe to pay? Surely if it is a scam i can get this money back through criminal action?

Nope. If the guy is using the name of the real owner, he may well also have managed to get a bank account in the name of the real owner (or that might even genuinely be his name - there's more than one "John Smith" in the world).

If this is a scam, then you can certainly *try* and get your money back. If you can find out who the scammer really is, and if you can find him to serve court papers on him, and if you can actually enforce any judgement you get on him when he's outside the UK, and if he even has any money by then to pay you - then sure, the scammer will repay you. If you're wanting the bank to repay you, then maybe - but you'd have made a payment to an account in circumstances that you knew full well were dodgy, so I wouldn't bet on that.

But none of this explains why the "landlord" can't let you view the propertly. If he can't let you into the property now, how come he's going to be able to do so once you've paid him some money?

And on the vanishingly small chance this is legit, do you want to be dealing with the tax consequences of having a non resident landlord? How are you going to deal with repairs? Save yourself a boatload of hassle and find somewhere else.

MaryNB

Annisele said:

Zendetta said:

This is the bit im waiting to see. If its a UK bank account and the names match am i safe to pay? Surely if it is a scam i can get this money back through criminal action?

Nope. If the guy is using the name of the real owner, he may well also have managed to get a bank account in the name of the real owner (or that might even genuinely be his name - there's more than one "John Smith" in the world).

If this is a scam, then you can certainly *try* and get your money back. If you can find out who the scammer really is, and if you can find him to serve court papers on him, and if you can actually enforce any judgement you get on him when he's outside the UK, and if he even has any money by then to pay you - then sure, the scammer will repay you. If you're wanting the bank to repay you, then maybe - but you'd have made a payment to an account in circumstances that you knew full well were dodgy, so I wouldn't bet on that.

But none of this explains why the "landlord" can't let you view the propertly. If he can't let you into the property now, how come he's going to be able to do so once you've paid him some money?

And on the vanishingly small chance this is legit, do you want to be dealing with the tax consequences of having a non resident landlord? How are you going to deal with repairs? Save yourself a boatload of hassle and find somewhere else.

If the scammer manages pass the name verification then your money is as good as gone. The scammer will quickly move the money to another account so it's not a case of getting your bank to try and reverse the transaction. Your bank will expect you to do due diligence on the recipient. If you authorise the payment, unless the bank does something seriously wrong (like allow it to go through if the name on the transaction is completely different to the account holder) you will be held responsible. People have a lost a lot more money through more sophisticated scams and not got a penny back because the bank deemed that they authorised the transaction. Those who did get it back had to spend a small fortune on legal fees 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41897888
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-your-money-48186086

This has all the hallmarks of a scam. Unless you get a legit letting agency to physically let you view inside the property, do not send a penny.

greatcrested

I think you knew all this before you posted your question here.

You were just hoping against hope that someone would reassure you that this was 'normal'.

Now that everyone has confirmed what you really already knew, why persist with trying to convince... us?... yourself?.... that maybe it will all be OK?

zagubov

When I ran my scamoscanner over your posts the needle went into the red danger zone immediately.
I can't get it back to zero by switching the power off.
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Slithery

Scam.

Avoid at all costs.

[Deleted User]

This whole thing sounds bonkers.  I live on the other side of the world from my rental property and the current tenant was still able to view it in person before committing to anything.

knightstyle

Opp. how about talking to the people who live next door to the house?  Plus I thought all landlords had to have an address in the UK that was not the place you are renting?

mobileron

Tell us what the address is,someone may live nearby.

[Deleted User]

mobileron said:

Tell us what the address is,someone may live nearby.

Good point!
Or at least the link to where you’ve seen it online.