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

hazyjo

Tell them to contact you on your work number, say it's the local police station.

Ask for a copy of the contract to be sent there.

Zendetta

jimbog said:

But I feel you are determined to go ahead regardless and you will lose your money

Oh no, at this stage i wouldnt take it just because even if it isnt a scam he is going to make a crap landlord. 
Im really only still emailing to see how far he takes it. 
He "threated" to move onto the next tenant in his list, to which i asked would he be letting them see the property?
He also keeps saying rent is now due, but wont provide bank details?

Webxite said:
Just another Londoner adding my perspective. There's no way it's legitimate, price-wise - 

He gave a great excuse for the low price - That he lives aboard and is only asking for the exact amount he pays in mortgage, as he cant earn money in the UK without taxed implications. Small google says this could be true. So thought this was all a Win win.

robatwork

If you have worries about him instigating legal action, I would just ask for his phone number - say you have some queries and want to discuss.

I doubt you'll ever hear from him again.

(If he gives a number, call it)

artyclarty

Zendetta said:

He gave a great excuse for the low price - That he lives aboard and is only asking for the exact amount he pays in mortgage, as he cant earn money in the UK without taxed implications. Small google says this could be true. So thought this was all a Win win.

Oh, so he is likely committing mortgage fraud and tax fraud too! As he has told you this you would be complicit in his criminal activites and could be prosecuted too when he gets caught. "Paying the exact amount as the mortgage" is still classed as income and must be declared as such.

If this was legit, he would need a UK address for serving notices and as a non-resident landlord, you would have to deduct tax from your rent and pay HMRC directly.

Don't sign anything, run as fast as you can from this! If you sign a contract you are leaving yourself open to being sued for the rent for the mininum term or at least until it is rented out, plus reletting costs and legal fees. You could easily be into the realms of 5 figures if you signed for a 12 month term. If the guy is dodgy, don't count that he won't go down this route if he thinks he can get away with it.

HampshireH

artyclarty said:

Zendetta said:

He gave a great excuse for the low price - That he lives aboard and is only asking for the exact amount he pays in mortgage, as he cant earn money in the UK without taxed implications. Small google says this could be true. So thought this was all a Win win.

Oh, so he is likely committing mortgage fraud and tax fraud too! As he has told you this you would be complicit in his criminal activites and could be prosecuted too when he gets caught. "Paying the exact amount as the mortgage" is still classed as income and must be declared as such.

If this was legit, he would need a UK address for serving notices and as a non-resident landlord, you would have to deduct tax from your rent and pay HMRC directly.

Don't sign anything, run as fast as you can from this! If you sign a contract you are leaving yourself open to being sued for the rent for the mininum term or at least until it is rented out, plus reletting costs and legal fees. You could easily be into the realms of 5 figures if you signed for a 12 month term. If the guy is dodgy, don't count that he won't go down this route if he thinks he can get away with it.

OP has already signed a contract

Bad_Accountant

artyclarty said:

Zendetta said:

He gave a great excuse for the low price - That he lives aboard and is only asking for the exact amount he pays in mortgage, as he cant earn money in the UK without taxed implications. Small google says this could be true. So thought this was all a Win win.

Don't sign anything, run as fast as you can from this! If you sign a contract you are leaving yourself open to being sued for the rent for the mininum term or at least until it is rented out, plus reletting costs and legal fees. You could easily be into the realms of 5 figures if you signed for a 12 month term. If the guy is dodgy, don't count that he won't go down this route if he thinks he can get away with it.

Seeing as there is no chance this person owns the place and likely is in Russia or Indonesia or who knows where, the chances of successful legal action against the poster are exactly nil. 

To the original poster - the scammer will get “angry” and you might start getting threatening legal emails from a fake “lawyer” trying to get you to transfer funds. They’ll have a suspiciously similar writing style to the fake landlord and likely a free email address (real solicitors don’t).  Post the emails here if you’re worried, but you can safely ignore it. 

Marvel1

Zendetta said:

he is now "insulted we're wasting his time"... "we're being very rude".. Its all too odd. 

Basically upset you didn't fall for the scam.

I love wasting their time on the phone.

Lunchbox

‘We aren’t going to take the property, at least not until we’ve actually seen it’
‘ He gave a great excuse for the low price - That he lives aboard and is only asking for the exact amount he pays in mortgage, as he cant earn money in the UK without taxed implications. Small google says this could be true. So thought this was all a Win win.’

Have also just noticed that the address/street name on the Facebook advert is wrong. This is all absolutely textbook/101 scamming. It sounds like you’re still unsure and you’ve been somewhat taken in by the amazing deal, which is what they are counting on. You may even get to see the property. In London the scammers typically airbnb or view the property for a day and show several prospective ‘tenants’ around. The victims only realise it’s a scam on the day they turn up to collect the keys and the landlord has done a runner and someone else is living in the property. The excuse he gave about the low rent is also simply not true.

He may be talking about the next tenant in line, but the truth is he probably has 5-10 people currently being strung along by the scam who may or may not end up giving him money. Please don’t be one of them!

GaleSF63

Webxite said:

 I suspect the scammer would be delighted to string two sets of renters along at the same time, and that would be a further bit of evidence. 

He probably already is stringing along several sets of renters at the same time. 

Caz3121

they have a second property advertised on Facebook also
pics lifted from here https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/56367362