Renting from Facebook Marketplace

MrsHomeWife

Hi, I just wanted to ask if anybody has experience of renting directly from people found through Facebook Marketplace?

My daughter is currently looking to move out and has seen some really nice apartments at good prices, but some seem much lower than what's advertised on the likes of Rightmove

I know if something seems too good to be true it usually is, but thought it might just be because it's direct from a private landlord rather than through an agent?

Would love to hear from anybody who has experience of this

TIA

user1977

Full of scammers. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. Do a reverse image search and you'll find where they got the pics from.

propertyrental

LLs who advertise/manage their properties themselves don't reduce the price. Or if they do, only marginally. The market rent is the market rent and that's what a L wants.

Are these ads for tenancies for an entire property (house or flat)? Or for house/flat shares being advertised by the existing sharers? The latter are generally cheaper.

sourpuss2021

I can't imagine any legitimate landlord uses Facebook Marketplace when there is OpenRent instead.

Lots of scammers from around the world, though!

JuzaMum

I see lots of fabulous cheap flats on Facebook. Most of them allow pets and have bills included. The lister is set on holiday mode so you have to email direct to an address on the images (so Facebook can't see the address or messages). If you click on the profiles they have similar properties all over the country. 
I report as a scam each time I see one

user1977

From the ones I've seen, the pics are often a give away e.g. they might be of a property in the right area, but why are they advertising a student let using photos which are obviously somewhere set up for an AirBnB?

bunnygo

even if the property exists and is available to rent, this is a bad sign. The bad landlord/clueless tenant pairing comes up a lot on mumsnet and usually results in heads impacting desks from good landlords. Tenants have a lot of rights but need to know what they are and do some due diligence. It is all on gov.uk in big friendly letters.

youth_leader

A local letting agent here advertise on Facebook Marketplace.  I'd just left a property when I saw it on there,  I knew the people that had taken over the tenancy had signed up for a year, so it wasn't available.  

It might help your daughter to calculate the rent she can afford using this - Tenants rent affordability calculator on rentright.co.uk.  I had to move into rented when I went to auction, and hadn't realised that only 'income' is considered.

silvercar

There is a facebook group called "what a property" that has genuine properties for rent. I know people that have used it. In case there is more than one group with the same name, it has 8.5k members and its photo has a maroon background with the words, sell...buy...rent... with coloured bunting underneath. 

FreeBear

youth_leader said:

A local letting agent here advertise on Facebook Marketplace.  I'd just left a property when I saw it on there,  I knew the people that had taken over the tenancy had signed up for a year, so it wasn't available.  

It might help your daughter to calculate the rent she can afford using this - Tenants rent affordability calculator on rentright.co.uk.

Rather crude algorithm being used. It just says a third of your annual income. No consideration given for other outgoings..

london21

So due diligence rental fraud on the increase.