5 Dodgy Landlord scams

Shelter has put together the top five scams which are most prevalent among dodgy landlords, so if you are a renter be sure to be on your guard against these:

1) Let and run

This is a particularly scary scam. Con-artists break into an empty property, and then attempt to rent it out as their own. They’ll convince the unsuspecting tenant to hand over a stack of cash in the deposit and initial rent payments, at which point they’ll disappear.

2) Duped into debt

This ruse is where the landlord takes huge sums of money for hidden costs (fees for a tenancy inspection for example) without the tenant’s knowledge. The dodgy landlord will then ‘forget’ to inform the tenant about this cost, putting them immediately into arrears.

3) Receipt rip-off

Here, the fraudster will ask for money to be wired from the tenant as a sign of good faith that the tenant is committed to letting the property. However, this money won’t be wired to the fraudster – it will be sent to a friend of the tenant or relative. All the scammer will ask for is a receipt of the transfer.

Sadly, that’s all they’ll need to get away with your money, and they may even be able to get their hands on your entire account.

4) No need for a deposit                                                            

Here’s an awful scam that targets not just the tenants, but their loved ones as well.

Rather than ask for a deposit, the dodgy landlord will instead request the details of guarantors. Then, when the tenancy agreement comes to an end, the guarantors are then liable for very expensive, and generally unnecessary, ‘repairs’.

 5) Unprotected deposits

Since 2007, landlords have been required to protect the deposits their tenants hand over.

Before that, there were often disputes between landlords and their tenants about whether the deposit should be returned – the landlord may claim the property was damaged, and so should keep the deposit to cover the repairs, for example, even if no repairs were actually necessary.

Now though, landlords must keep the deposit in an official protection scheme to ensure that tenants do indeed get the deposit back so long as they have kept up their end of the contract, rather than the whole thing relying on the mood of the landlord.

However, according to Shelter’s findings, many landlords are still avoiding complying with their legal requirements, and then keep hold of the deposit at the end of the tenancy for no good reason.

Igloolets are pleased to say that as a Bristol Letting Agent, we do not condone any Bristol Landlords, using sharp practices against tenants. As a Letting Agency we pride ourselves in walking away from unprofessional Landlords or unprofessional practices. We use the DPS to protect all tenant deposits, and check in and check outs are carried out by independent inventory clerks. If you would like further help, advice or support in renting a property in Bristol, feel free to call us on 0845 652 1428 or 0117 230 5056 or send us an email  at admin@igloolets.com