Letting agents beware!
This is the ultimate horror story for those in the rental business – and it happened to none other than Sam Collett, prolific writer of an award-winning property blog.
The tenant was being evicted for arrears, and Sam thought had vacated. In fact, he had pretended to be the landlord of the property – ie, Sam herself – and sub-let it.
The first Sam knew of it was when she got an email out of the blue from someone describing himself as the boyfriend of the tenant.
“My girlfriend has just taken the keys to this property from who she thought was the landlord. Talking to the neighbours, it seems he was the tenant at the time. He also took a deposit of £200.”
Sam’s reaction? “As a ruse, I have to admit to it being a blinder – live in my property, pay no rent and then sub-let it to somebody else to pay you rent.”
The agent’s reaction: was the tenant in on the scam?
And there’s a second agent’s reaction, too, to this unpleasant tale: one who posted on Sam’s blog said she came across that scam before, on a property she managed in Fulham.
To which Sam replies that she has heard the tenant is advertising “some poor other sucker’s house on Facebook”.
As we say, letting agents beware – there are scammers about.
Comments are closed.