Does anyone rent privately?

B

Brightness

Happily on CD
OK then, a dilemma!

My son who is almost 21 is about to move into a shared house in London with some friends. He has a good job and has been given an excellent reference by his boss whom he also lived with for six months (in her spare room and purely platonically LOL).

The landlord of the property they want to share is now demanding from each of them (4 in total) a non-refundable admin fee, a months rent in advance and six months bank statements as well as references from employers etc.

OK, fair enough but they also want six months of OUR bank statements and to see our driving licences or passports as well. We think this is out of order and we want to see the contract. Would you just hand over your bank statements to someone like that?

Hubby has said that he will let them see a copy of his P45 and will sign a form to say that if son defaults on his rent then we will pay but it seems very strange that they want our bank statements....

Any thoughts? Anyone in the business? Anyone rent privately?

We've rented out two houses ourselves and have never, ever heard of this before.
 
Usually they like 1 reference and 1 months rent in advance and a deposit, I have never heard of the bank statement thing. I think your hubby has the right idea though to sign that if son defaults he will pay......!
Dont know if things have changed though.
 
Dunno about renting in London, but that seems excessive information to be looking for. To be honest, I wouldnt be handing over my bank statements, passport or driving licence to anyone except a reputable estate agency, especially not with the amount of ID fraud about right now.
 
Thanks girls. Glad it's not just us. We've tried explaining this to son but he just thinks we are being awkward.

Hubby has even said that he'll travel down to speak to landlord for him but then we are being awkward about that too. It seems that his mates parents are more than willing to hand over their documentation :O

Maybe they have more money than sense and don't care if it goes AWOL but we're a bit more careful!
 
Well I work for a company thats sh*t hot on know your customer and all that....no way on earth would we be asking for stuff like that from people who are not our customers...I can understand the landlord being cautious cos there are problems with renting, especially to younger people.

Erring on the VERY cautious side, all anyone needs to set up a bank account or apply for a loan is 3 months bank statements and photo id...even a copy of ID that they have managed to get stamped as a certified copy will suffice in some cases. Once someone has this info, they can also open unknown amounts of insurance & investment policies, and then change the addresses, with the ultimate aim to launder money through YOUR name. I would tread very very carefully cos to me its got 'dodgy' written all over it. It could be my very suspicious mind, provoked by the fact that I work in the sector that I do, but if in doubt you should check, double check and triple check, and then only hand over the info if you are 10000000% confident that its all legit.

Sorry to be such a downer on this, but you have no idea how easy it is for these people to scam innocent people....
 
Thanks again girls :)

Kazz, the thing is, I do know how easy it is to scam people and so does hubby - that's why we're so cautious. My hubs works as a security expert so sometimes we're over flipping cautious :D .

I can understand landlords being cautious about renting to youngsters too but they are all professionals with good jobs and all have excellent references. This is one of the reasons they want to share because 2 of them have already been messed about by other people they have shared with in the past.

My son's boss as I said previously, put him up for 6mths & she told me that he was the only one who paid for stuff and gave her rent without being asked! She's apparently put this in the reference too.

I really don't want them to share this house as it really does seem dodgy to me too. They have been messed about by so many agents though, been stood waiting and the agents not turned up for viewings then kept waiting for weeks and then told that the places have been let etc.

I honestly wish I could win the lottery and I'd buy them a flipping house to share :D
 
Seems a bit excessive to me to want all that. Besides if the agreement is with your son and others surely your finances are irrelevant. What if you and your husband were both retired or unemployed? Would they refuse to rent to your son despite him having a good job? I could understand the extra precautions if they were renting to a group of 17 year old students.

I think your sons friends parents are far too trusting in parting with all that information.

Hope your son gets it sorted out though.
 
Thanks Starlight,

That's exactly what I said too. Hubby works for the govt & I work for local council so we hardly want anyone poking around in our stuff. They can't have my driving licence anyway - it's with the DVLA getting points put on :rolleyes: :mad:
 
Brightness said:
Thanks again girls :)

Kazz, the thing is, I do know how easy it is to scam people and so does hubby - that's why we're so cautious. My hubs works as a security expert so sometimes we're over flipping cautious :D .

I can understand landlords being cautious about renting to youngsters too but they are all professionals with good jobs and all have excellent references. This is one of the reasons they want to share because 2 of them have already been messed about by other people they have shared with in the past.

My son's boss as I said previously, put him up for 6mths & she told me that he was the only one who paid for stuff and gave her rent without being asked! She's apparently put this in the reference too.

I really don't want them to share this house as it really does seem dodgy to me too. They have been messed about by so many agents though, been stood waiting and the agents not turned up for viewings then kept waiting for weeks and then told that the places have been let etc.

I honestly wish I could win the lottery and I'd buy them a flipping house to share :D
Click to expand...


Glad your aware of how easy it is for the fraudsters......trouble is there are far too many people that arent and it sounds like your sons friends parents could be among them! Nothing wrong with being over cautious....better safe than sorry and all that!

Me thinks they should be looking for a different place...
 
That's what we've tried to tell him Kazz but you know what kids are like - they never listen!

He's also bothered as his mates have paid the non-returnable admin fee :rolleyes:
 
oh - i don't think i would bother - too much to give out!
 
Brightness said:
That's what we've tried to tell him Kazz but you know what kids are like - they never listen!

He's also bothered as his mates have paid the non-returnable admin fee :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Ah I think its time to just put the foot down so....if he wont listen to the reasons why, just tell him there is no way your giving out the information, case closed, end of story. If you;ve tried talking to him already then theres no point wasting time telling him why again!
 
kazz said:
Ah I think its time to just put the foot down so....if he wont listen to the reasons why, just tell him there is no way your giving out the information, case closed, end of story. If you;ve tried talking to him already then theres no point wasting time telling him why again!
Click to expand...

Or I could just send him on here to look at the posts and make him realise that we aren't just being meanies!

Cheers hunny, you've made me feel much better about it all x
 
Bank statements??? NO WAY!!!!

er, identity fraud!!!!

This can't be the only house out there?? Can he not find one with more legitimate/reasonable owners?

Also, the admin fee seems ridiculous, this should already be covered in the rent. These people just sound like they're taking your son for a ride!! I'm about the same age as your son (I'm 22), and I have been renting for a couple of years now, and never needed bank statements!! They should order a credit check through a legitimate company. Even if you had to pay for this, at least it would be safer.

Also, if there will be other people in the house, make sure he has an individual contract, as I have had a landlord try to trick me into signing a group contract- which means you're liable for the rent if someone else leaves.

I hope you manage to get everything sorted! x
 
I rent privately and have never been asked for bank statements.. I'd go look for another house, sounds like the type of landlord that would at the end of the term be a complete pain in the @rse when you try to get the bond back.
 
Oooh brightness,
I think that sounds very dodgy too :eek:

Have you checked your lottery numbers? :D :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Blubell._.0422
Step4 1200kcal Hello anyone who is still here
Replies
5
Views
2K
dovydaitis
dovydaitis
Cheekypasterfield
Live, Love, Eat & Repeat
Replies
6
Views
1K
Cheekypasterfield
Cheekypasterfield
L
Low FODMAP VLCD? Is it possible?
Replies
0
Views
3K
Lowfod
L
omega_1
Day one for Omega_1 and feeling determined
Replies
6
Views
2K
tipperary
tipperary
goose
Goose's final road to goal
2
Replies
26
Views
5K
goose
goose
Back
Top