I’ve found a houseshare as a lodger, to move in to in a few weeks time. The tenant whose room I will take is female, the other two tenants are male. As a female myself, I thought it would be useful to chat to current female tenant about her experience living there. I asked for my number to be passed on to her, and have been told “sorry this is not possible”. No further explanation. My intuition is telling me to walk away. That this is a red flag. I will question why this isn’t possible of course - but would like to hear from others if I am being unreasonable or if this is indeed a red flag.
Would you be the lodger of one of the male tenants? If so, you will have almost no rights and they can throw you out with little notice. This will also be an HMO property which may or may not have a licence.
@equim96 well the departing tenant may or may not have a good opinion of the landlord/agent. Or LL/agent may just be wary of breaking data protection rules.
Think it would be reasonable to ask whether you can go and meet existing tenants who’ll.be staying- after all you will be sharing a house with them good to know if you will get on, have common ideas re cleaning the communal areas, music/noise late in evening etc. Check also whether you will have lock on door to your own room, how bills work (shared? Included?)
You could always go and visit the place yourself one evening midweek and at weekend, always a good idea to see what area/road feels like re safety if not somewhere you are already familiar with.
Sorry if all v obvious
Good luck