Hi!
I think the site and what you do is great, but I was wondering how you vet/check the backgrounds of the landlords that use the site?
Thanks!
Hi Teresa,
Don’t worry, we’ve systems in place to ensure landlords listing with us are legitimate as well as other security measures (that we understandably can’t get into!) used to tenants are protected when using the website and Rent Now.
Our Rent Now service offers complete protection to both the tenant and the landlord, and it’s what we always suggest our users engage with. Of course, some landlords may want to set up the tenancy off-platform and this is fine also - we’re just not involved in tenancies that are created outside of Rent Now.
We’ve written up some guidance on why Rent Now is used by so many landlords and tenants here.
Any other questions, just let me know!
George
A tenant can always check with the NLA if the landlord is accredited A bad landlord is unlikely to spend the time and money on joining
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How do we check this please Colin?
Nat fiirst ask if they have a . members card. I always carry mine with me. Then ask if they have a certificate of accreditation. Which in effect means we have an online exam, have to attend the meetings and read the magazine to keep us up to date. Local councils can check accreditation, Wether you can check I am not sure, we have a meeting next week with the NLA. I will ask the question
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Thank you Colin.
So do all landlords needs to be accredited?
@OpenRent @Beth are all the landlords who use your services accredited?
Nat… no this is voluntary… There are some councils who acccredit landlords in a selective area. They may also give a discount on landlord tax … oops sorry registration
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No, we don’t require that landlords are members of the NLA, RLA, etc. Although landlords can gain a lot from these, it is not at all necessary to be a good landlord. Although as @Colin3 says, it is at least ‘a good sign’ if your landlord is a member.
We require landlords to confirm all their legal requirements and we have ways of checking landlords, but describing them in detail publicly would make it easier for these checks to be cheated, so we can’t go into tons of detail.
If you suspect anything about a landlord, you can easily report them by clicking the ‘report listing’ button on every advert on the site and submit any evidence. Our will then look into it urgently.
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