So on Facebook I saw a property and the landlord has messaged me. It seems odd as he is asking for first months rent up front and 500 quid. And apparently I pay first to openrent and then view and then sign contract and the landlord gets the funds. This is too good to be true isn’t it ?
What is the correct openrent details so when I get these details I want to ring openrent directly and talk to them and pay them on a genuine number
Please can anyone help
Have you viewed it? No view no pay
The Facebook property ads always look like a scam as they’re typically offered at well below market price. I would avoid and look on Openrent / Rightmove etc for more geniune property listings. A genuine landlord would never ask for rent / money before viewings.
Open rent do have a service called rent now for landlords where you pay Open rent and they pass on the funds to the landlord. But I’d recommend that you do the viewing via Open rent/Right Move, meet the landlord and then proceed via the Open rent system/software. Good luck!
What’s the £500 for?
Golden rule; Do not pay a bean without viewing first.
I’m afraid to say if you found the property via facebook marketplace, and they are asking for money up front, it’s very likely to be a scam. This is called rental advance fraud, and we’d suggest not proceeding at all, as well as reporting it to the police via Action Fraud.
If you are looking for a new property, I’m afraid there aren’t “too good to be true” properties out there - but if you start your search on OpenRent and follow our flow to process your funds from our website directly, you will be protected from scammers like this.
Get started here: Find Houses, Flats & Rooms to Rent | OpenRent Property Search
If someone sends you a link saying you are “paying first to openrent”, we’d advise not following that link and going to OpenRent directly. All your enquiries and links to their properties are visible in your dashboard.