Hello all, I have been/am actively looking for 1 bed fully furnished properties to rent on openrent for a while now. I recently came across a property with the price way below the market price right now and all bills included.
With the inital message, the landlord seemed friendly and shared whatsapp number for further discussion. During the discussion, the reason for letting the property for such low price was that the landlord is looking for a responsible person to take care of the property and furniture with no aim of gaining profilts.----still seems fine.
When asked for a date and time for a viewing, the landlord asks for a selfie of ID in hand for verfification because the property is apparently available for self-viewing. Meaning, landlord will share the code to take the keys from the property’s gate so I could do a viewing.
With this, after doing almost 15+ viewings so far, this is NEW. I see a lot of risks and don’t understand if this is allowed on openrent to landlords?. I tried looking for articles and help topics but can’t find anything.
In Bristol there was a spate of something similar, where a individual was renting a air bnb for a night and placing adverts and collecting the rent and deposit, the properties were immaculate and fully furnished and slightly below market rate .
Tenants were so desperate and couldn’t believe there luck they transferred the rent there and then .
UPDATE: I’ve been extremely cautious with this one and have not shared any personal information. I’ve also alerted openrent via email explaining entire matter.
In the meantime, I just received an email from openrent about that property with a banner ‘PROPERTY WARNING’ that states they found that to be a fraud and are investigating further.
I am glad to be able to think wisely and take proper action. I hope this discussion helps someone in similar situation.