I am considering becoming a verified tenant, more so that it will save time to have the checks ready. My next question is what is involved after you pay the small fee valid for 60 days. Will it be able to have everything ready like employment, landlord references and credit scores etc. Also what does it mean if a landlord is verified, does it mean that I can have 100% confidence that he/she owns the property and is the landlord. I am just being sceptical due to the rise in property scams and would be devasted if I lost any money. Thanks
No such thing as a ‘verified landlord’. I wouldn’t bother with ‘verified tenant’ either - it doesn’t guarantee anything any LL.is going to want to reference you properly anyway if they get to stage of wanting to take things further after a viewing.
If you put down a holding deposit be sure - if you withdraw, LL.can keep for their time/effort as you have wasted their time
If you sign a contract through Openrent then OR keeps deposit and balance of 1st months rent and security deposit till up to 10 days after move in before transferring rent to LL - to protect you/stop rogue LLs using the site then not giving you keys.
See advice on scams
Good luck