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Moving to London is as popular as ever, and with more and more people moving in, finding the right apartment isn’t getting any easier. Unfortunately, there are Scammers out there who try to take advantage of those looking for apartments from abroad! That’s why, in this blog, we will share the 15 most common scams you should be aware of when moving to London, and most importantly, how to avoid them.
1) Does the property even exist?
In a modern world of AI, fake pictures of fake houses can be put together quite easily, so the first piece of advice we give to Matutto Expats is to always see the property in person. This will not only allow you to validate that the house exists, but also check on things like the neighbourhood, the water pressure, the smell and even the quality of the mattress. All these things cannot be verified online.
When first relocating, looking for short term rentals in London through a reliable service can be incredibly useful. This approach allows you to get a feel for different neighborhoods without the long-term commitment, helping you better understand which areas suit your lifestyle and preferences before settling into a more permanent home. Additionally, opting for a short-term rental gives you enough time to handle the rental process without feeling rushed. This reduces the pressure and urgency that can often lead to falling for rental scams. With a fully furnished and equipped rental, you can transition smoothly into life in the city while taking the time to make informed decisions about your long-term housing.
2) Speak to the Estate Agent in person (or at least via video call)
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3) Never pay anything upfront!
People will often quote you an upfront charge to submit an “application” or to hold the property. They may even say it’s refundable and that it’s only to “take the property off the market”, but trust me when I say, you should never pay any fee upfront, without having seen the home and without a signed offer that goes through the real estate agency. You can Sign Up to Matutto to learn more about how holding deposits work in the UK.
4) Avoid the “failed reference” scam
If the letting Agent asks for you to pay a fee so they run the “reference checks”, please be wary if they say the fee is not reimbursable if the checks fail. Often they will fail the checks on purpose (perhaps they won’t even run them), with the clear intention of keeping your money. Legally, a landlord or agent cannot keep your holding deposit unless you have provided misleading or false information in your rental application.
5) Seeing multiple Ads for the same property
Scammers will sometimes copy information from one property and paste it in a different website with slightly adjusted details (like the contact information for example). If you find duplicates, please be wary.
6) Check the grammar!
Scammers will often have grammatical errors on communication. Nowadays though, with AI tools to correct grammar on the listings, keep a close eye on how the spelling is laid out. If it’s too polished, or too “chat-gpt” alike, you may want to think twice before proceeding.
7) Ghost Letting agencies
Sometimes scammers will act as if they work for a boutique letting agency. They will even have a legit name and logo, but do your due diligence. If they have little to no social exposure, this is a red flag. If the agency doesn’t have a positive track record out there, you may want to consider working with a different one.
8) The price is “too affordable”
Does the price look too good to be true? Well, then it probably is. London is busy, and there’s millions of people renting, which means demand is high, so there’s no reason for prices to be low. Often Expats moving to London find a listing which they think is a “prefect catch”, only for these to end up being a scam.
9) The letting agent or landlord is “pushy”
You will sometimes hear “there’s a lot of interest, you have to pay the application fee now if you want to rent this property”. Scammers will often try to instill this sense of FOMO (Fear Of Mission Out) to try to persuade you into giving them money. Don’t fall for this. There’s a lot of demand for flats in London, so there is no reason for a Landlord to chase you and convince you to act fact. They will have someone renting their flat fast, yes or yes.
10) Pictures look too “edited”, almost like 3D
The pictures of the flat/room sometimes look too good. This is because some scammers use 3D models in photoshop to build them out. If the flat looks too “polished” or too modern, it may not even exist in the first place!
11) “No background checks”
There is a certain process for renting in the UK. This includes paying deposits, doing a background check and more. Scammers will often try to shorten that process to get you to their end goal faster - which is you paying them money. If they tell you “don’t worry about reference checks”, they are probably not legit. If you’re unsure about renting alone and want a helping hand, sign up to Matutto and you can speak to an advisor about your house search.
12) The landlord refuses to meet you or show you the place
The landlord (or estate agent) has to show you the property they want to rent out. If they refuse to do this, then it’s a major red flag. We have seen instances where they send you a video of the place, but you can never really verify if it’s recorded by them. The video could be stolen! If they refuse to show you the property, they probable don’t own it.
13) No documentation necessary until after the initial fee is paid
Scammers will want to get over the fine details as fast as possible to get money out of you, so they may say it’s ok to skip some crucial documentation, to just make the process easier and fast. This is definitely not ok and you should never pay anything upfront.
14) Too much information about the landlord (unnecessarily oversharing)
Scammers will often try to overcompensate when talking about themselves - and that’s because they’re lying. If the Listing Ad has too much information about the landlord which is clearly not relevant, take a step back before engaging. In London, landlords often give very little information about themselves, in fact, more often than not prefer to stay anonymous and work with a real estate agent to take care of the rental process.
15) Going after your deposit for “repairs”, but never actually repairing it
This is not quite a pre-renting scam, but something to be aware of. Some landlords make the contract ambiguous enough so that they can claim your deposit to repair things that are damaged in the house. While this is normal, sometimes they will try to take advantage an overly charge, and claim they will repair some things they never do. Ask for receipts or challenge the deposit collection if you feel like it’s unjust.