Here is a question to the blog clinic from Jordan who is a tenant
Me and my friend rented a flat in Liverpool, we signed a contract with a man who said he was the landlord.
We lived there for two months but one day we came back from work and found that the place had been boarded up. We could not even get to the door because there was a steel sheet over it. All our belongings were inside including computers and mobiles.
We called the person who we thought was our landlord and told him what had happened, another man who did not speak much English showed up and could not get in, he made a phone call and then left. We have not been able to contact anyone since.
We think we’ve been scammed by a bogus landlord and paid him a total of 3 months plus a deposit. Our stuff is still inside but we don’t know who to contact. At the moment we are lodging with friends.
Please can you give us some advice about getting our things and our money back?
Answer
This is an awful situation and I feel for you. It does indeed sound as if you have been scammed.
I suspect that you have little chance of getting any money back and so you should concentrate on getting your possessions.
The obvious people to contact are the police. They tend not to be very good though, I have to say, with landlord & tenant issues, and they may just tell you that it is a ‘civil matter’ and say they can’t help.
However you may as well make the report. You will probably need to do this anyway if you want to claim off your insurance, if you have insurance.
The other people to contact are the Local Authority. Tenant harassment and unlawful eviction is one of the things they are supposed to help with. See if you can find their tenancy relations officer.
You may also want to speak to the homelessness dept too, in the circumstances they may be able to help you find somewhere else to live.
You could also do a bit of detective work yourself and see if you can track down the owner of the property – the Land Registry is the best place to start.
By the way – if you can find the person who rented the property to you, you will be entitled to the return of your deposit and any rent paid in advance, and (if you take them to court) compensation for the eviction and your possessions.
However you cannot claim the rent for the two months you have lived there. As for those two months you did actually get what you paid for.
So far as your deposit is concerned, I imagine it was never protected in a scheme. However you may as well check, as it it was, you will be able to claim it back. You will find guidance on how to check here.
Avoiding the problem in the first place
All this begs the question ‘how can tenants protect themselves against this sort of thing happening?’
Ideally tenants should be able to carry out ‘landlord checks’ in the same way that landlords carry out checks against tenants. However I am not aware of any companies which provide this service.
The best way a tenant can protect himself is by only renting from reputable agents who carry the ‘SafeAgent’ logo and who belong to a professional organisation such as ARLA, RICS or NALS.
You should also check that they belong to one of the three Property Redress Schemes.
Note – You should also read the comment below from Ben Reeve Lewis who has far more experience in this than I do.
Ah now this is something I have extensive experience of. I cant tell you how many cases of this kind I’ve dealt with as a TRO.
First thing to do is find out who is responsible for maintaining the screens.
Usually there will be some form of contact details on the screens somewhere saying who the security company is. You can contact them and ask them who has commissioned their services.
Failing that then Land registry is your best bet (£4), which will tell you not only who the owner is but also the mortgage company if there is one involved.
Screens arent normally put up as a matter of course. They tend to be in place to prevent squatters or where the property itself is in danger of falling down. I’m not saying you are squatters but the company or organisation responsible for commissioning the screens may think you are.
If the repossession is by a mortgage lender or an LPA receivers in bankruptcy then a good place to go would be your local Mann Countrywide who have the contracts for a lot of mortgage lenders to deal with lock changes and manage screens.
If the owner is a social landlord then again the land registry will clarify who to go to get your possessions out.
Commonly what these criminals do (I refuse to call people like this rogues) is where they know they are about to be repossessed they advertise the property for rent to get some money in before it is taken back.
Alternatively it can be an organised scam where people identify empty properties, break in and stick them up for rent on a popular property portal who I wont name but who are known in the industry as the home of property fraudsters because they don’t vet or carry out checks.
Often they will take rent and deposit from several people on the same property who all turn up on the same day to move in.
These are very easy to identify with social housing as the property will often sit vacant for a couple of months between tenants.
Once you have tracked down the company or organisation responsible you may have a hard time with them arguing about you being able to prove the belongings are yours. Get a TRO or a decent argumentative housing adviser to contact them on your behalf.
Scams and access aside there is also the legal side of your eviction. If you have documentation and significant proof that you were the lawful tenants and the date you actually moved in, which can be weighed against the date possession was granted then the company or organisation executing the bailiff’s warrant may not have acted lawfully.
This is a big subject and this response is already way too long.
Hope this helps.
A tenant can check out a landlord, by doing a search on the Land registry website that will give the title deeds showing the owners name and maybe current address (costs about £3). If the landlord claims to have just brought the property, then ask them for the details of the solicitors they used, and after checking that the solicitors are valid, give them a ring to confirm. (It can take up to 6 months for the land registry to be updated.)
Then just ask to see the landlord’s passport before handing over any money.
I can imagine the response of some landlords upon being asked for their passport Ian. Light the blue touchpaper and retire haha
Ben and Tessa, maybe it will be worth you writing a guild to tenants on how to checkout landlords and letting agents.
its on its way Ian, and will be published later this week.
Tessa, Some more ideals,
Take a photo of the landlord and note down the car reg number. Do not pay rent by cash.
Ben,
I would not mind anyone giving me money asking to see my password and taking a copy. Maybe if the “landlord” does not seem happy at the request that is enough information it itself.
Ian I confess to being a tad shocked here. Fair play to you. Tessa is putting up a piece later this week that I wrote about tenants vetting prospective landlords, I would be interested to read your views.
I often encounter resistance from landlords at the idea of tenants vetting them and think this a bit unfair as the future of the tenant’s home is at stake if they fall foul of fraudsters.
Even myself as a TRO tenant have been caught out
Ben,
Someone checking my ID and checking I do own the property is very different from a TripAdvisor type system when past tenants can write reviews about me.
So you need to define “tenants vetting them” very well otherwise you will get lots of resistance.
Ian if a prospective tenant wanted to photograph me and my car number plate they’d be looking for somwehere else to live – there are limits!!
And it is those limits that interest me in this. We are assuming that this is a possession by a lender – doesn’t someone have to write to The Occupier first?
And let’s assume it is not a Court Order and enforcement scenario.
Presumably the original owner has no more right to exclude the scammer from the property, and vertainly not occupiers, than the scammer does the occupiers – does he?
Or can Landlord now, legal or illegal, choose which bits of TPFEA 1977 to comply with?
Industry Observer,
It is very possible that the “landlord” just broke into the properly while it was empty, then took the tenants money for the deposit and first months rent. The owner then has every right to exclude the “tenant” as they have not granted a tenancy. All they know is that some items have been damped in their property by some squatters.
Anyone can take a photo of me as I am walking along the street, so I don’t see an issue with someone taking my photo. The photo will make it a lot easier for the police to prove the case if it every comes to court.
I/O I dont think anybody is presuming it is a lender that has done this. It is just as likely to be a social landlord.
The thing is, screens are hired by the week, along with the alarms for them if requested and they aint cheap! so nobody commissions them unless it is really necessary.
I’ve never known a lender or social landlord simply install them after a lock change but I do sometimes find LPA recivers getting them in as a matter of course if they know it is going to take a long time to discharge the debts and sell the property.
However, as you rightly point out there would have been paperwork involved at some point, addressed to the owner and any other occupants if it was the lender or a social landlord.
Jordan said he lived there for 2 months before the screens went up. I reckon whoever rented it to him knew at the point that the locks would be changed, whether the landlord was the repossessed borrower or someone who knew the property was empty we’ll never know, unless Jordan finds out and tells us.
A good example of how important it is to check the landlord and ownership out before signing on the dotted line. I’ve written an article on today’s blog about how to run rudimentary checks without photographing Ian’s car haha
I won’t go into the detail of why your last post is wrong Ian – or do you just throw out the abandioned boyfriend or girlfriend who is not named as a tenant, but is an occupier – with the rights of the PFEA1977 behind them.
What a conspiracy theorist you are, LL breaking in. Do you know who shot Kennedy as well, or where Elvis is?