while jen's motel has certainly been a comfortable home for me over the last 12 months, there comes a time in every girl's life when she just wants to be able to take a shower. no seriously. i have been showering at night for the past month in order to avoid the grumblings and the queues that take place in the third floor hallway each morning. it's a bit ridiculous.
when i was looking for a flatshare last year, i used sites like moveflat.com and gumtree.com where you can find loads of people looking for a housemate. it was relatively safe because you could tell right away whether something was the real deal when you showed up at the front door (either there were people living there looking for a housemate or there weren't).
however, looking for a studio is different. there are lots of scams aka people just posting pictures of pretty apartments online and claiming they have a flat to let. there are elaborate schemes to take your deposit before you even view the flat, and then voila, there isn't actually a flat and you're out £700. i had heard about these scams but had never witnessed them myself until last week when i got the SAME strange email from two SEPARATE potential landlords:
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Thanks for your reply.I would love to meet you, get to know you and show you round the flat so that you can see what you are renting but I have had problems with time wasters who could not keep to there end of deal despite the fact that i have made the rent so low considering the economic climate.Its really time wasting because i am a very busy person and do not really have much time to waste. Please understand that i am NOT asking you to pay for what you have not seen.People have told me that they will pay upon us meeting if they are satisfied but mostly they don't have the cash at hand to pay me,everyone of them is looking for a free or cheaper flat to rent despite the fact that i have made the rent Cheap.
Can you please answer the following questions?
-Are you really serious about the renting the Flat?
-If you love the flat when you see it and interested in renting, will you make the payment to hold it against your move in or would you like to move in the same day?
Kindly get back to me about an idea on what we can do so that we can arrange a meeting for viewing.
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seems normal enough (except the "move in the same day" part), if i was willing to overlook the fact that, like i said, i got this EXACT email from another dude the morning afterwards. i replied back that i was serious, etc., etc. (to both dudes actually) to see what would happen and i got THIS back from BOTH of them:
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I was discussing with my colleague about the idea on how i will be so sure that i will not be disappointed and to avoid time wasters.She advised that we can work out something via Western Union.
All i want to know is how sure are you to pay me the money if you intend to rent the Flat and just an evidence that you have the money because i need a surety that my tenant will pay me at least the first month rent and deposit.
She adviced that you can visit any Western Union outlet by sending the rent and deposit in your friend or partner's name to your name as the receiver in London Via Western Union which you would cash after viewing. The relevance of this transfer is to show that you have the agreed rent or deposit at your disposal to cash after viewing.
The transfer charges would be refunded to you when we meet at the point of viewing whether you decide to take the property or not.
After viewing, if satisfied with what you see, then we would both go to the nearest WU outlet, you will collect the money out and pay me in cash in exchange for the keys to the property and all other documents signed.
NOTE- No monies would be sent to me, it would be made between you and any of your friend.I just need the transfer as a proof that you have the money available.
I was made to understand that you can send me the WU transaction proof for confirmation on WU website so as for me to be rest assured that you have the money to pay me available at WU.
https://wumt.westernunion.com/asp/orderStatus.asp?country=global
PS:I am sorry for the lengthy mail.I only want to explain myself better.
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everything from the "i was discussing with my colleague" to the "PS" was identical!!! sigh. needless to say, i didn't write back.
i then came to the conclusion that i must go with an agent to find a property and quickly learned that:
1) most properties on agency web sites have already been let
2) i am not of much value to anyone given the tiny amount my rent would be AND the fact that there are 1,000's like me looking for the exact same thing
i think i've contacted about 10 agents over the last few days, some have been helpful, some not so much. i spoke to a really lovely guy today and told him i wasn't keen to rent a studio where the bed is like, in the kitchen. he promised to email me a property later that day, which he did...and sure enough, the bed was in the kitchen.
so, we'll see what happens but i have to say i'm not too optimistic about the search. at least i'm not on a deadline like i was last year...
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