Dangers of renting from private landlords
Firstly, let’s take a look at the dangers faced by tenants that choose to rent privately.
Private landlords aren’t regulated
Estate agents are legally required to register as a member of a professional trade body or association. What this means is that they must abide by a particular code of conduct, offering tenants piece of mind and a degree of consumer protection. However, private landlords don’t have this same legal requirement.
Landlord scams
One of the biggest dangers faced when choosing to rent from a private landlord is the risk of falling victim to a fake landlord scam.
These scams occur when a ‘landlord’ lists a non-existent property on a website such as Facebook or Gumtree and convinces a prospective tenant to pay a deposit for said non-existent property.
Lack of deposit protection
Renting from a private landlord also poses financial danger as your deposit might not have the same protection. This is because private landlords are not legally required to provide an inventory, and without an inventory it’s difficult for tenants to prove that existing damage to the property was not caused during their tenancy.
Lack of legal knowledge
Unexperienced private landlords might possess less knowledge of legal procedures and property law. This might mean that they fail to ensure legal requirements are met by themselves or yourself as the tenant.
Our advice to tenants that insist on renting through a private landlord is that you should increase your legal knowledge so you understand your rights and responsibilities. You won’t have the benefit of an estate agent’s extensive knowledge in property law and might end up having your legal rights neglected.
Contractual security
Private landlords commonly offer ‘informal agreements,’ instead of a formal contract. These informal agreements are often hard to turn down as the landlord will offer attractive terms such as lower monthly rent or a reduced deposit.
