[Satan]

Woe is house hunting in Liverpool. The only two positive responses I've gotten from house owners have been scams. Here's one of them:

Apartment looks far to good. Already seeing the pictures, I figured this was a scam. But I'm an optimist, and I'm desperate, so I figured I'd give it a try. And here's the ensuing email correspondence:

My first email was through the site, so I don't have any record of it. This is how he responded, though.

Quote

Hello,
Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can move in as soon as possible as you like,here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent : £100.00 pw(£400 per month)All bills inclusive...
Minimum Stay : 2 weeks
Type of lease : Both short and long term
Security Deposit: £ 600.00 (Refundable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet)
Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm
All bills included: its fully furnished, DG, GCH, bath/wc phone.
Fully-equipped kitchen
Vaulted ceilings
Washer/dryer in unit
Broadband internet connection in each room
Air conditioning
Fireplace/select units
modern English furniture
Car Park
pets allowed
viewing can be arranged asap..
Get back to me if you are satisfied and your present location.

PASTOR CRAIG....

Everything looks too good to be true, but not more so than on the add. The only thing was that £600 deposit, repaid after one week. And that he is a pastor. I mean, what sort of pastor has a pad like that, let alone one he doesn't use himself. But I hate to be a sceptic, so gung ho and let's set up a viewing!

Quote

Dear Mr. Smith,

I'm in Liverpool now; when can I view the place?

-Brynjar

Quote

Thanks so much for the quick response.
At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to ask some few questions from you.Can you take care of my flat as it is? How many months do you intend to rent and pay for? Do you have references? It is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view my flat without any form of confirmation of their financial ability and not keeping up to time as at when scheduled, this has brought about great losses to me. I live in the england but work with Elim pentecostal church of ireland .

Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who are residing in the city, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

Henceforth my lawyer and i have decided to carry out a simple test on financial ability to pay for my rent before coming for viewing. I would not ask you to send me money or your bank statement.At least 2 weeks rent and security deposit which is £ 600 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Western Union Money Transfer. You can make the transfer with your name as a sender and your partner,mum,dad, or friend in the UK premises as a receiver.But make sure you really know the receiver so that there will be no problem in having your money back..

Once you have done this, Scan the receipt to me and if you do not have scanner, you may write out the details on the receipt as i will send it to my lawyer to verify if it's truly genuine and available in your friend's custody, after verification, then we can proceed for the viewing and you can as well tell the receiver to pick up the money.I will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.

Kindly reply or call if you have more questions to ask. +447024031716

Regards
PASTOR CRAIG....


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Let's face it: I am a sceptic. And this is a scam. I'm wasting my time, and so is he. My final respons:

Quote

Dear Craig,

This smells like a scam for me, and I'm pulling out. If it isn't, then I truly apologize. But I also suggest that you change the way you approach this thing, as quite a few alarm bells have started to ring. If it indeed is a scam, well, then I also suggest you change up for the same reason given above. Regardless, I wish you all the best, and hope that the next person responding to your add and also your parish are more gullible than I.

This post has been edited by Satan: 06 October 2011 - 07:48 AM

[drinksinbars]

scam, as soon as someone mentions western union its a scam.

[Satan]

The other lass with the positive response did that as well. And was also conveniently out of town for the moment, but very much in a rush to get things closed down. Their suggested method for proving my seriousness was nigh on identical. I'm gonna be staying at a hostel for a loooong time...

[Aptorian]

The neighbourhood is lovingly nicknamed Little Nigeria.

[Mezla PigDog]

Bryn, you might find newspaper ads more useful - the landlord has to pay for the ad so it invites less scammers. Estate and letting agencies usually have local rental papers in their shops. Letting agencts are protection from scams as well. I assume you aren't on university business, otherwise the University Housing Office might be able to help. I usually use Right Move when I have to move house now.

Otherwise, you're in Liverpool, the whole city is occupied by criminals!

This post has been edited by Mezla PigDog: 12 January 2010 - 02:59 PM

[Satan]

I am here on University business, but not for any of the local ones which is a bit of a thing for quite a few of the landlords and student help offices. I've found a site, with an office which I've visited, that looks promising. So here's to hoping.

[Vengeance]

Total scam. A nice touch with the Paster bit though. Good luck finding a place Brynjar..

[Slow Ben]

I dont know if real estate agencies over there are the same, but over here agencies keep a list of local renters to give out if you call them.

Good luck dude!

[caladanbrood]

Why would you attempt to do anything involving money in Liverpool? Rookie mistake.




But yes, in general physical ads in papers and magazines are a much much better option than anything online. Sites like Gumtree used to be rather good, but now they've just got to the level of sifting through the crap looking for the 1% of genuine adverts so it's not really worth the trouble.

[Centzon Totochtin]

And that is why I am always hesitant renting through private rentals here. Real estate agents can be very annoying but the real estate laws here are geared towards the tenants and the agents wont break the laws for their owners otherwise they are liable, so agents it is!

I say go through agents if you can

[Cougar]

How long are you in the UK for Bryn? If you are still around in spring I might organise one of our famous meet ups and you can touch Brood. Again.

[Tsundoku]

I thought you would have been set for at least the rest of the winter in the UK rent free as all you would have to do would be construct an igloo ... ?

I mean, let's face it, you ARE from Hoth.

Good luck anyway mate. I was very lucky to get a place as good as mine as quickly as I did. Fully furnished.

With taxpayer-subsidised rent.

OK I'll stop now.

[Tiste Simeon]

Very much sounds like a scam, and that apartment looks far too nice to only be paying that much pcm... Of course it could just be that cos fo the recession the guy needs to get rid of it. I know some people in the Elim pentecostal groups of churches I wonder if I could find out if there is actually a Pastor Craig who works up there...

[Satan]

Given my response to the last mail, I doubt I'd have any chance at getting the apartment even if it wasn't a scam. So thanks, but don't let yourself be bothered by it.

@Cougar: I'm leaving after easter, so probably too early for the meet up.

[Tiste Simeon]

Spring meet up is before Easter IIRC...

[Satan]

Alright then! I'm not promising anything (I'm here working, after all), but if you set it up I might just be able to show.

[Satan]

Found a place! I really, really like it and I think I'll take it. It's right on Anfield Road (poor for my studies, but fuck it!), it's reasonably priced (from what I've seen of the market so far), the landlords seems to be really alright people, and these pictures are actually representative of what it's like. Now the only hitch is that I'm not automatically qualified for council tax exemption because I'm not a registered student at an English university. I've gotten an appointment with one of the "back room" people at the municipal building on Monday to try to convince him of my plight, but the landlords said they'd rather have an answer on the apartment tomorrow. So now I'm left with a big and brooding question: what the fuck is council tax, and how badly does it ruin a budget?

[Mezla PigDog]

I doubt it will be too much and you may be able to get an exemption but you might need paperwork from your uni. Everything you need to know about council tax It funds local services like refuse collection and stuff .... maybe local policing .... I don't know, I'm a tax monkey, I just pay it and never read the leaflets that come with the bills!

[cerveza_fiesta]

can't believe nobody posted this yet but...



Extra points for getting 2 internet memes in the same pic.

This post has been edited by cerveza_fiesta: 14 January 2010 - 05:46 PM

[caladanbrood]

You can't give yourself extra points, that's cheating.







Bryn - see the match last night then?