Beware Of Gumtree Rental Property Scam In UK

05 Aug 2010

The new foreign nationals immigrating to the UK are warned against the ongoing property rental scam at the site www.Gumtree.com. This warning has been passed by NLA (National Landlords Association) for those searching for a rental accommodation.

The victims of this scam notified NLA about this fraud. The website of gumtree is an online classifieds site, which defrauds innocent overseas nationals by inviting applications for rental accommodations to live in the UK. An email is sent to the potential foreign nationals to submit the asked rental amount the landlord. The tenants send the amount expecting that they are sending to a valid owner. But the sad part is that after the amount is paid and when the tenants try to contact the landlord for get access to the accommodation, it is found that no contact can be established with the landlord, because a landlord doesn’t exist at all.

An additional concern is that the advertisements inviting tenants for the rental property have a NLA logo along with a imitated copy of the Tenant Check service. As soon as the issue was notified to the NLA, it has clearly advised to the immigrants in the UK seeking rental property to exercise utmost caution in order to ensure that the advertiser is indeed bonafide.

Director of Operations at the NLA, Richard Price, has said that all foreign nationals seeking UK immigration and requiring accommodation in the UK before they come here are cautioned to take the help of the university or the employer in the UK whom they will be joining. This is due to the fact that they will have requisite knowledge about the standard rules applicable in the UK along with the list of local rental agents as well as approved landlords.