To think this is too good to be true?

[HadMeAtCello]

Never done a poll before so soz if this is wrong.

I rent in London with two primary aged children. Rents are getting crazy and despite earning a pretty solid wage, there still seems to be nothing left after rent and bills at the end of each month!

Our two year lease is up soon and I've started looking around for a two bed flat (landlord will be raising the rent in our current three bed).

I've found a two bed flat in a nice area near the children's school. Went to see it at the weekend. It's small but generally seemed okay for a London flat. No signs of mould, had been kept in nice condition etc.

However, it's £500-£700 cheaper than all comparable properties in the area. I asked the agent why this was and they said the landlord wanted someone in the property quickly as the current tenants are moving out soon. They also mentioned the landlord would like to sell in a year.

You could market a portaloo as a studio apartment in this area and someone would probably still pay what this landlord is asking for this two bed!

Anyway, I put in an offer at asking price for a years tenancy and the agent has called to say that the landlord is considering it but it looks favourable and they'll let me know tomorrow but something in my gut is telling me there's something weird going on!

Please help! Any ideas gratefully recieved x

So I think my AIBU is - is this is too good to be true!

YABU - shut up and enjoy your good fortune. There are landlords out there who don't want to charge huge rents if their circumstances don't dictate it. You found that needle in a haystack.

YANBU - No landlord would behave like this without some serious red flags - run as fast as you can!

It could be the selling it in a year thing. Renters usually don't want to have to keep moving - do you really want to moving again in a years time?
Or is it an ex council flat. We rent one and it's cheaper than most similar ones in our area. I think our landlord probably bought it cheap under right-to-buy years ago and it's paid off and mortgage free. Our rent covers the maintenance and leasehold fees - rather than those plus mortgage payments.

Make sure the agent is reputable and you get the landlord reference number. Other than that I would approach with caution

It's haunted. Obviously.

I used to work for a council in London.
We'd regularly have to serve notice letters on families who had paid agents deposits and been paying rent on flats that were meant to be vacant (council flats, HMO sublets and other situations too).

The families were usually devastated, but there was nothing we could do.

Please check the landlord actually owns the property (land registry check for a small fee) and that the letting agent is 100% legit (some take backhand fees to fix up dodgy lets).

As previous poster said, double check the landlord is genuine. My son was almost scammed when looking for a flat. Viewed a nicely furnished flat - good rent for the area, available for a year due to the owner going abroad to work. Turned out the 'owner/prospective landlord' had rented an air bnb, arranged a number of viewings as if it were his property and took several deposits before disappearing.

But you will be moving again in a year.

and may not be so lucky next time in finding somewhere cheaper.

Hello again! Thanks for the responses.

The offer was accepted and they have asked for a holding deposit.

I took advice from PPs and searched the property on the land registry. The leasehold is owned by a LTD company - I looked them up and none of them have the name of the supposed landlord. Is this a red flag? Or easily explained? I'll try asking the agents tomorrow! But any advice much appreciated.

If something seems too good to be true then it usually is!

Are they letting through an agent? If so raise your worry with them, I don't know if this sounds right. We rent a house & we had to provide evidence that we own it, so not sure unless the land registry show's the freehold & he's the leaseholder?

RED flag yes

Ask agent to confirm all details of landlord and why it doesn't match land registry

Dodgy neighbours

Maybe some horrific crime happened there. Try googling the address.

I can't think of a good reason why they wouldn't charge a higher rent. I would assume either there are a bad neighbours or the whole thing is dodgy. My son saw an advert in Manchester and wanted to go for it - the flat was a fantastic penthouse which was renting for about 800 per month! Apparently you had to meet the landlord and make the payments but then you would realise you had been scammed. I think he just googled the name of the people and the phone numbers and the address and it all came out. He's still struggling to get over not living in that penthouse!

Did the flat looked lived in or like a n Air BnB

Sorry OP but I think this does sound too good to be true, and the fact that the name doesn't match up with anything should be taken as a warning. I can understand you'd be excited to get a deal like this sounds on the surface, but it definitely sounds dodgy to me. I think you'd be wise to keep looking, hopefully you'll find somewhere decent that you won't have to move out of in a year's time.

Speak to neighbours
google landlord name and try to find them on socials etc to see if anything dodgy

Yeah, they could be a subtenant with no rights to rent it out. I guess the agent should filter this out but maybe they're in on it. The fact that it's owned by a ltd co in itself isn't that weird, but unless the alleged landlord is listed as a director or affiliate of the company then that is strange. If the agent can't explain it very confidently and plausibly I'd be wary of it. The fact they may sell in a year doesn't fully explain that level of discount.

You could ask on the property board and people may have other ideas what to check