Just recently we’ve identified a few fraudulent previous landlord references in applications we’ve had from tenants looking to rent through us. In reality, it is very difficult for us to confirm the true identity of a private landlord without searching the land registry to determine whether they own the property or not and even when we do we can never guarantee that the reference they give us is credible.

If you’re renting and plan to continue to rent for a long time but want the flexibility to be able to move around freely and always be considered for the property we would highly recommend always renting from letting or estate agents, and good ones for that matter. A letting agent, regardless of size, is unlikely to give a good reference for a bad tenant; their reputation is at stake every time which makes their reference much more valuable to us and our clients.

Get to the front of the queue, rent through an agent.