Has anyone rented a house or flat recently?
I can't believe how things have changed since my bedsit days. In order to rent a flat, my daughter and her friend have had to provide passports, driving licences, bank details, names and addresses of referees AND guarantors. The guarantors have had to supply details of income and driving licences with photographs.

Is this usual? Strikes me that the estate agents are now nicely placed to set up in the identity theft business.

I have rented since moving down here and moved twice, yes this is the norm unfortunately.

I hate the way we all have 'rights' like the right to privacy, but in order to apply for a job or get accommodation (ie, essentials), we have to give the rights up.

tell em nowt.

or lie

Too much red tape to be able to get round it by silence or lying.

The only escape from endless demands for information is to go and live on a remote island in a wigwam, or on a raft in the Arctic or...

.......these actually aren't bad ideas......

The number of times I've dreamed about just taking my tent and a few bits and buggering off, trouble is I wouldn't be able to resist going fishing in my favourite Lake District spot and would be found in a few hours ! The wife and I have a long term plan of selling the house, buying a motor home and just moving around to places we've always wanted to go, even though we live in Darlington this wouldn't involve a horse or an ornate caravan so no comments please !

Good plan, Phil. Sounds quite doable to me.

Where i work we get calls from estate agents daily with tenants that have left the property owing hundreds in rent, or that have simply not paid so they have had to shift them.

Im afraid its all just to cover there own back as they can lose thousands from a bad tenant.

It's the way of the world these days im afraid.

Think of it this way, if your a young lad of 21/22 n your moving into a flat, your less likely to do a runner owing dosh if your mams your guarantor and she'll have to foot the bill should you do that.

I understand the need for a guarantor, yubep. But why the need for referees also? And why do referees and guarantors need to give so much personal information?

Also, the estate agents do all this intrusive information-grabbing as well as taking deposits and rent in advance. That amount probably covers the estate agent for at least three months. If someone does a runner, then the estate agent simply keeps the deposit and advance rent?

They just haven't thought it out, basically.

Maybe it is a bit OTT, but i think they are just trying to protect their investment.

The rental market is dominated by scallies who do not work and move into a property, trash it, dont pay, and then sod off to the next one when its a mess, it's not an industry i'd like to get into.

As with all things in life the decent people pay the price for the bad apples.

I'm not saying i agree with it but i can understand why they do it.

I suppose

*climbs down v. slightly from high horse*

I can see your point though, it is annoying n very laborious.

The last rental I had in the UK asked for a lot of those things, but the estate agent was pretty easy to shrug off. I basically gave them some evidence of my solvency in the form of bank statements (from the bank I'd just dumped) and said the rest was not possible cuz I'd just moved back to the country.

Try N.E.S. in Lowthian road they sometimes have properties to rent

Or.......

Halley's Comet next time it comes round, we all need to get on it next time

Oh, she's found a flat, dykey. That was the easy bit.
The problem is the agents are taking ages to get the information together, saying they've done things when they haven't, leaving crucial attachments off emails etc etc.

The system is all far, far too complicated for them to understand with their Flintstone brains.

Yes, it's all right for you. You're never there.

(Now think of a different joke, there's a good boy. )

Obviously you're very annoyed and quite rightly.

I recently rented a flat in France, and all I had to do was sign a contract and pay the gadgie. Tried by bank transfer and failed so he took my money when I got there.

I haven't told you a joke, ever, so the next one will be the first one. No wonder you're not laughing.

To make matters worse there are a lot of scallies that rent houses out as well, and employ mickey mouse letting agents to oversee things for them. Like you say not a nice sector to be involved in whatever your role is in it. Can only see it getting worse in rip off Britain though.

Well, anyway, she STILL isn't in the flat, despite paying the deposit two weeks ago and despite being told she could have the key yesterday afternoon. Is there anyone you can make a complaint to, about estate agents?

On the plus side, the landlady of the B&B where she's been staying has now offered her free accommodation until the thing gets sorted, which is mind-blowingly generous, and kind of restores your faith in human beings a bit.

is this in hartlepool grabec?

No, it's in Scotland, yubep. She's just moved there for a job.