[Bluey]

I am curious about the success of tenants placing wanted ads on the Gumtree - did you find the cheap place of your dreams at your prefered location with all the amenities that you requested? Or did you encounter a lot of time-wasting responses from LLs, agents or scam artists?

The reason I ask is that I regularly see ads where people ask for huge properties (5 to 8 bedrooms) but routinely offer a sum of rent that works out at £60-70 per person per week which seems a bit optimistic in this day and age, especially given the scarcity of large properties.

Or they ask for zone 1 properties and offer a trifling amount (for example, £600 per calendar month including bills) whereas I'd have assumed that the average minimum is closer to £900 pcm excluding bills for that area.

Or they request 3 bedroom flats in Clapham for £800 pcm whereas my mate shells out £550 pcm just for a pokey room in a shared house there? Wanted ads for 2 bedroom flats in Nottinghill or Sloane Square for £200 per week when i've seen ads for studios there for £300 per week..

Presumably, people use the accommodation wanted section of the Gumtree because it actually unites them with exactly what they seek in terms of budget, size and location? So you've got lots of success stories for me to stop my cynicism and fulfil my curiosity? There are actually bargains out there?

(Pennant the Tenant - I already sense your response to this as you are quite pessimistic about the lack of realism you perceive from tenants but feel free to share your thoughts).

[Pennant The Tenant]

In all honesty mate tenants want "a place of there dreams" for the price of a nightmare which doesnt happen.

[Bluey]

Ah, but we don't know this for sure! Skylark was very happy with her lot.

That's why I am open-minded and invite Gumtree'ers out there to confirm that there is decently priced high standard accommodation out there and they've found it after placing an ad through the GTree.

[Pennant The Tenant]

[Bluey]

Well it's the LLs own fault for not screening out tenants that don't earn enough!

A quick check of salary details by phone or a requirement to complete a tenancy application form and return it in advance ought to provide enough basic info for the LL to decline to undertake a viewing. My mate who is a LL has a mimimum criteria for total household income and if the prospective tenants are a penny under, he just directs them to local letting agents, thus reducing the risk of timewasters by 90%.

Of course, the tenant can fib but the employer reference/credit check would show this up and the offer of a tenancy can be withdrawn before it reaches signed tenancy agreement stage.

[Pennant The Tenant]

[exstatic]

In Mentioning references - I have recently just let a property not via gumtree however, but through an Agent..

Now at the minute I live in Australia, I was in London for a few weeks to find a place, and it is the references that are getting me unstuck! I have never rented before, but I own my own property in Australia, so I can't get previous landlords to write me one.

Then with the employment reference, well I can't get that until I land back in London, and when I do.. well I was hoping to move into the house!

I had planned on getting a place through gumtree initially, and had placed a wanted ad or two, but for some reason I just couldnt trust the validity of some of the people advertising.. was purely a no-confidence type thing.. so I dont know if those properties do/dont exisit.. but it would be great if they did.

I do know of a few people that have found really well priced share accomodation through here though! If that helps you bluey.