Safety tips for Landlords using online advertising
| Landlords - 10 tips to help keep
you safe. When looking for tenants for your flat, room, house, bungalow or an accomodation share, there are risks that landlords need to consider when advertising their property online. |
| Try never to arrange a viewing when you are on your own. Arrange for at least one other person to be with you even if they just wait outside in the car - and make it clear to the viewing tenant that there is someone else around. If you really have to be on your own a good tip is to shut one bedroom door and leave a radio or tv on in there and make out that someone is in there chilling out. This is especially important for vulnerable people. |
| Understand
the LetaLife LAPS system If replying to an advert
on LetaLife to find a tenant – always remember that
the telephone numbers on the adverts are NOT the advertiser’s
own numbers. They just redirect to the advertiser’s
phone. When using the LAPS system if you don’t use
141 before dialling the advertiser will be able to find
out your number by dialling 1471. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable on the phone -
Don’t give out your own phone number to them. Use
141 if you are calling them for the first time and explain
to them why you are doing this if they ask. |
| Don’t leave people (strangers) alone in rooms or answer the phone or door while they are in
the house. They might be dishonest and things might go
missing, or you might disturb them pilfering which could
lead to a conflict situation. |
| Keep temptation out of sight. Don’t leave valuables, purses or credit statements or passports lying around. |
| Be discreet about your plans (i). Don’t discuss with prospective tenants when you may be likely to be away or alone. For instance don’t say – ‘You can’t come round to view the place again next Wednesday because I’ll be on my own.’ Say something like – ‘Wednesday – isn’t good for me – I’m going to be very busy’ |
| Be discreet about your plans(ii) Don’t tell them if the property is going to be empty – eg ‘I’ll be on holiday for the next week so I’ll let you know when I get back.’ Say something like ‘ We’re considering all the options and it will take about a week – I’ll let you know then’ |
| Don't give out the wrong signals. When advertising your accommodation be careful how you word your adverts. Don’t mention physical attractiveness and personal details – but stick to facts about the house or room otherwise you may get the wrong sort of phone calls. |
| Don't mention the children. If you are advertising a room in your home or a room in a shared accommodation don’t mention the presence of children – as you might unwittingly be placing them at risk from strangers who are more interested in the fact there are children at the accommodation thant the accommodation itself. LetaLife operators are trained to remove such references, but other advertising sites might not be so careful. |
| Use LetaLife.com Our LetaLife Advertiser Privacy Service
(the LAPS number) saves you from having to give out any
personal contact details online. This means that you can
protect yourself from nuisance or malicious calls as in
the rare occasion this may occur, we can immediately remove
the advert, cease the LAPS number and the caller will
no longer have any method of contacting you. If as encouraged
by other sites and newspapers you publish your own phone
number – you might have to go to the inconvenience
and or expense of changing your landline number or mobile
phone if you get unpleasant calls. More usually it means
that once you have found suitable tenants– the advert
can be removed and you don’t need to answer loads
of calls just to tell them that you have already let the
room. |
| Take up references if you are letting out your property yourself . There are a number of companies on the internet who will do a professional job and credit check the potential tenants for you. It costs money but it is standard practice to pass on those charges to the prospective tenant. |
| These are not comprehensive, but a selection of tips to help you when using the internet to seek a tenant for your room, house, flat or any other kind of accommodation. If you think of anything that might be important to add to this page please let us know. |
As part of our policy to promote your safety LetaLife.com: * reads
each advert before placing it online to protect our
visitors from inappropriate material |