New Flat, Not Sure if Scam

[zeXile]

Me and my friend are looking at moving into a flat within the next few weeks.
Its the first time we have lived away from home so have no experience with it.
We found a very nice flat on gumtree and emailed the guy, but his responses seemed a bit scammy to me.

Landlord said:

Hello,
My name is Freddy Moller and I am from Denmark and the flat is still available for rent. It was redecorated last year and the flat is looking very nice and clean. The property has a fully furnished kitchen,clean and well tidy sitting rooms,laundry room,and fully furnished with home utilities like: electric shower, Lounge,Vacuum Cleaner,Toaster, Owen and microwave, dryer, iron, washing machine , refrigerator , dishwasher, power shower, heater, cable ready,TV set and DVD player, Internet connection, equipped kitchen and everything a house needs. I m interested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.
Till last month the apartment was rented by some students from Germany and now they left and the apartment is available again for rent. The price I want is £480 per month,bills included and I am intrested in a long term agreement,minimum 6 month!
If you are decided to view the flat and have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the tenancy agreement if you like my flat(I am sure you will love it) but first I have to be sure you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person from Glasgow told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to Glasgow to meet him and sign the tenancy agreement and when I arrived there no person showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing. Please accept my apologies if I am rude but I hope you will understand me!

Hello,
I will attach some pictures of the flat,floor plan and also a model of the rental contract! The flat is located on ***, West George Street, Glasgow G2 4QE but I can`t give you the exact address because there`s no one living out there and I`m afraid of thieves and I do apologize for this but I hope you understand me because I`m in Denmark right now! The property benefits from access to beautifully maintained communal gardens and comprises reception room, kitchen with washing machine/tumble dryer, master bedroom with fitted wardrobes and en suite bathroom, second bedroom with fitted wardrobe and bathroom.Parking place is included too!
In the kitchen there is a dishwasher and also a Big fridge freezer! Regarding the council tax I can tell you that it is included in the price of £480 per month and also Sky TV,internet broadband,gas and electricity are also included in this price! I request two months rent in advance plus the equivalent of one month as a refundable deposit which you will get back at the end of the contract.
Regarding the plumbings and all that kind of stuff I can tell you that the flat was recently renovated and all electrical part and plumbings are new so that won`t be necessary any repairs anyway I have a person who can manage this starting from July.
We can sign the rental contract starting from next weekend but I need to be sure that you have serious intentions in renting the flat that`s why I attach here a model of the rental contract and also we can discuss the terms when we will meet!
If you are decided to view the flat let me know because there is another person interested in reserving it!
Kind regards

tl;dr He says hes from Denmark, It seems a bit cheap, he wants two months rent in advance.

How would i go about finding out if its legit, could i go to the police and ask about the address.

Any input much appreciated!

Edited by zeXile on Monday 6th June 04:20

Edited by zeXile on Monday 6th June 04:38

[dudleybloke]

it does round a bit fishy but its probably best to remove the address from your post.

[streaky]

It might be a scam, there appear to be some such characteristics in the email(s); however, it might also simply be a language issue.

Ask for sight of his Deposit Protection Certificate as evidence that he "is participating in the Tenancy Deposit Scheme set out in the Housing Act 2004 (Chapter 4, ss.212-5 and Schedule 10)". Although participation is not mandated, if it is a scam this might be enough to warn him off.

You can get more information on this and check his membership through the Dispute Service.

The general advice on here - in threads dealing with 'return of deposit' issues - seems to be to avoid any landlord who is not in the scheme.

Streaky

[VeeFour]

It's a scam....

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3...

[herewego]

I wonder why they don't teach this stuff in school. If any one you don't know asks you to send money via Western Union cease all communication.

[Mojooo]

will either take your dosh directly

or ask you for a WU code to confirm the money has been then and then go and claim it

the flat may well be a real one for rent - but not his own.

report it to gumtree.

[hornetrider]

I've heard of rent scams before - and this looks like one of them

[StottyZr]

Shouts scam to me. If he was renting out a flat and lived in Denmark wouldn't he get a local estate agent to organise all this for a fee? This would solve his "travelling from Denmark" problems and save him a lot of money. Logically his business plan doesn't make sense.

[TheBear]

£480 a month. Including council tax, sky, internet, gas, electricity. Fully kitted out, in the middle of Glasgow. That's before considering the rest of the bulls**t

If it seems to good to be true...

[zeXile]

Ok thanks guys, will definatly avoid this flat and let gumtree know

[Thom987]

If you have to ask, its usually a scam.