Important Message – Catch the Runaway Landlord!

We would like to ask our readers to help a journalist who is looking for information about a particular scam that is sometimes called ‘Let and Run’ or the ‘Runaway Landlord’. Please read the message below and contact Jenny if you or someone you know have fallen for this scam.

Hello,

I’m doing some research for a BBC Radio 5 live programme and I’m looking into private rent fraud.

This particular scam is sometimes called ‘Let and Run’ or the ‘Runaway Landlord’. It involves prospective tenants being tricked into handing over a deposit and a month’s rent to ‘fake landlords’, who pretend to own properties they may have gained access to through a variety of methods, either by taking out a short term rent themselves, or taking copies of the keys during a viewing. The ‘fake landlord’ then disappears.

I’d like to speak to anyone who has experienced this either as a tenant or a landlord, or anyone who suspects this may be occuring in their area. If you have heard any reports of ‘let and run’ scams occurring recently, have suspicions or have been affected by it yourself, please email me at jenny.wotherspoon @ bbc.co.uk or telephone 0161 244 3784.

All correspondence will initially be confidential, and I will be happy to answer any queries you might have before going further.

Thank you,

Jenny Wotherspoon
Trainee Researcher
Radio Current Affairs
BBC News
Manchester