Hi everyone,
I found a property on Facebook Marketplace and messaged the person advertising the property. They told me to email the "landlord" for further details so I did. Upon emailing the landlord she told me the price of the property which included all bills (incl Council Tax UK) and said we could move in as soon as tomorrow if we wanted as she is currently living in Berlin and thinks she will be living there for the foreseeable future. She attached photos of the property including garden photos - my partner and I proceeded to drive to the property address and we didn't go inside but could see the garden was identical to the photos with the same storage shed and everything so there was nothing suspicious there. However she has said the renting process will go through Airbnb. Once we put down a deposit (through Airbnb) we will meet an Airbnb agent at the property and sign a contract, for the first 2 months the payments will be made to Airbnb and after that time, if we are still happy with the property, we will send the rent money directly through her.
I really love the property and would happily move in i'm just sceptical as i'm not familiar with Airbnb long term renting and wasn't actually aware it was a thing!
I'm asking if anyone has had a similar experience as a long term tenant through Airbnb and whether the above sounds suspicious or whether it's genuine process. If we were to give a deposit through Airbnb would we be protected? She said how we would sign a legal contract but i'm wondering who the contract will be with, does Airbnb act as a letting agent in these cases? Also, do Airbnb "agents" meet tenants at properties to give them keys etc.
She has not requested money or anything like that so it is still early stages i'm just very wary of getting scammed. If someone has rented a property through Airbnb before as a long term tenant, please can you get in touch and let me know your experience and whether your experience sounds similar to the above and the processes you had to go through etc.
Another thing i am concerned about is the fact she has said council tax is included, i was under the impression that even if you rent a property the council tax must be in your own name...
There are a lot of red flags but I don't want to miss the opportunity if it's genuine because it's a lovely property and everything she is saying could be genuine and she just wants to skip the middle man of letting agents.
Please let me know your thoughts!!
Many thanks, Maria 🙂
