Have you wondered what renting is like for overseas tenants?

Here is the story of how I became so fed up over the years, that I decided to build my own rental site.

I got my first pleasant taste of having a tormenting landlord back in 2007. I remember it clearly. At the time, I was studying for my A-levels, and it was my first year in London. I was only 17 years old and lived in the UK as an overseas student on a VISA.

Before the semester started, I travelled from back home to secure a property for my sister and I. I looked around on Gumtree and managed to find several decent looking properties. After making a few enquiries, I scheduled a viewing to go see one of them.

I met the guy that posed as an estate agent for the landlord at the property. We had a look at the flat and everything seemed nice and dandy. The agent told me that if I’d like to secure the property, I had to pay him a one-week holding deposit. This is pretty standard for London, so nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.

’…I was told — no one by that name works here…”

We then drove to “his office” to discuss some details. The office was empty (and by empty I mean a shared office space with not a soul in sight). Everything shrieked “Attention: DODGY STUFF GOING ON HERE!”… The agent asked me if I could pay in cash because their “card machine” was broken. As I was 17 years old and since it was only £350 (of my parent’s hard earned money), I complied and paid the guy. I got a hand written receipt and thought I had secured the property…

For the next 3 days, he wouldn’t return any of my phone calls. To be fair on him, it was a weekend, but I started getting anxious nonetheless. On Monday, I decided to go back to his office to find the fucker. This time, there were people in the shared office space, but I was told — “no one by that name works here.” It was like something out of a movie. “The fucker just scammed me!”, I thought. But later in the evening, he eventually called back apologising, “Sorry, it was a manic weekend, we are moving to a new office” (that explains a lot). Eventually, I secured the property, but it took a lot of nail biting and cigarettes.

Enter Buck

In the end, I would have been much better off paying £350 for a rental scam. For the next two years, I had the pleasure of being lynched on a daily basis by a landlord from hell (he probably thought the same about me). In order not to mention any names, let’s just call him Buck. And Buck was ONE CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER! He was an overseas landlord from Asia, that managed his own property. Because of the 8 hour time difference, he called me in the middle of the night, screaming out of the top of his lungs, why the rent was late. To add more happiness to the formula, the financial crisis just kicked in, and my dad’s business was up in flames, so I was late with the rent month after month.

Buck loved visiting us to see the state of his property. He visited us quite often. Like every month when he was in London. He also had a short temper (and I am not known for my zen like personality either). Once, we even had a face-to-face standoff. One of the many unusual characteristics of Buck was that he was very much a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) landlord. And by DIY, I mean, he had taken it to the extreme. The guy had done the whole renovation himself. He had done all the plastering, painting, installing a new kitchen and moving in the furniture. Hats off to him, or so I thought… On one peaceful winter night, our neighbour from above was experimenting with some DIY work himself.

“…A massive chunk of the ceiling just flew down, missing me by an inch.”

It was 2 am, and I was watching TV in the living room. Suddenly the lights started flickering. A minute later, I saw dirty yellow water dripping from our ceiling. The drops slowly turned into a full stream. “WTF is going on?”, And just as I thought that… a massive chunk of the ceiling just flew down, missing me by an inch. That close! “Great plastering job, Buck!”. For the next month, Buck would rather I move out than renovate the ceiling. And while it was really tempting, I had exams and no time to waste. No light either, I was literally burning the midnight oil. He eventually complied to fix the ceiling, but it took a lot of screaming.

I would love to think that my father turned me into the man I am today, but now I realise that Buck deserves some credit too in this arena. Way before I read any business books, he taught me a lot of practical lessons in negotiating. By age 18, I became a pro in drafting legal letters, landlord/tenant laws, and health and safety regulations. I miss Buck, though, in a very Stockholm Syndrome-y type of way, but I hope he is still alive and hasn’t suffered a heart attack from all the screaming he did.

Another happy story

Fast forward 2 years, I found myself in a similar pickle. I was starting my third year at university and this time I had secured a property online. Although I hadn’t physically viewed the place, the pictures looked very nice, and it was in a new development in the Docklands. I paid the deposit and the first months rent over the phone. The agreements were signed, and everything was ready to go. I was supposed to pick up the keys from the concierge once I arrived in London.

“…I had no place to stay, 2 heavy suitcases and was due to start my classes in 2 days…”

When I flew into Heathrow, I switched on my phone and found a lovely email from the estate agent that helped me “secure” the property:

Hi Elmar,

I just tried calling you, but you may have already switched off your phone.

The Landlord just called and confirmed he will not be able to complete on the property he is moving into for possibly another month.

The Landlord has put us both in a difficult situation.

I hope you receive this email well.

I am going through all my contacts in every agency and calling all our landlords to see if there are any alternatives.

Please call as soon as you receive.

I was furiously livid (is that even a thing?). I had no place to stay, 2 heavy suitcases and was due to start my classes in 2 days. Luckily, I had a friend who was kind enough to let me crash at his place until I found a new one. The timing couldn’t be worse because September is the busiest period in London to find a place. But this time, I got really lucky. In a matter of 2 days, I found another place in the same development for £30/week cheaper. I think I owe it to all the good karma I had accumulated over the years in dealing with Buck.

The San Francisco story

“…I had a look on Craigslist, but most of them wanted a full credit history in the US. The ones that didn’t — wanted a blow job…”

After graduating from university, I decided it was time for me to explore the world a bit. And where to better do that than San Francisco? I already had many friends in California, as I studied abroad during my second year. In a matter of two weeks, I packed my bags, gave up my place and booked tickets. The only thing left to do was to find a place to stay. I had a look on Craigslist, but most of them wanted a full credit history in the US. The ones that didn’t wanted a blow job. AirBnB wasn’t of much use either, as they were all short term rentals.

I ended up staying in a cheap hotel down in Lower Nob Hill. But they kicked me out after 4 weeks. In San Francisco, if you stay for longer than 28 days in a single dwelling, you establish tenancy rights. I took another look at Craigslist and found a flat sharing opportunity not too far away (this one didn’t ask for blowjobs). It was a nice big room in a Victorian house shared with 4 other guys. I had a great time living there and still keep in touch with all my old flatmates. You kinda have to when you all get drunk, looking for Korean Barbecue in the middle of the night.

I was just settling in and very much enjoyed the buzz from all the startups. But like all good things, this one came to an end quickly. I couldn’t extend my Visa for the US and had to get back to the UK after 3 months. And since I had given up my place in London, I was back to square one.

My deposit story

I came back to London in late January. It was freezing cold, and I had the exciting task of finding yet another property. In the meantime, I was staying at a friend’s place near Hyde Park. I found a lovely studio in Canary Wharf with a gorgeous view of the city. This one was really sexy. It was the ultimate bachelor pad (at least for the next 10 months, as in November of that year I met my now-wife-to-be). We decided to move into together a year later, so I had to give up my lovely little bachelor pad.

The agency conducted a end of tenancy check-out, and I was supposed to receive my £1700 deposit within two weeks. A few days later I received an email from the agency saying that I had an open balance of £1080 for air conditioning costs (the one I used on two occasions, as London isn’t exactly famous for heat waves). Obviously, this was ridiculous and unjustified. I knew from my neighbours who had experienced something similar, that this particular agency was famous for making money off deposits. In fact, a friend of mine who worked with them previously told me that their primary source of income was via the deposits.

“…As I found out later, the landlord was never aware of any charges, nor anything else for that matter…”

In the UK all deposits must be insured in a government-backed deposit scheme. However, the scheme this estate agency used was MyDeposits, an insurance-based scheme, which is more agent-friendly. It allows agents to earn interest on my deposit as well. No way I could get my money back from them! Apart from the laughable cooling charge, they also wanted to charge me for “missing items.” Luckily, I was witty enough to take pictures before I vacated the property, and it clearly shows the missing items on the picture. So with no end in sight, the only option that remained was to sue for my money.

Because the agency managed the property for the landlord, I was never able to communicate directly with him. In fact, in every single communication, they always implied that it was the landlord who claimed the charges. This was simply not true. As I found out later, the landlord was never aware of any charges, nor anything else for that matter. He eventually got in touch with me to clear up the issue and was, in fact, a lovely chap. I received my deposit back, but it took a lot of emailing, legal threats and 4 months.

The point is…

I am not saying I was the world’s greatest tenant. In fact, I have usually been late with paying the rent. But I have had a taste of nearly every type of rental issue you can imagine.

Have a look at my stats:

• Changed 6 apartments in 8 years time
• 3 bad experiences in total (that’s 50% of the time)
• 2 issues were related to estate agencies
• 1 deposit issue
• 2 maintenance issues
• 1 life threatening experience

Some of it was funny, and others were quite pressing. But it stroke enough of a nerve that I was sick and tired of having to go through another mind fucking process of rental issues. In 2014, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. I began work on creating the world’s greatest lettings experience that would be available to mankind (a bit optimistic). But not just for tenants… For landlords as well. I believe a lot of rental issues arise out of resentment and lack of trust. Both sides always have the feeling that one of them is going to get screwed in the end. So both revert to endless tactics of securing themselves before the screwing begins. But does it really have to be that depressing?

Here is what really burns me each time I rent a property, like a plate of hot iron on soft, innocent flesh:

• Having to go through the same dreadful process of finding a new property and filling out the same long-winded reference forms.
• Not having the peace of mind that Buck won’t reincarnate himself in another landlord’s soul.
• My deposit being spent on some strippers in Vegas while my agent is having a stag do.
• Praying the night before move-in, that the place will be clean, in working condition and most importantly ready and available (we’ve been there once haven’t we).
• Paying groundless agency fees. Come on, it doesn’t cost £300 pounds to background check me, Steve! I know it doesn’t, because I provide the shit for free!

I can only imagine landlords feeling the same sting each time they have to go through the process of finding new tenants.

• Praying they won’t have a tenant named Ricky lynching them day and night, not paying the rent, pissing around in his property with his crack-addicted friends Bobby and John-John…
• Not being able to evict Ricky, because he can take unfair advantage of the strict UK laws protecting tenants from “revenge eviction” and then being out of pocket for the next 7 months.
• Getting drilled by the government with more and more regulation, — i.e. having to perform Right to Rent checks, giving tenants a fucking booklet, securing their deposit, providing gas safety certificates, etc., etc. I swear these days you need a bloody law degree to become a landlord.
• Maintenance requests over something so ridiculous like a tiny splinter on the floor or the light bulbs that need changing. Here is an interesting idea… Grab a chair and change your own fucking lightbulbs. And in the process, use your judgement so you won’t fall. Yes, gravity is a real thing.
• Estate agents ripping them off, charging absurd amounts of fees, not paying them their rent, ignoring the law, not caring whether you as a landlord are compliant, just not giving a fuck, period.

Oh yes, the life of a landlord is HARD, my friends. And it will only get harder and harder in the future. No wonder everyone is so cautious about renting. Both sides are shit scared, and that’s when the problems arise. What this industry lacks is TRUST!

There should be a better way

Enter Rentoo and stay tuned… We are busy building the greatest rental site the world has ever seen.

Update: visit www.rentoo.co.uk to see our creation. Renting reimagined with the global citizen in mind.