Local Landlord Facebook Scams

A year ago, there was very little activity on Facebook focused specifically on landlords and tenants - then 'Private Landlords - Portsmouth' popped up, it became very busy and then it appeared to have far more than its fair share of scammers - people pretending to be landlords who were not, offering properties that did not exist and illegally taking deposits. As a result, a whole slew of new Facebook sites for landlords locally have appeared with a range of different approaches to identifying and excluding scammers. 

Where Should I Look? 

'Private Landlords - Portsmouth' still gets a lot of traffic but that is not surprising with nearly 12,000 members  (and it is definitely debatable what proportion of that number are genuine local landlords or tenants).  The downside of this site, given its size, is the apparent low level of moderation that takes place so advice appears to be 'use with care'.

Close behind with 11,000 members is "Rooms, Flats, and houses to rent Portsmouth UK" and then comes "Portsmouth Housing, Room & Flat Share" with 7,200 members.

New groups with (so far) very active moderators include 'Portsmouth Landlords' and 'Property To Rent - Portsmouth'.

Other groups are available - so if you are looking for tenants and want to avoid advertising costs, Facebook can be a very useful resource, but as always we recommend, as always, that anyone you offer a tenancy to is fully referenced and checked, has a guarantor who is also referenced and checked, etc.

Unfortunately, there are some very poor landlords out there as well as rogue tenants - if you follow any of these pages regularly you will see the occasional story of illegal evictions, locks being changed and the like.

And of course, don't forget our own Facebook page - not used for promoting properties or finding tenants but still worth joining:  PDPLA