The Renting Wild West Revealed: How Desperate Renters Are Spy On With CCTV In Their Homes, Forced To Race Each Other And Give Up Deeply Personal Information To Secure A Home

Owen Waters knew he would have to share information about his job with potential landlords when he started looking for a new flat last August, but he never expected he would also reveal details about his love life and hobbies.

The 27-year-old was excited to move in with his girlfriend Emily after almost six years together. They started looking for a two-bedroom apartment to rent near Wimbledon, West London.

But when they started scouring real estate portals looking for apartments, it quickly became clear they were facing stiff competition. Properties were snapped up within days of being listed.

“When we went to look around an apartment we liked, the agent said he had 12 viewings the next day,” says Owen, who works for a consultancy start-up.

‘He said to us: if you want a chance to win the title, you have to be quick.

‘Our friends had written to their landlord a few months before us when they applied for a flat, and that had helped them secure it. So we rushed home and wrote a letter that evening.”

The couple made sure to include details about how they met at Loughborough University, where they worked, and what their hobbies were, including playing rugby and traveling to destinations such as Argentina, Lisbon and Madeira.

They also included a smiling photo of themselves with the application, hoping this would convince the landlord to rent the flat to them.

“We’ve even added a link to our LinkedIn profiles at the bottom,” says Owen.

‘The next day the real estate agent called me to say that the landlord really liked us as a tenant and that we had gotten the apartment.’

Owen and Emily were not asked to send a photo of themselves, but in other cases they were asked to send a photo of potential tenants.

With Britain’s rental market overheating, renters are now being asked to do everything from sending personal statements and paying a year’s rent in advance to taking part in a physical race to find a home.

Competition is fierce: there are now 15 applications for every rental property that comes onto the market, double the usual number before the pandemic.

According to property website Zoopla, tenants pay an average of £1,226 per month for a home in Britain, £350 more than five years ago.

More than half of private rental properties now cost more than £1,000 a month.

Polly Neate, director of housing and homelessness charity Shelter, says tenants are being forced to jump through ‘extreme hoops’ to find a home as the market creaks under the weight of demand.

“Renters are routinely pitted against each other as they compete for a limited supply of too-often shoddy and overpriced homes,” she says.

“Just some of the increasingly unreasonable demands from landlords include staggering upfront rent amounts, guarantors with excessive conditions, such as the need to earn 36 times the monthly rent, and the continuation of unlawful bans on tenants claiming benefits.”

Meanwhile, London estate agent Hudsons Property recommends paying six to 12 months in advance in its 2024 Guide to Renting a Home as ‘it can give you a competitive advantage over other applicants’.

In one case, a landlord asked all applicants interested in his property to join a Zoom call, before then pulling the ‘winner’ of the property’s name from a hat.

There are so few options available that tenants are even forced to accept CCTV in kitchens and other communal areas so landlords can monitor their every move.

Dr. Abi O’Connor, a researcher at think tank the New Economics Foundation, says the balance of power in the rental market has shifted in favor of landlords over the past two years.

“In one case in Liverpool, the agent said whoever got to the office first would get the property, so it was anyone who could run to it fast enough,” she says.

‘We have seen landlords pit tenants against each other. For example, by looking at their CVs and their jobs and making it clear that there is a hierarchy.’

Websites including credit reporting agency Experian now offer advice on writing a ‘hire CV’, with applicants encouraged to share details of their savings, hobbies and work history.

Tom Darling, 28, who plans and manages campaigns, had copies of his passport and pay slips ready to send to his agent as soon as he found his dream apartment near Old Street in east London in January.

But what Tom wasn’t prepared for was a request from a landlord to include a photo of himself in his application.

“I was told the landlord wanted a photo to establish a connection with the tenant,” he says.

Shocked, Tom refused and his application for the flat was unsuccessful.

“I declined to send a photo because I felt it was a way for the landlord to discriminate against applicants based on their appearance,” he said.

“The concern is that if you don’t play, your chances of getting a flat tire decrease.”

Tom says that when he applied for other rental properties, he was asked to submit biographies showing which college he graduated from.

“Landlords now feel like they have the right to vet people in a way that’s almost like a job interview,” he says.

‘It’s a complete Wild West. Anyone who has been through the process of renting in recent years knows how much bad practice there is.”

Luckily, Tom has since found a cozy two-bedroom apartment in East London that he can call home.

Tenants had hoped that a once-in-a-generation bill to reform the rental sector would increase protections for tenants by strengthening their rights and banning no-fault evictions.

However, the Tenants Reform Bill was shelved a fortnight ago when the general election was called.

There may be a glimmer of hope in the Tory manifesto’s promise to abolish capital gains tax for landlords selling their properties to tenants.

What are my rights as a landlord?

Landlords may ask applicants who want to rent out their property for an interview, photo or resume, but tenants are not legally required to provide these.

However, if tenants do not provide you with this information, you may decide not to rent your property to them.

You are not obliged to rent an apartment to a tenant if you think they will not take care of your property, do not make enough money or get a bad reference from a previous landlord.

However, if you refuse to rent a property to a tenant because they receive benefits such as Universal Credit, you may be breaking the law under the Equality Act 2010.

a.cooke@dailymail.co.uk