Landlords are being advised to be wary of letting to a tenant named “Jerome Baker” who’s allegedly running a rent-to-rent scam in the London area.
Landlord Today warned about Baker’s company Rent Sparrow last week and has learned that Baker has at least one other victim.
Baker rented a flat in East London but went on to sub-let it to three students despite a "no subletting" clause in the AST. The students were under the impression Baker was the owner of the property.
The students were informed of the true situation and stayed in the flat for two months. Baker himself then moved in but has not paid the rent due. He appears to know that he cannot be easily evicted until he is two months in arrears.
Landlord Today attempted to contact Baker via his Rent Sparrow company but he was “unavailable” and hasn’t returned our call.
Have you been a victim of “Jerome Baker”? Let us know below.
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Comments
hi there, I would like to contact you because I had exactly the same problem like you. Me and my boyfriend we rented the double room in the same flat and we gave him the amount of 900 for the holding deposit. now we suppose to enter in the flat on saturday but jerome is disappeard and so i am scared to have lost my money. i called the police to report the fact but please text me back if you have news or something that might help us as well!!!
I am contacting you because this week end, we had some problems with Jerome Baker
My boyfriend and myself were seeking a room. We contacted one Spareroom subscriber about a room in the 30 south Block county Hall. We were received by Jerome Baker , the “landlord” of this flat. We were very interested, so we kept in touch the day after. On Friday, we meet him to give him the deposit that he asked for secure the room, it is 1080 £. He gave us an agreement of deposit.
During the afternoon, we checked in the internet and we discovered that he is a dodgy person, only a simple tenant, who manages some scams by renting illegally some room.
For this reason, we came back to the building and chat with the porter, he explains us that indeed he is only a tenant…
Thus, one Saturday, we decided to meet him with a fake reason : just to give him the first-rent money. After several explanations, he did not want to give us back our deposit and he decided to call the police. We called also the police about this fake contract.
After leaving the flat, the police arrived, we talked with the policemen. They explained to us that we must contact the agency and the Citizen advice office to bring back our money…
It is why we have informed you about this problem . We contacted the agency which managed the tenant. And also what would be the legislative procedure to follow for pressing charges against your tenant…
Thank you very much for your attention
All too often we Landlords are subject to unscrupulous tenants. Sometimes its this scam and others its damage to property and refusal to pay rent.
I find that the laws are unjustly in favor of the tenant and should be more evenly legislated. Surely there are those who can legislate more evenly and allow landlords to evict within a shorter space of time and without involving the courts. Perhaps the Council could help in being the intermediary in such cases?
The vast majority are exceptionally good landlords and the vast majority of tenants are honest and very valued customers. Lets have a local mediator in these disputes without recourse to expensive law courts.