Sep

‘Rent-to-Rent’ agency goes quiet leaving tenant without hot water or power

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The staff of a rent-to-rent operator in Birmingham appear to have gone to ground, leaving one tenant forced to wash with a bucket in his garden after his power was cut off in an energy bills dispute.

Nick, 36, tells StokeonTrentLive that he’s living off cold and pre-prepared food and has no access to hot water. He has been paying agent Virtual Rooms £500-a-month rent – including bills – for a room in the shared house, but now can’t contact the company, which is not answering the phone or emails.

Letting agency Virtual Rooms’ website has no properties for rent and seems to be completely non-compliant, without details of fees or membership of any redress, CMP or deposit protection organisation. Neighbouring companies who shared the city-centre address had never heard of the firm.

The case is unlikely to be the last of its kind this winter – many marginal rent-to-rent operators who offer tenants ‘all inclusive’ deals will now be struggling to make any profit as energy prices soar.

Showering

In this case, the unfortunate tenant is showering in the late afternoon once a bucket of water has been warmed by the sun, and is relying on an extension lead running from a neighbour’s home to keep his fridge and fish tank filter running.

He tells the website: “It started when the energy company knocked on the door one day to check the meter. Then all of a sudden the power got switched off and we had a letter saying £12,000 was owed on the gas and more than £5,000 on the electric. We’ve had no gas or electric since. We can’t live like this anymore.”

Councillor Marcus Bernasconi (pictured) labels it the latest in a long line of examples of absentee landlords causing misery for private renters in north Edgbaston, although the doesn’t make the important distinction between the landlord and the rent-to-rent operator involved.

He adds: “Virtual Rooms has questions to answer about how it has allowed this to happen. We need to clean this sector up for good. I’d urge those appalled by this story to submit to Birmingham City Council’s consultation on additional licensing for shared housing.”

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