Letting agents who conduct ‘bidding wars’ by telling prospective tenants they will have to offer to pay even more money every month than the advertised rent have been warned they will be targeted by angry tenants keen to stamp out the practice. Members of the tenants and community union Acorn have launched their latest campaign against the letting agents who routinely practice the phenomenon of ‘bidding wars’, which encourage prospective tenants to offer hundreds of pounds a month more to be the people chosen by the landlord to secure the tenancy.
The practice, which is not illegal but was banned in New Zealand early last year, has increased in frequency in Bristol in recent years because of the demand for rented property vastly outstripping the supply.
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