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Staying safe & next steps

Christian Rentals is an introductions platform. We help Christians advertise and discover rooms and homes and get in touch — we are not the landlord, agent or a party to any tenancy, we don’t handle deposits or rent, and we can’t vouch for anyone. Please read this before you agree anything or part with money.

Once you’ve been accepted

When a lister accepts your application, that’s an introduction — the start of a conversation, not a binding agreement. From there, you and the lister take it forward yourselves. Do it in this order:

  1. View in person (or on a live video call) before committing to anything or sending any money.
  2. Check who you’re dealing with. Confirm the person genuinely owns the property or has the right to let or share it. Be especially careful with advertisers who are not ID-verified— they’re flagged on the listing for a reason.
  3. Put it in writing. For a new tenancy, use a proper written agreement rather than a handshake. Free tools such as OpenRent’s tenancy-agreement builder can help in England— Scotland and Wales use different agreements, with official templates linked in the nation sections below. (If you’re taking a room in someone’s own home as a lodger, you may be a lodger under a licence rather than a tenant — the paperwork and your rights differ, so check what fits your situation.)
  4. Protect the deposit. Wherever you are in the UK, a landlord taking a deposit for a private let must protect it in a government-approved scheme. Which scheme, how long they have, and how much they can ask for all differbetween England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — see below. Ask which scheme they’ll use, and expect written confirmation.
  5. Right to Rent — England only.In England, landlords must check a tenant’s right to rent, so expect to be asked for ID. There is no equivalent duty in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland — be wary of anyone outside England demanding immigration documents.

The rules differ across the UK

Renting law is devolved, so the same words don’t mean the same thing everywhere. Check the rules for the nation the property is in, not the one you live in now.

England

  • Most private lets are an assured shorthold tenancy.
  • Deposit protected within 30 days, in the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
  • Deposit capped at five weeks’ rent (annual rent under £50,000).
  • GOV.UK: deposit protection

Wales

  • Assured shorthold tenancies no longer exist in Wales. Since 1 December 2022 renters are contract-holders with an occupation contract(usually a standard contract) under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. If someone offers you an “AST” for a Welsh property, that is a sign they don’t know the current rules.
  • Deposit protected within 30 days, in the same three schemes as England.
  • Landlords must be registered — and licensed, unless they use a licensed agent — with Rent Smart Wales before they can even advertise a let. The register is public: ask for their number and check it before you pay anything.
  • Your agreement should be a written statement of the occupation contract — the Welsh Government publishes model written statements (via the GOV.WALES link below), not an England-style AST.
  • GOV.WALES: renting homes · Rent Smart Wales

Scotland

  • New private lets are a private residential tenancy — open-ended, with no fixed end date.
  • Deposit protected within 30 working days (not 30 calendar days), in SafeDeposits Scotland, Letting Protection Service Scotland or mydeposits Scotland. The English schemes do not apply.
  • Deposit capped at two months’ rent.
  • Landlords must be registered with the local council, and the Scottish Landlord Register is public— one of the best checks available anywhere in the UK. A landlord’s advert is legally required to include their registration number (or say “landlord registration pending”) — if they won’t give you one to look up, that is itself a warning sign. (Live-in landlords taking a lodger are generally outside the registration scheme.)
  • The Scottish Government publishes a free model tenancy agreement — use it rather than an England-style AST.
  • mygov.scot: deposit protection · Search the landlord register

Northern Ireland

We can’t list property in Northern Ireland yet — equality and renting law there differs from Great Britain and we’re taking advice first. You’re still welcome to use Christian Rentalsto find a home elsewhere in the UK, and this guidance is here because it’s worth knowing wherever you end up renting.

  • Deposit protected within 28 days, with written information to you within 35 days. The approved schemes are different again from Great Britain, and the list has changed recently — check the current one rather than taking a landlord’s word for it.
  • Deposit capped at one month’s rent.
  • Landlords must be registered under the NI Landlord Registration Scheme.
  • nidirect: tenancy deposit scheme

Never do these

  • Never pay a deposit, holding fee or rent before you’ve viewed the property and signed a written agreement.
  • Keep it on Christian Rentals. Be wary of anyone pushing to move to WhatsApp, email or text straight away, or pressuring you to decide fast. Scammers want you off-platform and rushed.
  • Don’t send money by bank transfer, gift card or crypto to someone you haven’t met, and never share bank details, passport scans or copies of documents up front.

Common scams to watch for

  • A room that looks too good for the price, or photos that appear on other sites (try a reverse image search).
  • A “landlord” who is conveniently abroad or can’t show you the property but wants a deposit to “hold” it.
  • Pressure to pay immediately “because there’s lots of interest”, or to secure keys before viewing.
  • Requests to pay via an unusual method, an overseas account, or a “friend” of the advertiser.
  • A deposit demand above the legal cap for that nation (see above), or vagueness about which protection scheme will hold it.

Report it

If something feels off, don’t proceed — use the Report option on the listing or profile, or email us at hello@christianrentals.org. In the UK you can also report fraud to Action Fraud.

If you believe you’ve been discriminated against in your search for housing — on any protected ground — report it to us, and you can also contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (England, Scotland and Wales) or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

This page is general information to help you stay safe — it is not legal advice, and Faithful App Ltd is not a party to, and accepts no responsibility for, any tenancy, payment or arrangement made between users. Renting law is devolved and changes: deposit schemes, time limits and caps are summarised here for convenience, but the linked official sources are the authority. Always carry out your own checks.