I am currently trying to find a property to rent in the Brighton area and am finding the experience really disheartening. For the past six months, I have been looking for a one bedroom flat for myself and my Wife. Throughout the process we have been consistently lied to by letting agents in the most callous and calculated way. Some of the lies are small- such as promising to phone us back to tell us if we have been successful in being chosen for a property we have asked for. Thus far, not one has called us back. Some of the lies are big- we were recently told the property we were just about to move into was dog friendly. It wasn't. Furthermore, the letting agent (not K&C) omitted to tell us that the landlord of the property wasn't the leaseholder, and that the leaseholder was living above the property we were about to move into and he wanted to impose a curfew on us! I spoke to the leaseholder who told us he didn't really want us to move in to the property below him and so we had to back out. As I type this I am sat amongst the boxes we had packed in a flat for which we have already given our notice on. Worse still than the lies, are the games they play. We recently viewed a property for £750 PCM. Two other people viewed it. The letting agents (King and Chasemore) capitalised on its popularity by adding a further £50 to the rental cost there and then (we know because it was changed on their website) and asking us to bid, with the property going to the highest bidder. We pulled out. It seems that landlords and letting agents are able to act unethically with absolute impunity. There's an interesting article on this point here http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/patrick-keiller-interview-london I have tried to get my MP to support reforming the rental industry, but she doesn't reply when I write to her, which is odd, because all my previous MPs have always responded when I have occasionally contacted them. It seems that Rent Control is not on the Green's agenda and so those of us who are too poor to afford to buy a property are left vulnerable to abuse. I have copied the letter I sent to Caroline Lucas at the end of this email. I appreciate that although keeping a pet is both legal, and common, that it also makes it a little harder for us to find a place. It's a personal preference: some people want children, others prefer to live alone, we happen to like animals -some people do- I work from home a lot, it's nice to have the company- but it seems that my preference, unlike many others which are protected by law, is one that it's okay for people to discriminate against. More than that, it's one which letting agents like to use against us and landlords like to take advantage of. We have been shown some extremely squalid but very expensive properties that we have been pressured to take as they make concessions for pets. One property consisted of a single room and it was £1000 PCM, but the landlord kept saying "It's pet friendly. If you take it, I'll let you get a dog". So currently, we don't know what we are going to do. We feel that our only option is to broaden our search, and so effectively, we are being forced out of Brighton. We really don't want to go-I've been here for over ten years, my Brother lives here; but the longer I spend immersed in the unscrupulous world of private lettings, the more rapidly this city by the sea is beginning to lose its lustre. Below is the email I sent to Caroline on 14102013 Hallo Caroline-
> 
> I would appreciate your thoughts on whether we ought to look at reforming the lettings industry. 
> 
> After eight years in the same property, blessed with a thoroughly decent Landlord, I am obliged to seek a new home, as I now require somewhere dog friendly with a garden (big ask in Brighton, apparently).
> I am dismayed to find myself currently obliged to interact with an industry that:
> 
> Demands proportionately high rental prices as well as 6-8 weeks
> deposit and holding fee (one one occasion a year's rent in advance)
> Is able to charge confabulated and phoney "administration" fees
> with absolute impunity
> .Consistently bullies prospective tenants into making decisions,
> demanding cash deposits over the phone or else be threatened with losing their chosen property
> Consistently lies about property specifications or makes up
> answers to inquiries which later prove to be false (too late for the tenant who's already signed)
> Humiliates prospective tenants with "cattle style" group
> viewings in which participants are patronised and treated with tangible derision
> 
> Although I appreciate it may be hard to address the rapacious greed and scorn for the customer that dominates the industry at present, given as much of what occurs is anecdotal/ non-quantifiable, perhaps it may be at least worth exploring what the tenant gets when they pay the
> (approximately) £180 per person "administration" fee, given as credit reference checks normally retail to the consumer at only £7 per head (alternatively, maybe the Government could look at undercutting the industry with a more affordable referencing source!)
> 
> I love living in Brighton, but for many in my little Seven Dials community, it is rapidly losing its lustre, as quality of life dwindles under oppressively high rents and the demeaning necessity of dealing with mendacious lettings agencies and unscrupulous landlords