Buy-to-let brokers Landlord Mortgages have been sneaking around again, posing as potential tenants (scruffy) and landlords (shifty) on the same property, so as to test the discrepancy between what the agent tells each party regarding a sensible rental. London didn't come out too well, with agents over-representing rental incomes by a scary 25%. But nationally, where last year the overall trend was an 8.5% discrepancy, this year it is no discrepancy at all. They even managed to find agents in Manchester underquoting rentals to landlords by 25%. Still, the sensible thing is to do like Landlord Mortgages, and go in there as a tenant before you admit you're a landlord, not least to find out how your potential customer is going to be treated. I recently approached several Putney rental agents to choose somebody to find me a tenant for a studio flat. I entered each office as a prospective tenant looking to rent a studio flat. One agent was so dismissive he talked to me without looking up from his desk. When I revealed I was actually a landlord he got up and wiped his hand before offering it to me. Yuk.