How renting through 4U works
Four steps, and three promises underneath them that are worth being precise about.
Step 1
Find a property
Browse without an account. Every listing shows the annual rent, the caution fee, the legal fee and what 4U charges, added up, before you do anything.
Step 2
Verify who you are
Before you can request an inspection you upload an ID. This is the only gate, and it exists because an inspection sends a real person to a real address.
Step 3
Go and see it
A 4U officer meets you at the property. You get thirty minutes as a guide, not a limit — nobody will end your viewing because a timer expired.
Step 4
Pay through 4U
You pay the amount you were shown, in one payment or in instalments where the landlord has agreed to them. Your tenancy starts when the payment confirms.
What the seal means
A named 4U officer physically stood inside the property on a stated date. The listing shows both — “Visited 14 August · Ibrahim A.” — because a mark without a person behind it is a logo.
A property marked Listing soon has not been visited yet and carries no seal at all. Not a grey one, not a pending one: none.
What happens to your deposit
Where a landlord has chosen it, 4U holds your caution fee and returns it at the end of the tenancy, less any damages we agree are yours. The listing says so before you pay.
Where a landlord holds it themselves, the listing says that instead. It is a filter on the search page, so you can look only at properties where we hold it.
The caution fee covers damages only. It is never taken to cover unpaid rent.
What the alert button does
Pressing it reaches the 4U response desk. Our team contacts the emergency services on your behalf and stays with you until help arrives.
4U is not an emergency service. We do not send police, fire or ambulance ourselves. If you can, call 112 or 199 directly as well.
The button needs no account and is never rate limited. Pressing it repeatedly is expected, not abuse.