"In January 2007, my then landlord increased the rent of the London flat and he also wrote to me asking for the rent to be paid a month in advance, " she said.

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Kelly Kaur from Midland Housing said Birmingham City Council was in regular touch with her asking her to rent to vulnerable people, but she had been stung by rent-dodgers before.

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That way, we can calculate the average rent and asking price for an identical set of properties in a metro area , for a direct apples-to-apples comparison.

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"People were always asking me where they could rent one, " he said.

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To recap the methodology, the Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor track asking home prices and rents on a monthly basis, adjusting for the changing composition of listed homes, including foreclosures provided by RealtyTrac.

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But since they are presumably paying two sets of bills, most respondents stopped short of asking them to chip in for rent on top of utility bills.

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Chan regularly gets calls from boat agents asking to see if he'd rent out his berth on a short-term monthly basis, but he tells them to sail elsewhere.

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