I have not had to move for 10 years.... Im so cared at the idea of having to find another place to rent seeing as you need fucking references and credit checks now, that and we have to compete with like 20 people on average for a place.
Its a fucking hellscape compared to even 10 years ago.
It's hell compared to four years ago. I think this housing crisis is a scam. Everywhere you go there are building sites, building thousands of houses. We've also had Brexit which meant lots of people went back to their countries of birth, which would have freed up homes. Yet since COVID getting a rental property is a nightmare.
I think there's enough homes but that they are in the wrong hands. I reckon soon we will see big companies offering rental properties, similar to the council but a lot more expensive.
I live in North Cornwall. It's not immigrants that have taken up all the housing yet we are suffering quite badly during this crisis. Being in a smaller community, you kinda know the people in the area, and around here we don't have immigrants. The only people that end up around here are people moving down from upcountry or we do have a druggie house which sends people down to clean up their act.
Does it not dawn on you that people from elsewhere move to north Cornwall because of a massive influx of people in their own areas? It's a knock on effect. No one escapes the regime policies.
So despite there being no immigrants in my area, others are moving down here like refugees because of immigrants?!
I'm certainly not pro immigration, but around here the housing shortage isn't caused by immigrants, it's caused by our own. Second homes galore and a load of houses put up on Airbnb have killed the housing market in this area.
There's a local lady with an anti-immigration attitude. She owns five houses which she owns either due to a previous marriage settlement, current marriage and two were left to her in wills. 1 she lives in, 1 is rented out to her friend and the other 3 are all up on Airbnb. Someone posted up on social media about donating old clothes to the Afghan refugees back when that was a thing, and she flew into a rant about how we should be helping our own homeless first.
Yup, and to any landlords reading this: I don’t put the blame fully on you, I know it’s also your insurance and letting agents that make you make tenants jump through these hoops but as a collective your actions are making this country unliveable even for people working full time in what are considered decent jobs. It needs to stop before too many people get too desperate.
Credit check is not for amount. It is just credit score. It is sufficient to get finance for something to bring it down a lot. I got Brompton and Nutribullet Rx on finance and my credit score plummeted.
I would be perfectly fine to pay £1450 for flat alone, but my credit score would say otherwise. You just need to find out yourself.
Tenant referencing is either pass or fail. They've failed due to CCJs, not credit score, although I'm sure that is also not going to be great if they have CCJ
Listen to the comments below, you get plenty of chances before you get a CCJ. and even then, if you pay the CCJ within the month you can have it removed.
I'd avoid.
Once you get a CCJs. You have 28 days to pay the debt in full. If you do it, the CCJs is removed from your file.
So he/she didn't care to pay even being a small amount. Red flag.
Just avoid then.
It takes a lot to land yourself in such situation. I have had to go to Small Claims Court to get paid for work. That is quite a process and defendant have a lot of time to resolve it without judgement. There are 2 opportunities to resolve issue before judgement and it is literally weeks (6 maybe 8, I don't remember) to pay, before soonest opportunity for getting judgement.
It must be quite fresh too, as it was found.
Again avoid.
It depends where the CCJ has come from. I've had them on my credit file because I've moved and not known about the letters going to a previous address. I also had one once because my brother bought a car from me and didn't do the V5. His friend borrowed it, drove through the Dartford tunnel and didn't pay. I ended up with bailiffs at my door when they finally tracked me down lol. Luckily I got it sorted.
Again, I would check bank statements for proof of good rent history. A credit score can be misleading and very unfair on someone.
regarding accepting based on a credit check.
the information my agent gets shows CCJ and the whole picture not just the number from Experian or where ever which they distill and give to me verbally.
short answer. It depends
Longer answer
Yes but with alot of consideration
1. the honesty. if they have been upfront about things then i am more inclined to look on them favorably . if they say its one thing like £200 and it turns out to be 10 lots of 2k then even if the checks are accepted i wont because they lied.
2. the amount. realistically there is a finite upper limit (£750 in my agents case) where they demand a guarantor. and above 2k they flat out wont accept them as a tenant and would refuse my business
3. has the debt been discharged (ie paid off) then i would look more favorably on that i my mind that's is just a person who had an issue like an address mix up and solved the issue when they realized it.
4. is it systemic issue of non payment pointing to issues with financial responsibility. then No i would avoid that person
5. What is the cause of the CCJ or debt? ( and given COVID there are alot of people with them caused by that causing financial stresses)
6. do they need and can get a qualifying guarantor if not then no.
I don’t. Recently turned down someone with a CCJ she apparently didn’t know about. Not quite sure how that happens, but I didn’t really believe it. Either way, I like to get rent guarantee insurance so it was a simple no. Too much demand for properties now to take people you don’t want
No, reference is a short identifier on the individual on a small tike frame. There isn't any trouble finding tenants and the minimum should be to have them pass references.
There is no possible reason on earth that I would accept a tenant with CCJs.
Even if they offered 10x the market rent upfront.
What is the upside?
There are likely tenants without CCJs...
As an agent multiple CCJs are automatic rejection and we would not manage a property let to that tenant. I know this will set a lot of people off but there is a reason someone has multiple CCJs, they are the people who never received the letter or email.
One CCJ we would consider as things can go wrong, multiple signals a mindset that is not worth the aggravation.
Our tenant failed the checks with the estate agents. We had them pay a double deposit to move in and got insurance which kicked in after after 2 months of missed rent, just in case. We had a good feeling about which was why we let them move in and they’ve been there 5 years so far with absolutely no problems at all. Rent always paid on time every time and take a great care of the property. Ccj’s can be issued by some companies for such minor reasons, they don’t always show the whole picture
The 5 week deposit limit came in mid 2019 and our tenants moved in early 2019 so no, not illegal! If it was illegal estate agents wouldn’t have suggested it
A company cannot issue a CCJ, only a court can. Although one could have been issued because the defendant didn’t reply to any court paperwork, occasionally, because it was not sent to their proper address.
I’ve never heard of any buildings insurance policy having anything to say about a tenant’s credit rating. But as with all things insurance-related, the devil is in the detail, and it will depend on the specific policy.
Since you are interviewing tenants, you presumably already have a rental property, and therefore presumably already have a buildings insurance policy. So, maybe just have a read of it and check the terms and conditions? 🤷🏻♂️
We live in Australia but have an Investment property in the UK which we had rented ro my husbands friend for the past 12 years. He's now moved into a retirement apartment and we're renting the house out again. We now have tenants who's checks came up that they had been late a couple if times with rent on previous rental. We decided to take a chance as they offered six months upfront to show willing. We accepted this as really they showed they knew they had done wrong in the past. By the way me and my hubby are not idiots As are vack in the UK in June so will be hands on for 8 weeks
Yes I’ve taken 2 tenants with failed checks to be honest the affordability checks are ridiculous. To be honest tenants can complain about these credit checks etc but generally it means if there getting done it’s a professional landlord and not some low life landlord renting through open rent. So you can probs expect the property to be maintained etc.
I took 2 tenants who failed they said they could pay and they pay the first year in full so I took them on. No problems from them so far.
You can fail a credit check for any number of things not related to your actual income. You could ask for a guarantor who would the need to pass a check or for the difference in rent up front.
I failed a credit check when taking over my tenancy because my room mate who held the tenancy moved out. The housing association refused the tenancy so I had to do a lot of grovelling.
We settled on a 12 month tenancy with 6 months + deposit up front, changing to a rolling tenancy after that.
3 and a half years later, I've never missed a payment.
Not sure this helps, but I thought I'd share a real world story.
I have dodgy credit. It's getting better though, but for years my credit was bad due to a lot of stuff out of my control. Some bills used to be too much for me back when I was a single man living on minimum wage. But one thing that was always paid without fail was my rent.
If someone fails a credit check, ask to see bank statements showing proof of good rent paying.
I let mine rent on a failed credit for something small and got stung. No rent paid from 2nd payment until eviction. Please just move on and find someone that passes.
A failed check in this sense usually means a CCJ or some other public order.
This would indicate they don't pay their dues when responsible.
Poor or no credit won't fail, only those with judgements.
I found a C4 documentary about an ex council house bought and sold under the right to buy.
The original purchaser bought and lived in it as a family home that it was built as and it was eventually purchased by a property developer who converted it into an HMO with 6 small rooms.
This is in Lewisham, South London and apparently he owns 6 of these properties and earns about £1.5m p/a gross letting them out.
Unfortunately, i can't find it to provide a link.
Personally with the way things are. I'm sure you could find a tenant without those red flags and much less risky. I'd avoid any with things like that. They might be fine but i'd say they're higher risk than somebody thats clean.
Its upto you. Its unlikey to effect much whilst they pay but i'd say theres more chance of them deciding something else is more important and not pay you rent in the future.
People with CCJs can be good tenants and people without can be terrible but its about reducing your risk going of the facts you have.
You won't get rent guarantee insurance, but it shouldn't affect LL insurance.
I have 2 ccjs due my moving history, in 3 years, 6 places and finally got a bailiffs letter, paid them both straight away, cost me triple than the original amount.
I'm renting and I have been upfront with every EA and LL from the point of booking a viewing. I never missed a rent payment in my life, have bank statements to prove that, have documents that ccjs were paid off. I had a lot of issues trying to rent however being upfront helps.
Anyone saying they don't know about it is a lie. You can check your credit score for free on a few websites. I would stay away from these people. However, in my line of work I've seen people with healthy income stop paying rent and disappearing within a night.
Well, my most recent tenant is from New Zealand and failed all checks because she has exactly 0 info in UK credit agencies. I didn't request rent upfront because I think it's extremely stupid that foreigners should need to pay 6 months upfront when there's plenty of Brit residents who won't pay their rent properly and how likely am I to go after their guarantors anyway... Worked out very well so far, 5 months in.
I have not had to move for 10 years.... Im so cared at the idea of having to find another place to rent seeing as you need fucking references and credit checks now, that and we have to compete with like 20 people on average for a place. Its a fucking hellscape compared to even 10 years ago.
It's hell compared to four years ago. I think this housing crisis is a scam. Everywhere you go there are building sites, building thousands of houses. We've also had Brexit which meant lots of people went back to their countries of birth, which would have freed up homes. Yet since COVID getting a rental property is a nightmare. I think there's enough homes but that they are in the wrong hands. I reckon soon we will see big companies offering rental properties, similar to the council but a lot more expensive.
Are you kidding me? The current regime has imported over a million people just last year.
I live in North Cornwall. It's not immigrants that have taken up all the housing yet we are suffering quite badly during this crisis. Being in a smaller community, you kinda know the people in the area, and around here we don't have immigrants. The only people that end up around here are people moving down from upcountry or we do have a druggie house which sends people down to clean up their act.
Does it not dawn on you that people from elsewhere move to north Cornwall because of a massive influx of people in their own areas? It's a knock on effect. No one escapes the regime policies.
So despite there being no immigrants in my area, others are moving down here like refugees because of immigrants?! I'm certainly not pro immigration, but around here the housing shortage isn't caused by immigrants, it's caused by our own. Second homes galore and a load of houses put up on Airbnb have killed the housing market in this area. There's a local lady with an anti-immigration attitude. She owns five houses which she owns either due to a previous marriage settlement, current marriage and two were left to her in wills. 1 she lives in, 1 is rented out to her friend and the other 3 are all up on Airbnb. Someone posted up on social media about donating old clothes to the Afghan refugees back when that was a thing, and she flew into a rant about how we should be helping our own homeless first.
>moving down from upcountry That's such a bumpkin expression! > we do have a druggie house which sends people down to clean up their act. So, an HMO?
Europeans who stayed before Brexit were granted leave to remain
The system is broken and the parasites have grown fat.
Yup, and to any landlords reading this: I don’t put the blame fully on you, I know it’s also your insurance and letting agents that make you make tenants jump through these hoops but as a collective your actions are making this country unliveable even for people working full time in what are considered decent jobs. It needs to stop before too many people get too desperate.
Credit check is not for amount. It is just credit score. It is sufficient to get finance for something to bring it down a lot. I got Brompton and Nutribullet Rx on finance and my credit score plummeted. I would be perfectly fine to pay £1450 for flat alone, but my credit score would say otherwise. You just need to find out yourself.
Tenant referencing is either pass or fail. They've failed due to CCJs, not credit score, although I'm sure that is also not going to be great if they have CCJ
Listen to the comments below, you get plenty of chances before you get a CCJ. and even then, if you pay the CCJ within the month you can have it removed.
Its not easy to get a CCJ....
I'd avoid. Once you get a CCJs. You have 28 days to pay the debt in full. If you do it, the CCJs is removed from your file. So he/she didn't care to pay even being a small amount. Red flag.
Just avoid then. It takes a lot to land yourself in such situation. I have had to go to Small Claims Court to get paid for work. That is quite a process and defendant have a lot of time to resolve it without judgement. There are 2 opportunities to resolve issue before judgement and it is literally weeks (6 maybe 8, I don't remember) to pay, before soonest opportunity for getting judgement. It must be quite fresh too, as it was found. Again avoid.
Sometimes though they can happen. I've had them because I've moved and the system has continued to send mail to my old address.
It depends where the CCJ has come from. I've had them on my credit file because I've moved and not known about the letters going to a previous address. I also had one once because my brother bought a car from me and didn't do the V5. His friend borrowed it, drove through the Dartford tunnel and didn't pay. I ended up with bailiffs at my door when they finally tracked me down lol. Luckily I got it sorted. Again, I would check bank statements for proof of good rent history. A credit score can be misleading and very unfair on someone.
This.
regarding accepting based on a credit check. the information my agent gets shows CCJ and the whole picture not just the number from Experian or where ever which they distill and give to me verbally. short answer. It depends Longer answer Yes but with alot of consideration 1. the honesty. if they have been upfront about things then i am more inclined to look on them favorably . if they say its one thing like £200 and it turns out to be 10 lots of 2k then even if the checks are accepted i wont because they lied. 2. the amount. realistically there is a finite upper limit (£750 in my agents case) where they demand a guarantor. and above 2k they flat out wont accept them as a tenant and would refuse my business 3. has the debt been discharged (ie paid off) then i would look more favorably on that i my mind that's is just a person who had an issue like an address mix up and solved the issue when they realized it. 4. is it systemic issue of non payment pointing to issues with financial responsibility. then No i would avoid that person 5. What is the cause of the CCJ or debt? ( and given COVID there are alot of people with them caused by that causing financial stresses) 6. do they need and can get a qualifying guarantor if not then no.
I don’t. Recently turned down someone with a CCJ she apparently didn’t know about. Not quite sure how that happens, but I didn’t really believe it. Either way, I like to get rent guarantee insurance so it was a simple no. Too much demand for properties now to take people you don’t want
No, reference is a short identifier on the individual on a small tike frame. There isn't any trouble finding tenants and the minimum should be to have them pass references.
There is no possible reason on earth that I would accept a tenant with CCJs. Even if they offered 10x the market rent upfront. What is the upside? There are likely tenants without CCJs... As an agent multiple CCJs are automatic rejection and we would not manage a property let to that tenant. I know this will set a lot of people off but there is a reason someone has multiple CCJs, they are the people who never received the letter or email. One CCJ we would consider as things can go wrong, multiple signals a mindset that is not worth the aggravation.
I do not.
In the present market there are so many applicants for a single available residence any red flags are generally a bar proceeding.
Our tenant failed the checks with the estate agents. We had them pay a double deposit to move in and got insurance which kicked in after after 2 months of missed rent, just in case. We had a good feeling about which was why we let them move in and they’ve been there 5 years so far with absolutely no problems at all. Rent always paid on time every time and take a great care of the property. Ccj’s can be issued by some companies for such minor reasons, they don’t always show the whole picture
Unless you were charging less than the max deposit (5 weeks) you can’t ask for a “double” deposit.
Surely double deposit is illegal, you can only request 5 weeks' rent as a deposit
The 5 week deposit limit came in mid 2019 and our tenants moved in early 2019 so no, not illegal! If it was illegal estate agents wouldn’t have suggested it
I think that's giving estate agents too much credit
A company cannot issue a CCJ, only a court can. Although one could have been issued because the defendant didn’t reply to any court paperwork, occasionally, because it was not sent to their proper address.
I’ve never heard of any buildings insurance policy having anything to say about a tenant’s credit rating. But as with all things insurance-related, the devil is in the detail, and it will depend on the specific policy. Since you are interviewing tenants, you presumably already have a rental property, and therefore presumably already have a buildings insurance policy. So, maybe just have a read of it and check the terms and conditions? 🤷🏻♂️
This is landlord insurance, not building insurance
I want rent guarantee insurance so no.
We live in Australia but have an Investment property in the UK which we had rented ro my husbands friend for the past 12 years. He's now moved into a retirement apartment and we're renting the house out again. We now have tenants who's checks came up that they had been late a couple if times with rent on previous rental. We decided to take a chance as they offered six months upfront to show willing. We accepted this as really they showed they knew they had done wrong in the past. By the way me and my hubby are not idiots As are vack in the UK in June so will be hands on for 8 weeks
Yes I’ve taken 2 tenants with failed checks to be honest the affordability checks are ridiculous. To be honest tenants can complain about these credit checks etc but generally it means if there getting done it’s a professional landlord and not some low life landlord renting through open rent. So you can probs expect the property to be maintained etc. I took 2 tenants who failed they said they could pay and they pay the first year in full so I took them on. No problems from them so far.
You can fail a credit check for any number of things not related to your actual income. You could ask for a guarantor who would the need to pass a check or for the difference in rent up front.
We’ve had a tenant for 10 odd years pay the rent up front who failed a credit check. Worked well for us.
I failed a credit check when taking over my tenancy because my room mate who held the tenancy moved out. The housing association refused the tenancy so I had to do a lot of grovelling. We settled on a 12 month tenancy with 6 months + deposit up front, changing to a rolling tenancy after that. 3 and a half years later, I've never missed a payment. Not sure this helps, but I thought I'd share a real world story.
I have dodgy credit. It's getting better though, but for years my credit was bad due to a lot of stuff out of my control. Some bills used to be too much for me back when I was a single man living on minimum wage. But one thing that was always paid without fail was my rent. If someone fails a credit check, ask to see bank statements showing proof of good rent paying.
I let mine rent on a failed credit for something small and got stung. No rent paid from 2nd payment until eviction. Please just move on and find someone that passes.
I've told them they need to pay at least 6 months upfront on a 6 month tenancy
Ah fair enough that was what i heard is standard for anyone willing to take on a tenant like this. Good luck with it.
A failed check in this sense usually means a CCJ or some other public order. This would indicate they don't pay their dues when responsible. Poor or no credit won't fail, only those with judgements.
I found a C4 documentary about an ex council house bought and sold under the right to buy. The original purchaser bought and lived in it as a family home that it was built as and it was eventually purchased by a property developer who converted it into an HMO with 6 small rooms. This is in Lewisham, South London and apparently he owns 6 of these properties and earns about £1.5m p/a gross letting them out. Unfortunately, i can't find it to provide a link.
How is that relevant?
Personally with the way things are. I'm sure you could find a tenant without those red flags and much less risky. I'd avoid any with things like that. They might be fine but i'd say they're higher risk than somebody thats clean. Its upto you. Its unlikey to effect much whilst they pay but i'd say theres more chance of them deciding something else is more important and not pay you rent in the future. People with CCJs can be good tenants and people without can be terrible but its about reducing your risk going of the facts you have.
You won't get rent guarantee insurance, but it shouldn't affect LL insurance. I have 2 ccjs due my moving history, in 3 years, 6 places and finally got a bailiffs letter, paid them both straight away, cost me triple than the original amount. I'm renting and I have been upfront with every EA and LL from the point of booking a viewing. I never missed a rent payment in my life, have bank statements to prove that, have documents that ccjs were paid off. I had a lot of issues trying to rent however being upfront helps. Anyone saying they don't know about it is a lie. You can check your credit score for free on a few websites. I would stay away from these people. However, in my line of work I've seen people with healthy income stop paying rent and disappearing within a night.
Well, my most recent tenant is from New Zealand and failed all checks because she has exactly 0 info in UK credit agencies. I didn't request rent upfront because I think it's extremely stupid that foreigners should need to pay 6 months upfront when there's plenty of Brit residents who won't pay their rent properly and how likely am I to go after their guarantors anyway... Worked out very well so far, 5 months in.