Complicated Credit Check situation

[Minka]

Hello

I was wondering if anyone could kindly offer me some advice

Apologies if this gets a little long winded

My husband and I married just over a year ago. At that time he was living in an unusual situation - he and his band mates had rented a commercial warehouse space in order to live in cheaply and create a recording studio. The landlord and estate agent of this warehouse were aware they were living there but said that obviously, as they weren’t legally supposed to be, they would deny at any time that this was the case. They even asked at some point for all the tenants to sign a document saying they weren’t actually living there, to cover the landlord legally, but this never ended up getting signed

Anyway, I moved in there June last year, and the rest of the tenants (5 of them) had been living there since the previous October (2005). By the time I moved in, things were already starting to get a bit messy financially. My husband and I were the only tenants who had regular full time work that paid well. The other tenants made little effort to find work and somehow managed to get by, but that quickly unravelled and they fell behind in their rent and council tax payments. By the end of 2006, they were so behind with their payments that there seemed to be the endless threat of bailiffs at the door as the council had taken them to court for unpaid taxes and the agents were sick of the backlog of unpaid rent and lame excuses. Around this time, the agents tripled the service charges for the building, increasing the financial strain on the situation

Begrudgingly, they did eventually get up to speed on the outstanding money by March this year, at which point I had had enough and moved out. My husband however was compelled to stay by his bandmates, for the sake of their band and the need to keep this space for it. Since March, the other tenants allowed themselves to get further into debt again – this time only with the rent and service charges as council tax was apparently paid. They were all threatened with eviction in early May, but managed to negotiate some more time to get up to speed. My husband and I then went to Australia for 2 weeks on holiday in late May / early June and half way through received a phone call from his ‘flatmates’ telling him that the landlord was apparently fed up (and rightly so) and was coming to change the locks the next day, and they were all going to pack up and ‘do a runner’. In the end, this has all been very frustrating as my husband was the only one who did the right thing and was financially responsible at all times

When we got back ten days ago, my husband moved into my place, but as it is too small for a couple, we are looking for a 1 bedroom flat. We found the perfect one on the weekend but are now obviously worried about his credit history, as he was on the lease at the warehouse. I went and put a holding deposit on the flat this morning, and asked if only I could go on the lease (I have a perfect credit history), and the agent said that was fine but they would still want my husband to sign the contract and do a credit check on him

Where I am currently living, the person I am sub letting from is happy to say we have both been living there for the last 12 months, and prior to that my husband thinks he can just put his parents address. Apparently he and his mother, who manages a bank branch, are convinced that the agent will not come up with bad credit history for him if we don’t provide the warehouse address at any time. I am less convinced, and are very worried about losing this great flat (and my holding deposit!) if they do find out about any of this!

[lemma1968]

I would never advise anyone to lie on a credit check, if it goes pear shaped then you have a lot to lose. Furthermore, as part of the credit check they will check the electoral role and if he is not on it then they may still query it.

There are a couple of things you can do legally to help....maybe.

The first is that you can ask someone to act as guarantor for him. This would mean that the person standing in as guarantor will be credit checked and they will have to sign a part of the lease that means they would have to pay the rent in the event that you did not pay up.

The second option is that you pay 6 months rent up front i.e. for the term of the assured shorthold tenancy. If you take this route then beware that the agents will pass all monies to the landlord up front and if he goes belly up or there is an issue you may find it hard to get the money back. Also, on a plus note if all is ok in that 6 months they may just renew without recourse to a guarantor, or it could go month to month so not be an issue.

Hope that helps.

If i have been of assistance then please click my scales.

[clarej1985]

Sorry i cant be much help on a legal footing but can (hopefully) offer a little advice.
When i moved into my house i was advised that the estate agents would be doing a credit check. I was pretty worried about this as due to an ex i had/have very(!) poor credit.
It turned out the credit check was just a fax and a call to my work to confirm that i earnt enough money to pay the rent and to confirm that i wasnt likely to lose my job.
Hopefully this is all your credit check consists of, but i agree with Lemma dont lie on any of the paperwork!

[lemma1968]

It really depends upon which agent you are dealing with. if they are charging you a fee the odds are that they are checking with equifax or eperien or are doing it through another agency.