Hi all We are moving into a new house in London, and have failed an independent referencing check. I earn enough, and have a good reference from the current landlord, but failed on my credit score. My partners parents have offered to be guarantors, however, we had assumed the fact that they own their property outright would be enough to secure. The referencing agency have said though, that they need to be earning enough to cover the rent. One of the parents is redundant, and the other works part-time - they have enough in savings to not need to work. We are told by the lettings agent that there is nothing that can be done - they either earn enough or they dont. Is this the case, or would the referencing agency take into account the property and assets they have? Thanks Ian

Hi, My flatmate of 4 years moved out in July at which point the letting agent revealed to me that he was 10 months in arrears with his rent. When I asked the letting agent why I hadn't been informed I was told that a letter addressed to both of us had been sent, but obviously my flatmate had intercepted it before I could. After much stress and argument I managed to receive half of the arrears from my flatmate, but he still owes the other half. I know that according to my agreement I am "joint and severally liable" for the payment, but my question is: Is there comeback for me against the letting agent, as they have left it so long to tell me about this (and they are still in no rush to let me know what they intend to do), and secondly, as my ex-flatmate has already accepted liability by paying half of the arrears, can I sue him for the other half, if he refuses to pay? I now have a new agreement with the letting agent with a new flatmate - as this is nothing to do with them, do the letting agent have any powers with regards to claiming the rent back? Any advice would be gratefully received!

Hi there forum I was hoping for your advice/comments on the following: myself and a co-tenant entered into an assured shorthold tenancy with a person that represented that they were the landlord of a property; we paid rent in cash (which was collected from our flat each month as the landlord's agent had other properties to collect rent from also) and we were given a receipt; the term of the tenancy was six months (started in April 2010) and so the fixed term expired in October but there is a clause which says that it will then continue on until either party gives a months notice to the other to terminate; we came back to our flat last Thursday to find a notice from a debt collection/repossion company celotaped to the door saying that we had been occupying the flat without the consent of its client, the purported registered owner; we did a land registry check and this does seem to be the case; we have tried to contact our landlord but all numbers go to voicemail and the agent cannot get in touch with the landlord either; the notice asked that we vacate immediately however after speaking to the debt/recovery company, we managed to agree that we would vacate in the first week in January 2011 (we had paid rent up until the middle of January); we have also been asked to make sure that all utility bills are paid up (our rent was all inclusive and all bills were in the landlord's name) - we replied by stating that we have paid rent which included a proportion for such bills and so if anyoen is to be pursued by the registered owner of the flat then it should be our landlord and not us; we installed a BT line into the property and now will have to pay circa £300.00 to buy out the 12 month contract (as we will have to leave before the 12 months have expired); it appears as though the landlord may well be a rogue and so we have been payign rent to someone who did not allegedly have the authority to rent out the property, although we acted in good faith at all times. ANY COMMENTS AS TO WHAT OUR RIGHTS ARE!?!?!? Thank you in advance and my apologies for the distress call! Yours faithfully Innocent_Tenant

I posted a long time back about getting my partners mother moved from their council house to nearer to us as she has very poor health and her friend who is her carer is 72 and they both need more support they're currently 75 miles away. Long story short after some help from an MP they have been offered a local home. They have told the council they are leaving and they now want them to sign terms and conditions saying things like they need to remove all furniture (fair enough) but they also say all carpets must be removed now the carpets that are there were down when they moved in about 24 years ago. Can the council REALLY make them remove the carpets it seems totally ridiculous to me to expect people on benefits who are having to borrow every penny from relatives to be able to afford to move house to remove carpets (stair carpet is under a stairlift anyway). The housing officer is coming tomorrow to put the thumb screws on her to sign immediately, have told her to sign nothing so need help ASAP!!!! Thanks

Hello, I moved property 3 months ago. When I chose this location, there were several factors which were very important to me. 1) A NTL connection had to be available, which the estate agent told me was available, and they even showed me the NTL connection. 2) That there was CCTV around the entire property, which there appears to be by various cameras placed around the property. Since I have moved there, I have found out that: 1) The NTL connection is infact a dummy and does not work. I approached the letting agent about this and got the following response: ********** Response: With regards to the NTL. This is the first ive heard about it. And as far as i am aware if you are in a non serviceable area then NTL would'nt install a connection point. If there is a connection point Joseph would assume like anybody else would, that NTL would supply a connection there. ********** 2) The CCTV camera's are ALSO dummies... I also approached them about this and they came back with the following: ********** Response: With regard to the CCTV this would be down to the Managment Company (SLM) TEL: 01482 328068. ********** Now why do I feel like I'm being fobbed off here and that the buck is being passed on. What options do I have to sort this out? Also in light of this, can I dispute the £120.00 administration cost which they said was for 'administration and credit checking'? Thanks and Regards Adrian