Renting through agent

[judex]

We are currently looking to rent, through an agent as private landlords are seemingly scarce in this area.

We rent a house privately, it was managed through an agent at the beginning then the landlords self managed.

 

We, like many others, have defaults on our credit file so it seems pointless to pay to be told this and we have failed. There doesn't seem to be any way round this, we can provide work refs, bank statements to confirm 18 months rent paid, up to 3 months in advance, the deposit and also a guarantor if necessary, but the agent says its the credit record they need to check.

 

Anyone got any ideas that doesn't involve throwing more money there way, which we can't.

[help me kick his butt]

Hi there. Sounds like an unfortunate situation. I have read several times on this site that some LL s are willing to take a larger deposit and six months up front. Then when you are nearing the end of the 6 month term, you pay another 6 months up front. Its unlikely that your AST would then be a rolling monthly one.

Best of luck xxx

[Just4Let]

Could I ask what 'fees' the agents are planning on charging for the credit checks?

[judex]

We were told 18 months ago it was £25 each for us and also £25 to credit check any guarantor, which makes me think theres no point in wasting this money if I know we will fail.

[Just4Let]

That seems about fair.

The problem your agent has is that the liklihood of you defaulting on your rent if you have a poor score is higher, which in turn causes the Landlord losses and more work for the agent chasing you for the money. It's just as hard chasing a guarantor for money so they are just being careful.

This score gets worse depending on the amount of things against your name.

You could say you have a default, they do a check and you could have been declared bankrupt a few times.

More risk then for the Landlord and agent.

 

Depends really if you want this place or not I guess . . ..

[postggj]

only last week i went to a letting agent as i am looking to move and was quoted this

 

to begin with i had to pay 150 for a document check including a credit check. as this was done through an outside agency was non refundable

 

the property was 500 quid a month

i was told i had to pay 500 in advanced and 750 deposit

 

money for old rope

 

i declined there document check

[Just4Let]

only last week i went to a letting agent as i am looking to move and was quoted this

 

to begin with i had to pay 150 for a document check including a credit check. as this was done through an outside agency was non refundable

 

the property was 500 quid a month

i was told i had to pay 500 in advanced and 750 deposit

 

money for old rope

 

i declined there document check

 

£150 for admin including a credit check is reasonable I think, Personally I only charge £100 per adult, or £150 for 2 or more.

 

The rent in advance is standard, no surprises there . . . .

 

Deposit usually the same as the rent os £500 would be the norm, I can't understand why it would be £750

 

Which bit in your eyes is "money for old rope" exactly?

[postggj]

how much does it cost to run a credit check on some one

[judex]

 

Depends really if you want this place or not I guess . . ..

 

We've seen 2 houses that we would move into as soon as, the property we are currently in has insulation problems which the landlord is a little aware of, but as he doesn't live here he doesn't realise how uncomfortable and bloody cold it is.

 

Anyway I can't see how we can satisfy the landlords/agents that we are actually very good tenants. We paid £400 in the 1st 2 months for extra sockets and more for plumbing a dishwasher and this all adds to the property, apart from the extra money what else can we do.

[Just4Let]

how much does it cost to run a credit check on some one

 

That depends on which company you use and if you buy bulk checks where you can negotiate discounts.

[Just4Let]

We've seen 2 houses that we would move into as soon as, the property we are currently in has insulation problems which the landlord is a little aware of, but as he doesn't live here he doesn't realise how uncomfortable and bloody cold it is.

 

Anyway I can't see how we can satisfy the landlords/agents that we are actually very good tenants. We paid £400 in the 1st 2 months for extra sockets and more for plumbing a dishwasher and this all adds to the property, apart from the extra money what else can we do.

 

For me as long as I verified work references and previous agent/LL ref also with a guarantor I'd be quite happy I think.

[judex]

We are waiting to hear from the LL, hopefully they will be as trusting and not see us as a huge risk, we've met 1 LL and would like to meet the other so they can see we are not housewreckers, but then again what do housewreckers look like!!!

[Just4Let]

We are waiting to hear from the LL, hopefully they will be as trusting and not see us as a huge risk, we've met 1 LL and would like to meet the other so they can see we are not housewreckers, but then again what do housewreckers look like!!!

 

Probably the best course of action to take.

 

To be fair 95% of my tenants are in houses because of my 'gut reaction' because we make sure that we meet every one and although you can't 'always' spot the problem tenants you can generally get a good feel about someone in the first 30 seconds!

It works for me!

[help me kick his butt]

£150 for admin including a credit check is reasonable I think, Personally I only charge £100 per adult, or £150 for 2 or more.

 

The rent in advance is standard, no surprises there . . . .

 

Deposit usually the same as the rent os £500 would be the norm, I can't understand why it would be £750

 

Which bit in your eyes is "money for old rope" exactly?

 

 

Hi, my deposits have always been the equivelent to 6 weeks rent x

[Zamzara]

Surely a credit check is just another name for an SAR, so the maximum allowed is £10 per person?

[barracad]

Surely a credit check is just another name for an Subject Access Request, so the maximum allowed is £10 per person?

 

No, a SAR and credit check are completely different.

[Zamzara]

No, a Subject Access Request and credit check are completely different.

 

In what way?

[barracad]

In what way?

 

In every way.

 

A SAR is where you ask for copies of information which a company holds on you. A credit check is where you give the company information, and they decide whether to give you credit. They will usually consult a third party (credit reference agency) rather than just go on the information you provide.

[Zamzara]

I see what you mean. The £150 fee is for the 'work' in making the decision, not the the information access.

 

If this fee is not clearly listed in all advertising it may be an unfair practice under CPUT 2008.

[judex]

A credit check is where you give the company information, and they decide whether to give you credit.

 

A credit check as I understand when done by an Estate Agent for renting purposes would not be as described.

 

They are not deciding whether to give credit but are checking credit worthiness. Usually the only info you would give would be name/address for last 3 years and they would approach a credit reference agency to see if you are enrolled on the electoral role and to see if there are any outstanding CCJs/CO.

 

A SAR is completely different and used for different purposes.

[Floppo]

We paid for a credit check when we rented our property. We failed on the fact that although my husband currently earns over £9000 a month, it is not a fixed salary as he is self employed. The fact that we have our house savings in the bank (£500,000) was also not featured in the credit check.

The landlord makes the decidion at the end of the day - and they decided that after meeting us they would like us as tenants. We paid a security deposit etc, and we hae been super tenants!

The agent needed to go throught the credit checking process and we accepted that - the landlord can then look at the information presented to him/her to make a decision on the risk of the applicant.

 

Good luck!

[judex]

I agree the landlord has the final decision. We were very honest with the landlord who we met last week, she hasn't let her property before and is obviously being careful, can't blame her for that.

Even though we can present her with everything but a clean credit file and a huge deposit I don't think she would accept us without us clearing the CCJs, it all takes time and I don't really want to lose that house.

 

I try to think positive and think we are doing her the favour and not the other way round, it seems to be a tenants market with all the properties not selling so being let instead.

She did tell the agent she thought we were nice people though! That doesn't help a great deal.

[Fangio of the nineties]

Dunno if this might help, but I'm trying to let my place now and although i'm in property i'm using an agent. The agent suggested that even "blue-chip" tennants in this market could struggle to pay rent and no-one now is a safe bet..

 

The solution was a "rent guarantee insurance" effectivley this pays out if the tennant defaults... the premiums seemed very realistic we were quoted about £125 to cover a rent of about £2k pcm... might be worth looking in to see if it's available to the landlord, and if you cover the fairly nominal premium they've lost nothing, and gained a guarantee of payment..

 

worth an enquiry i would have thought...

 

FOTN

[judex]

Can't quite get my head round this but it reads as though I would insure against me not paying the rent!!

[Fangio of the nineties]

Yep... thats about the size of it....i'm not totally familiar with it but so far as i gather the agent takes out the policy on the landlords behalf it pays out if you default.

 

metreley suggesyed that you might offer to cover the premium

a. as a sign of good faith

b. to demonstrate your confidence in covering the rent

c. to remove any percieved disadvantage to the landlord in accepting you as a tennant.

 

no neccesity at all for you to offer to do this... simply pointing out the possibility of a policy might be enough for them..

 

suprised the agent hasn't flagged it as a solution already...

 

FOTN