landlord credit checks

[knoxvillain]

hello,

 

My fiancee and I are starting to look for a place to live for when we get married in April. I was wondering if someone could advise what Landlords are looking for when they do credit checks? Is it mainly bankruptsy and CCJs? Would a couple of defaults matter? Are they taken as badly by landlords as they are by banks? I'm going to get both defaults removed as I get my bank charges back but thats not likely to happen before we move.

 

If the defaults are going to be a problem, whats the best way to go forward, can we put a place solely in my fiancee's name as her credit history is clean?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

[MrShed]

Realistically, any decent landlord should(and a good deal do) run a full credit check on you, which means that they go to a credit check agency, same as run credit checks for credit cards, store cards, loans etc, and you will get back a credit "score". If you feel you are going to fail this, which is probably unlikely, but yes defaults count against your credit record, then honesty is definitely the best policy. Be completely upfront with the potential landlord, explain exactly what happened and why, and how you are not in the same financial position anymore. LAndlords will appreciate the honest and open approach. If you are in a position to do so, offer a couple of months rent upfront. Or you could see if anyone will be a guarantor.

 

With regards putting it in just your fiancees name, unlikely that many people would go for this. But, her good credit will work in your favour.

[knoxvillain]

Hi Mr Shed,

My fiancee and I viewed a flat last night and it was amazing so we trotted off to the agent this morning to start the paperwork. I had to sit down and have a talk with them because although my fiancee's record is clean, I'm not so lucky. I explained to them that I had 2 defaults on my record and that I was disputing them through small claims as it was because of unlawful charges. I provided them with a copy of the small claims summons as well to back it up. Also, I had to tell them that my last landlord would probably not provide them with a reference since my deposit is being withheld and it looks like I'm going to court to sort him out. Pretty stressful stuff, i felt awful that my problems could ruin my fiancee and I's first home together after we're married in April

But, I asked them if they would accept a guarantor to back me up and they said that would go in my favour. So I'm gonna try and talk my father into it. So at the moment it's looking good. My only worry now is they go and try to get a reference from my landlord that I am having a dispute with and he sabotages it and tells them lots of horrible stuff.

I would be gutted if I had to tell my financee we couldn't move into the house of our dreams because of my problems.

[knoxvillain]

My dad doesn't seem to keen on the idea of being a guatantor As an alternative, I have managed to look out 14 months worth of bank statements showing that rent was paid on time and I also have a letter from my ex-landlord agreeing me final rent payment which shows I wasn't behind in my rent. Do you think a landlord would accept these along with maybe 2 months rent in advance as an alternative to a guarantor? It's annoying that I've got all this hassle and I've never missed a rent payment in my life

[callumsgran]

I think you'll be fine knoxy!

Best of luck hun to you and tour fiancee:)

Sorry i cant help with this as i'm not too au fait with rental laws and such but i am in the process of taking my landlord to court for non refund of deposit

[ANNALH]

Im sorry to hear of your troubles. My Husaband and I have terrible problems whenever we move to a new rented property because of my 2 defaults (which i am currently disputing due to unlawful charges etc).

 

Even though they are dated 5 years ago and i am now earning £4k a month they still cant see past the defaults. We had to provide a guarantor and luckily one of my colleagues agreed to do it (i dont even know the person very well, it was a 66 year old man who took pity on me!) as none of my relatives would help. I dont know what we will do if we move again because he now lives abroad.

 

If you can try and rent a property through an estate agent and then if you ever need to move you can apply for another one of their properties and wont have to be credit checked again etc. Thats what we are trying to do.

 

Also if you can raise enough money to put down say 3 months rent in advance that will also go in your favour.

 

I think you will probably be ok with the reference from your landlord and all your bank statements. See how it goes first of all. They will advise you if they need anything else, such as guarantor etc, its usually not a straight yes or no.

[knoxvillain]

Yeah, I offered the guarantor, they didn't ask for it but at the time I thought my dad would be more than willing to help out but he's got a lot on at the moment with my gran who has altzeimers so he's less than keen to get involved. I hope I haven't shot myself in the foot.

 

I'm hoping to go in and see the agent on Tuesday morning and present them with my statements. The most we can afford to put down in advance is 2 months rent. They all ready have £750 deposit and £150 for credit checks and I'm trying to pay for a wedding at the moment as well so money is type.

 

The one thing that will work in our favour is the property is unmanaged so once the lease is in place we will deal directly with the landlord so whether to accept us or not if his decision rather than the agents. He was at the viewing and seemed like a nice guy and hopefully he saw that we're a happy genuine couple looking for our first marrital home and aren't look for trouble or to cause trouble. Fingers crossed. I'm just dreading the possibility of having to tell my fiancee we didn't get it and all because of my past mistakes

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

Why don't you add a "Notice Of Correction"(which gives your version of the the events in no more than 200 words which must not be offensive or derogatory) on your credit file(s) until you resolve the charges issue? This can be read by potential creditors/landlords etc when a credit search is carried out.

 

Just a suggestion.

[knoxvillain]

So I could put something like "the debt that has been default here is in dispute as it is made up wholly of unlawful penalty charges and is being disputed through the courts" or something?

 

Won't that only be read by companies doing a manual credit search rather than credit scoring?

 

Thanks for the suggestion, it's not something I had considered yet.

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,before I answer your questions:

 

1.How far have you got regarding reclaiming your bank charges?

 

2.What evidence do you have (if any) in support of this?

 

The answers to the above questions should enable me hopefully assist you further.

[knoxvillain]

I have a letter back from Edinburgh Sheriff Court stating my return date at the beginning of March which includes a photocopy of the front page of my summons. I have provided them with a copy of this as evidence. I haven't actually asked for the default to be removed because when I started this they hadn't defaulted me, I intend to include it in the second round of court cases against them. They owe me about £4k but I'm doing it in £750 chunks.

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

In my view:

 

1.This means that you will not be able to get the default removed whatever the outcome.

 

2.So,I feel that what I have previously mentioned is the best option.However,they maybe others that disagree.

 

3.A few months ago,I posted on within the same section of this forum (thread started by "Angrycat") regarding your similar problem which I would suggest that you read through.

 

Once you have done so and decide that you would like to draft a "Notice of Correction" I would be happy to help you do so.

 

4.Regarding your father being guarantor,you should mention to him that him being guarantor would only be affected if you and your partner defaulted on paying the rent which you are going see to pay 2 months upfront.

In saying this,he maybe more reassured and change his mind.

Just a thought.

[knoxvillain]

I don't understand why it would mean I can't get the default removed? How can they default me on a £1600 overdraft when they actually owe ME £4000 in unlawful charges?? also, I think they put the default on AFTER I started disputing the charges, I thought they couldn't default you if the amount was in dispute?

 

PS Do you have a link to that thread? I tried searching for posts of that username but the search says invalid username

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

1.This happens all the time regarding the defaults.

 

However you should be able to get it removed and get compensation for breaches in the Data Protection Act 1998(Section 13).

 

2.Whether it actually gets removed after this hearing is a different matter altogether.As you say you were defaulted after you started the legal action and legal action would clearly could not have included the removal of a default that did not exist at the time.

 

3.This is because you would have to win the case.What happens regarding the balance i.e.£4000 less the £750 claim?Are you going going to defaulted again with the revised figure? Probably not because most folks would not challenge/have the knowledge to do so.

 

ALSO...

 

Why did you not issue the claim using an address in England or Wales?Your case would have been much more clear cut then.

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

Regarding the thread:

 

1.I made a mistake regarding the original poster's username it is angry cat.

 

2.The link can be found on page 9 within the landlord and tenant section of this forum.My last post on this thread was on October 3,2006.

 

3.The thread is "Tenant Assessment Application Form/credit Referance Agency File" by angry cat.

[knoxvillain]

The default on my Overdraft is dated 15/09/06.

 

I've just looked back over my thread here and unfortunately it looks like they've defaulted me while I was still waiting on my statements to come. It took them ages to get my statements to me

The second default is for the BoS Loan that was coming out of that current account. Both the loan and the overdraft together come to less than £4000. Also, I don't believe I ever received a notice of intended default because I had moved house.

 

I was only in a position to be able to get my credit file in jan 07 and so wasn't sure who had defaulted me until then. They've also wrongfully entered a CIFAS entry on my file which I've wrote to them requesting remove and have heard nothing back.

[knoxvillain]

should I apply to the court to amend my original claim which is waiting on the return date at the moment?

 

Basically what happened was that I went over my £850 overdraft limit by about £50 on July 3rd 2006. I paid £700 into the account on July 17th and brought it back under the account limit. Between July 4th and 30th Sept 2006, I incurred £693 in unlawful penalty charges which was basically the straw that broke the camel's back and I had no alternative but to seek a debt management program.

 

During 2006 on my current account there was £1281 in unlawful charges on total. Because I was then over my overdraft limit, the D/D for my BoS loan started bouncing as well and they defaulted me on that too.

[knoxvillain]

*sigh* the landlord wants either a guarantor or all 6 months of rent in advance (£3300) which I don't have. the most I could manage is 2 months.

[missm]

can you not find a guaranteer?

[knoxvillain]

We tried but my dad isn't happy with what they have asked him to sign. He describes it as "a real cake and eat it document, the landlord can't lose" and says he won't sign it. Luckily he has offered to loan us the other 4 months rent so it looks like we'll be able to put up 6 months rent after all.

[knoxvillain]

They are saying that it will be a fixed 6 month lease. On the day we sign the lease we will be served notice that in 6 months our lease will terminate. Once the 6 months is over we will have to sign another 6 month lease and pay another 6 months up front (!) or vacate the property.

 

I'm guessing once we're in the house we'll be in a much better position to negotiate with the landlord and maybe we could work something out for the next lease whereby we maybe pay 3 months in advance and then the other 3 as normal. And then hopefully if we stay on for a 3rd six months we can do it as a normal lease.

 

Thoughts?

[MrShed]

My thought is that their demands are unreasonable. Unless you are particularly in love with this property, I wouldnt pander to them and would look elsewhere. What they are asking MAY also bring complications with notice periods, due to the 6 months payments, rather than monthly. Also, I smell the possible cash cow of the agents charging an unreasonable fee in 6 months for a new tenancy agreement.

[knoxvillain]

Its not necessarily that we're so in love with this property, it is a nice property but there are lots of properties out there. The two things that make me reluctant to pull out are this;

 

1. We stand to lose £150 we paid for credit checks along with £150 per applicant in admin charges. So we would lose £450 out of it.

2. The stress of this process has been bad enough without having to go through explaining our situation to another letting agent and wondering if we will get accepted. I have no options for getting a guarantor, my dad won't do it.

 

[MrShed]

I think the agent will be on dodgy legal ground if they attempt to retain that full £450 should you pull out....

[121o121]

I think you should put to them that you are willing to take on the property as an assured 6 month tenancy. Tell them that you are willing to pay the first 6 months rent upfront, but after that you will pay month by month.

 

My landlord wanted me to continue on a 6 month tenancy. However, I was unhappy to commit myself like that each time. If your circumstances change you are tied in for a 6 month period each time. It benefits the landlord, but not you.

 

I'm sure they won't want to lose you as a potential tenant.

 

JMHO