First Time Tenant - No Proof of Income/Eligible Guarantor, and a bit Clueless!

G'Meister

Hi

I work for myself, and have saved up enough for a deposit on a house, whilst living at home with my parents, but I'm unable to get a mortgage because I don't have any proof of income, and wouldn't want to buy in the current climate anyway.

So I'm renting. I've put down £100.00 deposit to take a flat off the market, and paid a further £50.00 for "referencing", and been handed a couple of forms.
I haven't haggled on the rent, nor asked about service charges, admin costs, etc etc, basically I've thrown out the rulebook and done things all wrong.

But I don't have to continue this way, I haven't signed a tenancy agreement yet, so I can right those wrongs .

Unfortunately, I've got a hurdle to get over first - I'm a Sports Arbitrage Trader. What that basically means is I fall into a "gray area" whereby I pay no taxes, don't have to register as self-employed, etc. There's been discussion at length on the tax implications of this activity on the MSE "Gambling Loopholes" subforum, and we've collectively with the help of professional legal advice come to the conclusion that it is non-taxable, but perfectly legal and above board.
I should probably mention how much I earn. In excess of £30,000 a year.
I hope no offence will be taken at my request that no further details of this activity are asked for, the nature of it means I have to be quite secretive about the ways and means of such activities.

Anyway, that leaves me with no proof of income, despite my income being substantial. But I'm not overly concerned about this; I'm going to state my income and hope they don't ask for proof - the referencing form asks for my "solicitor/accountant's" details, I intend to simply state I prepare my own accounts, and hope they don't ask for a copy of them.
But I have over £20,000 in the bank, do I need to go down this path, or could I simply put down a bigger deposit...

I've also, as a self-employed individual under 23 years of age (just) been asked to provide details of a Guarantor. My Dad is selling the family home and renting himself, and has CCJ's, so will not be able to sign for this. Could I again just make this problem go away by giving a bigger deposit - the problem being, I don't have anyone who could sign as Guarantor, as they need to be a home owner.

Writing all this out, the solution seems quite simple; explain my situation to the lettings agent and let them decide. I'm not concerned about the £150.00 I've laid out at all, but I don't want to walk away from this property, it's perfect.

But if I was going to look around, I'd like to deal with a private landlord, a proper, accredited one with a good reputation, so I could avoid all these formalities. I've been looking for their adverts but they all seem to be renting very expensive, or very cheap, properties, nothing suited to me that I've seen. Do you know some good websites where I can specifically search for properties advertised by Private Landlords? Google shows up plenty of sites; I've no issue with quantity, it's the quality that's lacking.

Thanks very much for any advice you can impart, very much appreciated .

milliebear00001

If you want to rent without proof of income, you are likely to be asked for a guarantor or to pay for the whole of the rent upfront (i.e. 6 month contract). Looks like the latter may be your best option.

I'm not sure what you mean about avoiding 'formalities' - I don't know of any letting agent or LL who would not want to see proof of income/guarantor/credit reference etc. Otherwise, how would they have any idea if you can afford the rent?

Do I assume you gamble for a living? If so, I would be loath to tell a LL this as most (I think) would be highly reticent about lending to you, despite your obvious success so far!

fatpig_2

Yep, pay the six months rent up front and that'll do for most landlords

RecoveringAlcoholic

Sports Arbitrage Trader = Professional Gambler.

G'Meister

fatpig wrote:

Yep, pay the six months rent up front and that'll do for most landlords

Would you recommend I tell the Letting Agent to skip the Referencing Process and offer them 3 months rent as deposit, and a further 3 months rent, and then agree to pay rent monthly so it's always 3 months ahead, on top of the deposit. Sounds fine to me; if I'd chosen one of the flats I was looking at in Canary Wharf might've screwed up my cashflow a bit but this is quite cheap flat by comparison .

misskool

Gnomemeister wrote: »

Would you recommend I tell the Letting Agent to skip the Referencing Process and offer them 3 months rent as deposit, and a further 3 months rent, and then agree to pay rent monthly so it's always 3 months ahead, on top of the deposit. Sounds fine to me; if I'd chosen one of the flats I was looking at in Canary Wharf might've screwed up my cashflow a bit but this is quite cheap flat by comparison .

You can ask for them not to take a reference but they will be reticent on doing so. they need to check on your ability to pay the rent for the term of the AST.

You can offer to pay 6 months rent upfront but if you don't have proof of employment they may think that you could be a front for illegal activities. Put yourself in their shoes and see what's the best scenario you can come up with.

RabbitMad

RecoveringAlcoholic wrote: »

Sports Arbitrage Trader = Professional Gambler.

Not really as he's not gambling

huntersc

Re. sports arbs, as I understand it, with interest rates where they are at the moment, isn't it a lot less hassle to just put your money in a savings account? Sure there's tax but you could spend the rest of the week sitting back with a beer and make almost as much. If not then I might have to look into it if you can get a regular return of over 7%.

G'Meister

huntersc wrote: »

Re. sports arbs, as I understand it, with interest rates where they are at the moment, isn't it a lot less hassle to just put your money in a savings account? Sure there's tax but you could spend the rest of the week sitting back with a beer and make almost as much. If not then I might have to look into it if you can get a regular return of over 7%.

You know, you could sell all your money for Zimbabwean Dollars and get incredible interest rates, well over a million percent I seem to recall .

mlz1413

see the thread labelled 'for Clutton and others' it's a LL view on accepting someone who pays rent 6 monthly in advance. Might help you see the problem from the other side of the coin.

Also re your reference I'm assuming you don't have a bad credit history so I would offer them 6 six months in advance and then offer to pay monthly in advance from say month 4 so that you are really 2 months ahead. They will probably want a deposit as a seperate value as that has to be put into a Deposit Scheme and therefore is not (instantly) useable funds if you default. Also offer a guarantor as it shows that someone is willing to voucher for you and gives LA/LL a different address if you disappear one night.

Due to the type of 'business' you are in you will always have problems getting credit as you have no record of earnings so you will either have to always buy things with cash - this includes a house - or set up a legal business that shows does show income and outgoings, even if the profits are relatively small it will show up and thats a good thing.