6 months rent no credit check?

diegogarcia12

Hi, I am self-employed with one year accounts but this is apparently not good enough for HomeLet, the referencing company that did my referencing for a flat I want to move into.

I therefore offered 6 months rent but was declined. This is really strange because a similar thing happened not long ago (different letting agent/referencing co) and although my initial referencing was deemed to "high risk" I said I would put down 6 months rent in advance and they said it was fine (i later decided this property was not for me).

Can anyone tell me why a letting agent will not accept 6 months rent in advance with no credit check? It's not as if I'm going to do a runner, but even if I do, they have my money!

Any advice? I need to move in by the end of this week. I've read about ASTs here, do they usually require credit checks?

scrummy_mummy_2

Everyone is increasingly risk averse currently......it is ultimately up to the agent if the '6 months up front' arrangement is acceptable and they may just consider you too much potential trouble at the minute. Remember, agents wasnt to make as much money from as little effort as possible currently and don't want any hassle in doing so...they see you as potential trouble (sorry, but that is a short sighted view, but common one...not one held by me by the way!)

It is a simple case of 'computer says no...' Unfortunately, they don't stop to think about it hemselves and rely on computers to do the thinking/risk analysis for them.....

I have just taken on a guy who was declared bankrupt and is putting 6 months down....but am a private LL and didn't even bother to ref him cos I knew he's fail miserably!
Least he was honest with me and, to be honest with you, he's a better 'risk' to me because I stand to loose less money if he doesn't want to move out and won't pay at the end of the initial AST than a 'normal' ref and crdit checked tenant!

Try another agent....

PasturesNew

It is difficult if you don't fit into their neat box.

I had trouble when I became an STR because I moved to a new area, with no job. I literally just turned up in a town, booked into a hotel and thought "OK, I'll live here then". So no job, no employer. No guarantor possible. I had 6 months' rent money and they asked the LL and the individual LL said it was OK. I even offered to show them my bank account (STR fund) statement and they said "We don't take bank statements as proof because you could have spent that the next day"

It's a shame there isn't a better/cheaper/quicker way to get the OK for private rented.

diegogarcia12

PasturesNew, so when you say "they" I guess you mean the letting agent? Can I ask how long ago this was?

What I'll do is ring up the letting agent and put down the offer for 6 months rent and then ask them to get in touch with the landlord to see what s/he says. I just hope this works!

Notlob

Suggestion, offer the full six months up front then agree to commence normal monthly payments after 4 months. The logic! If you default on a payment, the landlord can serve the required notice in the knowledge that they have at least that amount covered. You will get this money back by not paying the last 2 months rent.

Usually this works better where a new tenancy is agreed, as that will only commit you to 2 months rolling credit.

I hope this makes sense, but let me know if you require clarification.

Notlob

poppy10_2

diegogarcia12 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me why a letting agent will not accept 6 months rent in advance with no credit check?

Some of them have a "computer says no" mentality, if your application is rejected by the online system they can't seem to understand that there may be valid reasons for that and that they can override the decision. Don't take it personally, as a doctor I've had rejections in the past because technically I'm only on 6monthly training contracts rather than a permanent post. I've always been able to sort it by having a world with the letting agent and offering to pay 3 months rent in advance if necessary. Most are sensible about it.

Gingernutmeg

OH and I have this problem as OH is self employed, and we've been told in the past that some letting agents (specifically in our case MARAS) will 'fail' a self-employed person as a matter of course and will always advise a LL to ask for a guarantor and/or six months in advance. From personal experience this is something we'd rather avoid as the one time we did that, it seemed to give the agency carte-blanche to basically ignore us for six months, i.e 'we've got your cash so sod off and shut up', no maintenance got done and all of the problems with the property were ignored right up until the point where we were due to start paying monthly again. We don't ever want that experience again so we always ask who they're using for referencing and if it's MARAS, we walk away. We also go in completely honestly, explain about OH being self-employed and ask them whether that's going to be a problem and what their policies are - again, if they say they're definitely going to want six months in advance, we walk away. We've lost holding deposits over that and we've learnt our lesson, check well before you hand over ANY cash! It's not that it's a problem doing that but as I said, in our experience it leads to a real lack of respect from the agency (not that you get much anyway), I'd rather that money was making me interest and in the current climate, I'm not happy to hand that amount of cash over to a LL or LA, not when I can't see the state of their finances ...

We've never had a problem with Homelet though, so I think it's a case of 'shopping round' a few agencies and seeing who they use. Like I said we've always had problems with MARAS, but we've been ok with Homelet. It could be if you've 'failed' with them before that might be causing a problem?

tbs624

diegogarcia12 wrote: »

Hi, I am self-employed with one year accounts but this is apparently not good enough for HomeLet, the referencing company that did my referencing for a flat I want to move into.

I therefore offered 6 months rent but was declined. This is really strange because a similar thing happened not long ago (different letting agent/referencing co) and although my initial referencing was deemed to "high risk" I said I would put down 6 months rent in advance and they said it was fine (i later decided this property was not for me).

Can anyone tell me why a letting agent will not accept 6 months rent in advance with no credit check? It's not as if I'm going to do a runner, but even if I do, they have my money!

Any advice? I need to move in by the end of this week. I've read about ASTs here, do they usually require credit checks?

Why are you going through a letting agent?

Contact the local LL Association for names of self-managing LLs and deal direct: you are less likely to be slammed for "Admin fees" etc.The local Chamber of Commerce will usually have contact info or just do a yellow pages or google search for your town/city and "LL association"

Also look at letalife, gumtree, vivastreet etc.

Some may use the same referencing companies - others may have different criteria.

Notlob's idea of not only paying 6 month's upfront but then paying additional rent in advance is lunacy IMO, especially at the moment. Lettings Agencies can go to the wall, LLs can go bankrupt and have the property repossessed - you can end up not only with no home but considerably out of pocket.

Notlob

tbs624 wrote: »

Notlob's idea of not only paying 6 month's upfront but then paying additional rent in advance is lunacy IMO, especially at the moment. Lettings Agencies can go to the wall, LLs can go bankrupt and have the property repossessed - you can end up not only with no home but considerably out of pocket.

I wouldn’t go as far as that. All I am saying that from month 4 the tenant starts paying their normal rental payments which results being in a 2 month rolling credit. The tenant just does not pay their last 2 months rent when notice has been served. It is not too onerous and is simply a suggestion to put forward to the landlord as they have not accepted six months up front.

Notlob