Black listed tenants?

RumanaB

Hi,

I have a property which is currently being rented out but the tenants are due to move out soon. Today there was a viewing to potential tenants and although they were interested in the house itself, they were not impressed with the current tenants. Their concern was that the tenants were black listed (due to taking out loans) and that this would therefore make it difficult for themselves to take out a loan while staying at the property...is this actually something that could happen? And if so, is there a way to make sure that the house isn't black listed due to the fact that these people are tenants and don't actually own the house?
Thanks.

Rumana

anniecave

black listing is a myth..

everyone is credit scored individually based on their own circumstances. Where you live may make a difference, but only as an overall risk profiling (someone who lives in a nice area of london profiles better than someone who lives in a dodgy area of somewhere else) and that is only a very small part of your credit score. Every credit provider has their own credit system anyway.

Whether there are unpaid bills or not, the new tenants will still need to contact utility providers, council tax etc to get new accounts set up for them.

poppysarah

edit: it's people not property. That's the theory. Remove them from the council tax register and bills and they should cease being a problem..

Millburn_farm

As far as I'm aware it's down to people not addresses, and the credit they have now; so that my hubby and I who have no debts and no credit and enough assets and don't move about; actually have a crap credit rating; purley because we don't buy things on credit

anotherpaul_2

I suspect the only situtation they could have a problem with this is if they happened to have very similar names to the current tenants.

tbs624

theartfullodger wrote: »

.........In my humble experience sadly many tenants get debt-chasing letters (judging by stuff I find after they've gone..).

but that's not what the OP was asking about. The prospective tenants want to know whether they would be unable to get credit themselves because of the previous tenant's bad debts.The answer is, as some of the others have said, that it shouldn't affect them. A new T can always write to the 3 main credit check firms and ask for a note to be attached to their file saying that they understand that the previous occupant of their new home has unpaid debts & can their file be marked to show no personal association.

theartfullodger wrote: »

I'm still waiting for the bailiff/sheriff to turn up at my front door one day and start threatening me unless I pay up for the aforementioned tenant/tell them where they've gone.. if it does happen should I decline, politely, to help them??

If you get demands for debt repayments that are nothing to do with you return them to sender, marked as such, or call the firm concerned and tell them that the former T does not live there any longer. If the bailiffs turn up you simply have to be polite, but firm, & refuse access as the debts are nothing to do with you . If the bailiffs start asking you to produce birth certs/driving licence/passport to prove your ID just say no, because you are under no obligation to do so. (If you are worried you can always ask your LL to give you a letter that states clearly that the former tenant left on x date and that you are the new tenant effective from x date, or simply suggest that they talk direct to the LL if they want confirmation ). It is not your reponsibility to provide forwarding addresses for previous tenants - their whereabouts are, after all, nothing to do with you. If the bailiffs become threatening or try to effect entry of the property ( which they shouldn't, as there is a code of conduct) then phone the police and tell them that there are people trying to break in to your home.

Millburn_farm

Actually; it is by name not the address

I had tenants who I know were tens of thousands in debt (including after I'd taken them to court £9,000 to me) my present tenant moved in following them and hasn't had any trouble at all

I did, after I'd found their new address, pass it on to everyone who was chasing them; from the gas board to Next

Millburn_farm

they left it all there; all open

along with 16 lightbulbs, not one working and all on my settee, 3 weeks rubbish, in binliners behind my attic door, for which they'd changed the lock and not left a key, the remote for their top of the range flat-screen TV (which they owed £800 on to a local shop) dirty underwear, loads of almost empty soft drionks bottles; plus the mud and !!!!! their puppies (not allowed in the tenancy agreement) had trailed through


I know I didn't have the means or energy to persue them for the money, but as they tried to prosecute me for theft for the remote mentioned above, (I was actually asked to go to the local police station where I was questioned :eek: ) and the damage and unpaid rent amounted to so much, the £300 to get the debt on record was a drop in the ocean, so I got vengeful

princeofpounds

The advice above is correct- credit records are done by names and addresses are associated. Address blacklisting hasn't occurred for decades now.

You can see how this works by signing up to a service like creditexpert, run by experian, the biggest agency. There is a free trial period a search mse for the details.

Just make sure to remove old tenants from council tax, utilities, electoral roll and return their post to sender. This isn't specifically to help the credit score, just neat admin. Only worry if you share the same name!

Debt collectors are no trouble, refuse access and point them in the right direction. They are 95% polite and untroublesome.