Renting whilst BR - avoid Homelet references!!!

Rosey321

Hi all

Haven't been on here for a few weeks - had my head in a book studying and writing many thousands of words for the last part of a qualification I am doing. Oh well, it has helped run down the time to AD which is now only a couple of weeks away!!!

Anyway, thought I must make time to warn any fellow post BRs or during BRs who fancy their chances of letting through a letting agency that uses Homelet. I believe it is becoming a bit more widely used business that allows letting agencies to outsource the credit and reference checking. In short, my advice to anyone thinking of letting through this means is DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!

Hopefully, my story will have a happy conclusion, but it will be no thanks to Homelet.

For the last year, our rented place has had problem after problem - mould, faulty boiler/toilet/shower, leaky roof to name but a few!
Time to move on we thought, and we went looking round the agents and saw a place that we really like.

I went to see the letting agents and explained that me and OH are BR. He said that as that was the case, we would need a guarantor who had a specific income based on a rent to income ratio. For info purposes, we was informed that for a house £750 p/m, our guarantor would need to earn 26K a year.

We was told about Homelet and immediately given forms that we would need to fill in and that our guarantor would need to fill in. It was explained that they would run credit checks and get references from our employers and current letting agents. Oh and it would cost £286 for the privilege although this would include set up fees as well for the both of us
We seeked reassurance from the LA (letting agent) that we wouldn't just be flushing this money down the toilet and we paid up.

Initially, it seemed the reference requests went out quickly - my boss and the letting agents received their enquiry forms that morning. That was about as reliable as it got. It soon became apparent that automated methods ruled rather than human common sense.

My application came back first. Excellent job references, excellent letting agent references, BR order = Unacceptable application

My wife's took over a week to come back as there was a delay with her employers. Same result as mine though and we started wondering what the point of the references actually was.

By this point (last Friday) things were getting critical as it was the day that we would need to give notice on our current property or have to stay another month. The LA mentioned that the landlords would be happy to proceed based on the guarantor's reference coming back satisfactorily.
We were so confident that there would be no problems that we took the big risk - and handed our notice in even though the new house had not been finalised.

In the meantime, our guarantor was still busy chasing a reference that had not come back in relation to him (9 days after being sent). A Homelet telephonist confirmed that they are an incoming call centre only and therefore don't chase or make calls going out. This contradicted a statement from earlier in the week when they stated they had tried phoning him and e-mailing him about this (although he had had no missed calls or e-mails).

Finally today, the reference did come back - there was no problems with his references at all and he met all the criteria. Surely this could only be good news?? No! Told not suitable 'although the guarantor passed with flying colours, the application was refused because of us'

Forgive me if I'm wrong - but what is the point of referencing a perfectly good guarantor if they are only going to turn us down anyway? The whole point of a guarantor was that we knew there was likely to be a problem, and we knew he fitted criteria set down by the LA.

I think one of Homelet's main problem is that they are a big outsourced nationwide organisation - therefore to them you literally are a number, as opposed to having decent personal contact with someone in a local branch. They are very geared for landlords and I think tenants are very insignificant human beings in their eyes.

I had got the impression that they would do an overall risk assessment rather than just a credit check but clearly being BR overrides all.

If they were really doing a proper overall score, surely all factors affecting our ability to pay should have been considered: Therefore, rather than look at what has happened in the past, shouldn't they consider factors like the following: household income of 55k, additional guarantor who has income of 30k, BR order means no other debts and rent is deemed an allowable expense, two sets of excellent job references which we have been in for years, an excellent set of estate agent reference proving always paid on time since start of current letting term, while keeping house in order.
By ignoring all these, aren't they doing their clients a disservice? Surely in cases of refusal, someone with a bit of commonsense should make a final decision.

Our guarantor phoned Homelet for an explanation anyway. They reiterated again that his reference was perfect but couldn't give a straight answer as to why it should be deemed a failure. The LA was equally confused and questioned Homelet's decision. I feel confused and feel like we have been robbed of the money we paid initially because we were so upfront at the beginning and I think had we been told that 'for two weeks, Homelet will make pointless reference requests even though they will fail you anyway', we may just have thought twice (not sure if the LA is somewhat to blame there though as well)

The good news though is that the landlord will hopefully ignore their advice as well. The LA has indicated that they are still keen to proceed as I think he has emphasised all of our good points. The LLs are of course still 'worried about the previous BR' and now it all hinges on a face to face meeting that we are going to have later this week. I think that seeing us is seen as the way to 'vet' us as opposed to being these faceless people that they have heard about.

I am very grateful that they haven't dismissed us completely and I look forward to proving to them that we will be able to meet their payments without problem and that we will love their home as if it was ours (well, hopefully it will be 'ours' soon) I gather they want to let long term as well which would be a great bonus for us.

Fingers crossed for the meeting anyhow, I think first impressions really will be vital!!! The outcome will hopefully provide a moral two fingers up at Homelet as well.

I'm sure I have not been the first, and will not be the last to be thinking along these lines... It just needs for some of these organisations to give us BRs a fighting chance once in a blue moon. This company though is unquestionably one of those companies that clearly will not.

Anyway, rant over!!!

So_Sad_Angel

Hi Rosey321

Can I firstly say thankyou for taking the time to post this very interesting warning. Homelet are indeed one of the largest LL credit vetting agencies & I think that they have taken £286 on false preteneses . Would be worthwhile checking clarification on their terms & conditions for `unacceptable applications`.

I hope it all works out for you & please keep us informed of progress. It is a warning to those looking for new rentals during BR. I`m not BR & my Homelet credit search failed....as I said it would but I paid 6 mths upfront so I too wondered why on earth a credit search was needed. I had to pay £155 for mine in Dec 08.

Good luck with everything.

Angiex.

Rosey321

Hi SSA

Yes, it just bemused us completely. Sure - we expect to fail a credit check and probably will do for years to come but why they include a guarantor option when they are still going to fail anyway is baffling.

I think that is terrible as well that you had to pay for a credit check when in fact you wasn't getting any credit as you was actually paying upfront!

So_Sad_Angel

I agree....there should be the either/or option...not credit check to be mandatory so that they can charge a hefty fee.

....& btw a credit check costs virtually nothing.!!!! I wonder what their fee structure is based on.

Anyway Rosey321 fingers crosed its all ok for you.

Angiex

MercMan

I've been really lucky. Although I'm not BR at the moment my credit history is a pile of poo. I offered 6 months up front to a letting agency and they said "No probs. No need for any references". They also said most landlords in my area would bite my arm off for 6 months up front as the market is dead at the moment. I even managed to knock the rent down by £30 pcm.

nervousmother

The charges are stupid, do you know when a letting agent does a credit check it costs the agent max £15? In our area it is normal for the agent to pass on the cost at £100 but this includes price for contract credit check and paperwork.

Even if you know you will fail the check on affordability the checks still have to be done incase there is anything more serious showing, eg fraud.

jellygirl_2

Thanks for this informative post. Im going through an application to rent a house right now - and the estate agent is using Homelet for credit checking. I informed the estate agent from my first enquiry that I was BR and would fail a credit check. I said I could pay 3 months rent up front and provide guarantor if needed. I was told by them that it shouldnt be a problem as I was in full time employment. I filled in the application form for Homelet last Saturday. My work referree got an email first thing this Monday, filled it in and sent it back straight away. Got a call from EA yesterday to say that my application to Homelet was 'unacceptable' and could I provide a guarantor and 3 months rent (plus 1 months rent as deposit) upfront as previously discussed. I said no problem and am waiting for the guarantor form to come in the post. i havent been advised about any required criteria regarding my guarantor (who is my father) - I mean he works part time and is of retirement age. But he will be credit checked anyway.

After reading your post, it seems my application may still be unacceptable and it will hopefully then be down to the opinion that the EA has of me (which is good as far as I know) and maybe even the LL if need be.

Its cost me £115 in fees and Ive been advised it wont cost anymore for the guarantor check to be done.

But should hopefully know sometime next week what the outcome is - of course the house is perfect, in the perfect location etc and I would hate to lose it - would be a big knock back but will see what happens.

So sounds like Homelet are a bunch of muppets, grabbing money of people they will never approve for renting, but hey, the time will come again when they will be begging people to rent - just give it a few years.

Rosey321

I wish you all the best jellygirl - keep us informed with how yours turns out.
It will be interesting to see how your guarantor application turns out as well.

I'm not sure if the 'rent-to-income' ratio which our guarantor had to meet was a policy of the letting agency or if it was a Homelet policy. Our LA seemed on the ball and got the figure straight away from a ready reckoner but not sure if it was a directive of Homelet.

Not sure if it is worth you investigating or having another willing guarantor to hand in case there is any problem (not that they are easy to find because there is not many people who you would want knowing your BR business of course!)

Anyway, I wish you all the best. We have our meeting tomorrow with the LL and have both exchanged text messages (!) with each other stating we are looking forward to meeting up.

Rosey321

To follow up from my previous posting, I have had a quick look around the net and it seems it is quite commonplace to ask that the guarantor earns about three times the annual rent.

This would be fairly consistent with our application, as the rent would be £9000 a year and they asked that he earn £26000 a year, just under three times.

I would hope that your three months upfront would mean a different criteria required though and all in all, I would hope that surely that must work in your favour.

Merlinexcalibur

Why does Homelet sound familiar ... vague memory of them being (possibly) on Watchdog once or something pretty similar. Just something about this just rang a bell.

jellygirl_2

Rosey321 wrote: »

I wish you all the best jellygirl - keep us informed with how yours turns out.
It will be interesting to see how your guarantor application turns out as well.

I'm not sure if the 'rent-to-income' ratio which our guarantor had to meet was a policy of the letting agency or if it was a Homelet policy. Our LA seemed on the ball and got the figure straight away from a ready reckoner but not sure if it was a directive of Homelet.

Not sure if it is worth you investigating or having another willing guarantor to hand in case there is any problem (not that they are easy to find because there is not many people who you would want knowing your BR business of course!)

Anyway, I wish you all the best. We have our meeting tomorrow with the LL and have both exchanged text messages (!) with each other stating we are looking forward to meeting up.

thanks - will update you as soon as I know what the outcome is. Have you had your meeting with the LL yet?