Renting question - all the money, but little else to offer

pounds_and_pensive

We're looking to rent a house and would probably have to go through a letting agency, as landlords who don't use these are a very rare breed around here. We can pay six months rent plus the deposit, but both have a sketchy (non-existent) recent employment history and are unlikely to come through a credit check with flying colours either.

Does anyone know if being able to pay all the money up front would be enough to overcome these obstacles?

silvercar

A lot of people are renting because they are not in the financial position to buy. I'm sure some landlords will look on the provision of 6 months rent favourably. When you visit agencies you need to be up front and then they will direct you to landlord's properties where they feel you will get a favourable response.

Good luck!

kindanice

A friend of mine had a CCJ, and was looking at a flat to rent. After she had looked at the flat and was interested in it, she explained to the estate agent that she had a CCJ (before she paid any money for a credit check), who in turn passed the information onto the Landlord. The Landlord was happy to allow my friend to rent, provided she paid six months in advance.

princess11_2

me and my partner have just moved into a rented house through an agentcy. Only he works and our credit history is not favourable( to say the least!) But as long as you find yourself a good reference nothing else seems to matter!! Also the letting agency said if you fail the credit check you can get a guarentor to put there name down for you for 6 months, or just pay the rent for 6 months as did my partners mum( she failed the credit check!) Hope this helps!

NervousYetFeisty

On the surface it looks as if nobody rents without an agent where we are, but through word of mouth places do come up. We once placed a Wanted ad in the local paper - worked a treat - and my Mum's place came up through a conversation with a local shopkeeper who knew a LL with a vacancy. He has several other properties too and won't touch agents. He also charges less than most, being happier to have good tenants that he has selected for himself. I know of many other people who have found places this way, so don't write it off entirely.

zar

We did this when we moved to Yorkshire from Wales for me to start my masters - my DH hadn't had a chance to find a job yet and although I had a funded place obviously I wasn't employed either. The agents were surprised but fine with it, and it made it cheaper as we didn't have to pay for the credit check, just some admin fees. When we left 6 months later as the landlady was selling, we discovered they'd never even told her about it! Guess the agency were glad to get the extra interest in the meantime. :rolleyes:

In one or two threads on here and HPC I've heard people say you can use this as a negotiating tool to get the rent down which would be great. e.g. instead of £600 a month, £2900 upfront plus deposit. The main worry for landlords is that they won't get the rent on time so I guess its extra security for them.

In our experience some agents stick to things by the letter, but others are more flexible when you actually talk to them. When we moved to Kent we were in the same situation, we needed to move for my phd and my DH moved and was unemployed when we got here again, some agents would talk to us when we said we could pay 6 months but the snooty ones practically chased us out of the building. :rolleyes: Luckily we saw an ad in the local paper and its all worked out very well - so much more civilised than dealing with agent bureaocracy!

We've had much less stress when renting privately than through agents, but I know what you mean about having a greater choice of property via agents.

pounds_and_pensive

Thanks everyone. I don't see why the situation should pose too much of a problem as long as I'm negotiating with a human and not trying to argue with some agency computer that only sees things in black and white.

I think the MoneySavingExpert forum-reading addiction I've developed since discovering the place only yesterday could ultimately become a bigger problem to tackle. For the moment though, I'm in control. I can stop any time I want to, honest. I WILL log off. Eventually...

zar

pounds_and_pensive wrote:

I think the MoneySavingExpert forum-reading addiction I've developed since discovering the place only yesterday could ultimately become a bigger problem to tackle. For the moment though, I'm in control. I can stop any time I want to, honest. I WILL log off. Eventually...

:rotfl: That's what we all say! Actually I go through phases of overdosing on here and then going into rehab for a while and trying to avoid it for a few weeks so I can try and get some work done!

Good luck with the house search, hopefully it will all go smoothly and you'll find a great place to live quickly.