Homelet referencing anxieties

cee1985

My boyfriend and I have put in an application for our first rented house together through an independant estate agent. They rang us yesterday to say that the application had been accepted by the landlady and that it would go through to the credit check stage in which we have paid £211 for the two of us for..

The reference checks are done through HomeLet and I am slightly worried after some of the comments I have read on this forum.

Both myself and my boyfriend do not have any defaults or CCJS against us our loans/credit cards/phone bills are paid back on time and no payments missed. Also I am registered on the electoral roll (not entirely sure about my boyfriend on this one).

My slight concern is that as a security precaution, I have my bank information registered at my parents address and not at my current residential address. Although I have put all previous addresses on my application including my parents address - is this going to be a problem with the credit reference checks???

Apart from that being the only (potential) hiccup I cant think of anything that could go wrong? Both me and my other half have permanent, full time employment which a monthly income of approx £2500 between the two of us. Boyfriend is living back at his mum's at the moment but has rented before and I've never missed a payment on my current rent.

Any help would be appreciated as it is slightly worrying me now!

G_M

a) can't see the address causing a problem
b) Homelet are very similar to most of the other commercial vetting companies so another one would make little difference.

cee1985

Thank you for the response - I guess that puts my mind at ease a little!

I cant stand the waiting around, keep getting jittery about it! This is the first time i've rented through an EA as Ive been privately letting for nearly 3 yrs so its the first time I'm going through a credit check as such.

Oddly enough they kept calling my boyfriend this morning for an employer contact number (even though he provided one on his app form!) - as he's a mobile BT engineer he doesnt have a static address as he starts off from home, as does his team manager and they were properly hassling him for an address which he kept getting wound up about.

Not heard anything for myself though.....

clutton_2

as long a the information you have provided on your application is verified by the homelet searches that is all an agent and LL will be looking for

cee1985

Thanks.
Seeing as when I first posted this it was typed as I vented so didn't make much sense! Going to attempt to edit *deep breath*

I meant to say as far as I've been told from the EA my credit check and employment check has come back all OK (phew!) Its just my landlord check which they're waiting on plus some other things for my OH but didn't say what.

There has been a slight "hiccup" with my landlord reference however.

To put a long story short - I got offered a promotion to a different part of the country initially with no choice but to travel down or relocate. However after much negotiation today they've allowed me to take my promotion at a different office in the same part of the country where I am now. This sort of went in both mine and my OH's favour because he was having to move out from his sister's early for domestic reasons and we always talked about living together anyway. This was when we came across this lovely new house for rent and didn;t want to wait a second longer securing it - Admittedly done on impulse but we loved it and we wanted to do it. OH says he has enough money squirreled away to move out from his sisters anyway and a bit extra to help me out with any outstanding rent/bills on my old property.

I went to see my LL when I initially found out about my promo and told her the situation and where I stood. My current tenancy ends Sept 1st. I told her that I understand I would still have to pay the 2 months rent left and would happily do so whether I moved out early or not. I checked my current tenancy agreement and there is nothing in there about notice to leave during an AST. the LL said (verbally) that if I let her know a couple of weeks in advance if I decide to vacate early that would be "sufficient" but I wouldn't be able to do all leaving inventory checks until Sept 1st.

Unfortunately in between getting promo and me finding out I didn't have to relocate, I got a call from the EA saying that the LL had emailed them and was a bit dubious about giving them a reference. She told them about me relocating to another part of the country and that she had not received any notice from me to leave the property yet. When I called the LL to update her on the work/life situation she acknowledged this and said the EA could phone her directly and discuss it over the phone.

The agent did say that all they'd want to know from the landlord that I had been paying rent on time and that I haven't defaulted on my rent etc and that the house was kept in a tidy condition. Nothing was mentioned about a personal/character reference...

I just don't want the EA to think I'm telling porky pies here and for me to get a naff reference from my LL now

Yes I'd be renting two properties for a short period but me and my OH have enough put aside in the event of this occuring (he's even said he'd help out to clear the outstanding rent). But I have told my LL numerous times I'll pay the rent till Sept 1st anyway!

Also slightly concerned that my LL mentioned the work thing to the EA when all they wanted was a reference. Could it be classed as breach of Data Protection? or just the LL being sneaky?

*breathes out*

G_M

cee1985 wrote: »

Thanks.

Uuughh. sorry its long-winded and rambly!

Rambly. Good word. No idea what you wish to tell us/ask us.

A bit of punctuation, a few paragraph breaks, or just shorter sentences?

cee1985

Thanks for the pointers! Sorry about it initially as I was in a venting mood so it started off as that and not really asking for particulars.

Now I've managed to sit down and think about it calmly, I've edited it and included a couple more concerns.

HTH!

G_M

Very unclear still what you are doing with your current tenancy.

You say you and LL agreed you could give 2 weeks notice - this implies you would be ending the tenancy early and no further rent would be payable.

However:
"the LL said (verbally) that if I let her know a couple of weeks in advance if I decide to vacate early that would be "sufficient" but I wouldn't be able to do all leaving inventory checks until Sept 1st."

This + the fact you seem to be agreeing to pay the final 2 months rent indicates the tenancy will continue till sept 1st.

Since
a) you are apparantly a good tenant and
b) have no rent arrears and
c) intend to continue paying rent till your tenancy ends (sept 1st)
d) have not given (formal) notice to quit

I see no reason for the LL not to give you a good reference.

However you need to have a conversation with your existing LL to clarify that you have NOT given early notice, do not INTEND to give early notice, WILL be paying rent till sept 1st, but will not be renewing your tenancy after Sept 1st.

cee1985

I intend on moving out on the 31st July/1st August. By then the rent for August would've aready left my bank account anyway (it goes out on the 27th of each month).

Come 1st July when I should be expected to receive my S21 notice - I will tell them that I will no longer be renewing my tenancy after the 1st Sept but will not be in the property for most of August as oultined in my agreement (to notify LL if I am not going to be in the property for a period over 28 days) which I have told them numerous times! I am literally waiting for my S21 notice to come through the door any day now...then I can provide them this in writing as this always comes wth a reply letter attached outlining what I want to do.

After telling my boyfriend the situation he seems to get the impression that my existing LL are trying to con me into signing up for another fixed term with them hence unwilling wanting to provide a reference

G_M

You do not need a S21.
In fact you do not need to give your LL any notice...though it is polite to do so.

When your fixed term expires on sept 1st you can just move out.

If you move out earlier it does not affect the tenancy which continues till Sept 1st anyway.

The requirement about advising the LL if you are absent more than 28 days is entirely separate and is probobly a clause copied from the LL's building insurance policy.

Your boyfriend may be right - references can be like that. Same with job references. Sometimes an employer gives a good reference to a bad employee in order to get rid of them. Or vice verse.

cee1985

I hope that is not the case. As much as I have enjoyed living in my flat up to now, it is far too small for 2 people to live comfortably and we were looking for 2 bed properties for both boyfriend and myself anyway - unfortunately all the flats in this apartment are 1 bed/studios.

the EA will hopefully remember to get in touch with the LL Monday to hopefully get at least a reference to date so this can be sorted asap.

Few more checks to go, apparently boyfriend popped into the EA this afternoon and they told him they were just waiting for his employer reference and thats nearly all done, hopefully!