Tenants - are you happy for your personal data to be shared ?

tbs624

HappyLandlord wrote: »

Surely everyone has heard the stories of Landlords not being able to pay their Mortgage because their Tenant has not paid their rent then the Tenant has the audacity to complain about being evicted by the Mortgage repossession company - LRS will help prevent this.

If you are a wise/experienced/professional LL you will have a contingency fund and or adequate insurance to cover the possibility of rent arrears. Let's have some balance.

Many of us have also heard of those Ts who *do* pay their rent on time (and are "good Ts in every other way) only to find that their LL has still not being paying the mortgage. Not only does the T get evicted through no fault of his/her own, its often the case that their deposit is not protected and has disappeared along with the LL. So, let's have a T equivalent of LRS - all LLs shoudl have to supply a similar level of intrusive information to their Ts on the off chance that the LL may turn out to be a wrong un.

HappyLandlord wrote: »

Landlords appreciate that Tenants move on, the same way that people who are in the position to do so, buy and sell their homes. I, as a Landlord would have absolutely no problem with recommending a Tenant but I would also alert another Landlord if the Tenant had been an inconsistent payer, in debt, had behavioural problems or drug/alcohol abuse etc.

Would you now,even if they were sitting tight in your property and you wanted them to leave *your property* on time, without you having to proceed to eviction?

HappyLandlord wrote: »

Forewarned is forearmed.

Many Ts would similarly love to be forewarned of their prospective LLs shortcomings, their propensity towards unlawful acts or omissions and so on.

HappyLandlord wrote: »

If you are a good tenant – what is the problem with this site? If you are a bad tenant - GOTCHA

If someone is a "good" T they have more reason than most to have a "problem with the site". And, as I said before, who vets the vetters?

john539

And how do tenants check their personal data is correct & get errors corrected ?

clutton_2

when a tenant alert is sent out from LRS - i do NOT get a name.... NOR do i get a NINO - i am not going to tell you what information i do get.

If i tell you what information i do get from LRS then "scroat" tenants will be able to circumvent these vetting procedures as well.....

john539

ali_pasaul wrote: »

from what I have read it seems that If a tenants name is wrong it won’t be them, if the corresponding NINO is wrong, it won’t be them, if the DOB is wrong, it won’t be them ,however if that is all right and the default amount is wrong or the property damage put forward by the landlord is wrong then the tenant can send the information to LRS and they amend their files as is with other credit referencing agencies and I assume that if the details entered by a landlord are proven to be wrong the tenant has just cause to bring a civil case against a landlord for defamation of character.

How can this information be given to 3rd party company without tenant's permission or knowledge ?

How many tenants know their information is on this ?

Who controls the information, the teanant (who's data it is) or the landlord (who supplied it) ?

john539

I'm sure there was a similiar cobbled togther database in news in last few years, without data owners knowing, don't remember it being this one.

tbs624

It's kinda funny that ali pasaul has the same "breathless" style of writing as Paul

tbs624

ali_pasaul wrote: »

I have just read the reply to happy landlord from Tbs624 ref: #62 I Quote “Whilst I can understand her distress at dealing with occasional difficult Ts, wow “OCCASIONAL DIFFICULT TENANT” – If that what you think you have no idea my friend what it is like when your property income and pension is under siege from a tenant and there is no laws instantly available to help you as you stand by helplessly watching your life get crushed. I think you need a spell on the front line in the claims department of your local housing office when the cheque ain’t come through to see what really happens.

Thanks for your response "ali".;)

As I have said to Clutton before ( she thanked your post so is included here) , it's best not to make assumptions about what other posters own specific experience is, as such assumptions generally tend to be misguided..

What I will say is that those LLs whose portfolio is largely comprised of properties let to LHA tenants do very well out of it on the whole. And of course, if they didn't , then they'd simply sell up and go and buy a florists shop in the suburbs instead wouldn't they?

Some prefer to rent to this sector not only because of the way the figures stack up so nicely over a period of years, but also because many of those Ts aren't "clued up" in the same way as Ts in other parts of the PRS are.

It's only one man's take on it but other readers of the thread can get a rough idea from tales such as this one in the Investors Chronicle.

tbs624

john539 wrote: »

How can this information be given to 3rd party company without tenant's permission or knowledge ?

Some LLs will include a vague smallprint para on their application forms, others probably wouldn't view it as necessary. Ts need to thoroughly check the small print, if any, and ask the questions.

john539 wrote: »

How many tenants know their information is on this ?

Very few,apparently, hence one of the the reasons for the OP

LydiaJ

ali_pasaul wrote: »

I have been watching this thread anxiously and have just read Lydia analogy on Mr Y has a friend, Mr Z, who doesn't know that he is beating his wife, if that ever happened I would eat Mr Y and Mr z’s hat less chance of winning the lotto than that one happening,

Do you not believe that there are men (or indeed women) who are violent to their partners? Or do you think that men who are violent to their partners are easy to spot so all their friends would know what was going on? Or do you think that LLs are such a wonderful and discerning group of people that none of them could possibly be friends with a wife-beater without knowing it?

Get real. My hypothetical situation is not likely to happen very often, but it's not impossible. Your comparison with winning the lottery is a good point - it may be very unlikely to happen to any one particular person, but most weeks it happens to somebody.

I'm still not convinced there isn't a major civil liberties issue here. Private individuals should be at liberty to apply for a tenancy privately - ie without identifying details being sent to potentially thousands of strangers.

Clutton declines to tell us exactly what information she is sent when she gets a rogue tenant alert, and nobody has told us exactly what is sent out as a request for an extended search (which is a particular concern because it may compromise the privacy of totally innocent people).

The safeguards may, for all I know, be absolutely watertight, but I'm afraid that without explaining precisely what information is and isn't sent out under what circumstances, you will not be able to set tenants' minds at rest by your unsubstantiated assertions that their personal details are being handled safely and appropriately. I am particularly alarmed by the way that the LRS website recommends an extra paragraph to go in tenancy agreements, and then says that it is absolutely fine to upload the data of past or existing tenants whose agreements did not have this extra paragraph.

I repeat, I understand the problems LLs face with bad Ts, and I support efforts to protect LLs by forewarning them if prospective Ts have a history of rent arrears and/or damage. I merely remain to be convinced that the way in which the LRS is trying to do this is a safe use of Ts' personal information.

sp1987

HappyLandlord wrote: »

If you are a good tenant – what is the problem with this site? If you are a bad tenant - GOTCHA

You are obviously a few spoons short for a soup eating party.

Bad tenants who intend to continue as such may use different names, fake references...whatever they like, to get what they want. I'm sure if they are keen to steal from people (whether that be doing a runner without paying rent, stealing items or stealing other property) aren't going to be too phased by making up false identities or doing something on the sly. Just like these cannabis houses; the tenants don't go 'ohhh well, I intend to grow cannabis plants everywhere but do you know what, I think I'll ensure I keep my personal details accurate and up to date and keep the interior paintwork well'. Just won't happen. The criminally minded don't suddenly start spouting truths.

It is people who pay their rent, live quietly but kick up a fuss when they are treated like idiots who will find this sort of website the most damaging. It will also be the some of small time landlords who consider the property as their 'other house' and not a business asset or the tenants home (the type who wanders in off the street letting themself in and commenting on the tenants home, possibly with no consent to let and an axe to grind as he may have had to pay out money to get the house to comply with statutory obligations) who could spend the most time writing incorrect reviews.