Refused rental due to the fact I am on a contract!!!

ashley79

mustrum_ridcully wrote: »

However you could warn the general public about letting agent by posting their name and location here. After all £100 is very poor value for money and MSE is here to help people save a few bob.

:whistle:

that is a good point but do need to make sure I am making the right accusations. the 4 Fs and all that. Findout, Full, Facts, First. If i request my credit report and they refuse to give it to me then i will name and same.

ashley79

tbs624 wrote: »

Write formally to the LA requesting a partial refund.

Had they asked you specifically about your employment? You say that there was a specific box on the form which they ticked?

If they are experienced & regularly use that 3rd party agency then they should know that those on temp contracts may be turned down and warned you of this.

A third party check costs anywhere from around 15 quid to 50 quid. Most LAs wouldn't even start on other refs until they had that check back.

The alternative is that you consider downloading the LLs name and address from the Land Registry(4 quid fee) and try talking to him/her direct. It is always possible though that its the LL him/herself who has decided that its not a risk s/he wants to take.

Contact the local Council for a list of Private sector LLs who self- manage so that you get to talk to the organ grinder, rather than a monkey. Many self managers don't charge more than the actual 3rd party checking fee.

Great sound advice there. your right. I will look in to this side of things. I just feel cheated that's my point. I would pay there ridiculous fees if I got the keys from them but to pay £100 for nothing. I would rather buy a bunch of strangers a round of drinks than give it to a flash git in a suit.

Cheers for your assistance on this.

ashley79

G_M wrote: »

You did not 'fail' the credit check. Credit checks do not give a pass/fail, they simply provide information about you to the LL (or his agent). It is then the LL's decision whether to rent to you or not, based on all the information he has (though some LLs delegate this decision to their agent).

If the LL (or his agent) prefer to rent to someone in fulltime permenant employment, which clearly provides more security for the long-term commitmen to pay rent, then that is their choice.

It is, however, always worth being very upfront with LLs/agents about ALL your circumstances before paying for a credit check. If you had a CCJ, for example, when this showed up on your credit check many (most) LLs would decline you. However, if you discussed it openly first, the LL might say "well provided everything else is OK I'll overlook that 4 year old CCJ". Then it would be worth paying for the credit check.

Thats the thing. I was honest with the LA and I told him I was splitting up from my partner and wanted to rent the flat on my own. It has been a while since I rented and was told I would have to undertake a credit check. I told him i not been on the electral register for 2 years and know that has affected me previously. I requested to do it in my partner/ex partner for this reason and he declined saying we were splitting up fair enough. We went thorough my concerns but have no adverse credit. He said there would be no problem with my application and i was very apprehensive regarding this. I was not declined due to bad credit just that my contract is a rolling one and not permanent. Not the fact I earn more than enough to pay the rent. So to be declined on this point is really annoying and feel it was the only way possible to reject me and he took it.

I am probably being paranoid but that's how i feel tight now.

Thanks for your input.

ashley79

docmaggiemay wrote: »

Also the referencing process should be about more than just a credit rating. It also should include checking references, previous addresses, confirming employment, income etc. That's why it's more expensive than what the banks do. 100 sounds a bit much though -as a private landlord you can get them done through various agencies for about 70 for a full reference, 30-40 for a more basic one. But it depends what they did.

They did all those checks i gave addresses for 4 years that was fine and they contacted my boss to confirm wages and that I work there that was fine.

I was rejected due to the contract length. but as the last post said he would not reject someone on that basis alone just would like a bit more assurances. Which is fair enough.

mustrum_ridcully

ashley79 wrote: »

that is a good point but do need to make sure I am making the right accusations. the 4 Fs and all that. Findout, Full, Facts, First. If i request my credit report and they refuse to give it to me then i will name and same.

That sounds perfectly reasonable. I've been in the situation where I've been on a short term fixed contract and looking for rented accommodation, thankfully this was last century (12/13 years ago actually, but it seems a very long time ago - before the rise of the amateur BTL landlord which seems to have changed things). So if I was in your situation, I'd complain to the LA, ask for a refund (maybe not 100%) and let them know I'm happy to go public with my complaints.

No matter how amateurish they are LAs & LLs are businesses at the end of the day. Shops, gyms, banks are all complained about here every day and named and shamed when they offer a bad service or overcharge - a LA or LL shouldn't get a special exemption.

Bonny1

Sounds like this Agency have a Smashing little earner.. it's a WIN/WIN for them huh?

tbs624

mustrum_ridcully wrote: »

No matter how amateurish they are LAs & LLs are businesses at the end of the day. Shops, gyms, banks are all complained about here every day and named and shamed when they offer a bad service or overcharge - a LA or LL shouldn't get a special exemption.

See https://www.allagents.co.uk

ashley79

Yeah it got me thinking. If i were to have a shed load of money it would be a nice mortgage payer. Get a property pretend to be selling it but say i need to run some checks first for a fee £100 then say sorry you failed and leave it there. Could pay the mortgage no problem. I'm not that type of person though and feel really angry about it.

I have contacted the agent via email as im busy all day to get angry on the phone. I have asked for a copy of the credit check after all its my £100 piece of paper im entitled to it. I also mentioned I have a part time job which I have had for over a year. I never mentioned this as I didn't think my job situation would be the one thing that let me down. I have now said they can reference that job even though im part time there as well I have had the position for over a year. I don't want to lose my £100 and cant see me getting a refund when they kept on mentioning that it was 'non refundable'

Crooks.

nzseries1

ashley79 wrote: »

Yeah it got me thinking. If i were to have a shed load of money it would be a nice mortgage payer. Get a property pretend to be selling it but say i need to run some checks first for a fee £100 then say sorry you failed and leave it there.

It is for EXACTLY this point how I don't see that agencies can get away with this, and one of the reasons why I will never, ever, ever use any agent again (I'll use private landlords only, even if it vastly reduces my choice of property).

If you don't lie on your application form, and you get refused the flat for *ANY* reason, *ALL* your money should be refunded, IMHO.

ashley79

You should only get charged for moving in admin fees not get charged to be rejected for no real reason other than the agent can decided to take your cash then say no. I would never give £100 to someone on a 50/50 bet but these odds were more like 5/95. I never had a chance and they knew that cos they are scamming us out of cash.