Advice needed RE: family member giving false refs??

DVardysShadow

amarrah wrote: »

... I cannot put her up as I simply don't have the room (and I'm only renting myself and my LL wouldn't allow it; I've checked)

So this 'reference' does not even pass the plausibility test? You are on a hiding to being found out.

edit: Suppose the 2 landlords know each other?

amarrah

Hi, no I haven't offered them 6 months' rent in advance as unfortunately I'm not that well-off, that I can afford almost £4000 without saving for months - and obviously my sister doesn't have that much time to wait.

It IS pretty much her only option I'm afraid, I just posted on here to see what the legal implications were; as long as she makes sure she pays the rent, surely there couldnt be any comeback?

amarrah

The only other thing I can think of that may help my sister out, is that the local council run a deposit guarantee scheme.

Obviously they won't need to cover the deposit, if that's what the normally do (I haven't looked into it yet, just googled it) but would they act as a guarantor somehow, and would any landlords or letting agents be willing to accept this do you think; if they had the months' rent in advance, deposit plus extra month's rent on top of the council acting as guarantor?

BitterAndTwisted

amarrah wrote: »

I just posted on here to see what the legal implications were; as long as she makes sure she pays the rent, surely there couldnt be any comeback?

Don't be so sure. You've already been warned that the truth would be very easy to uncover and that you run the risk of being prosecuted for fraud. What more disincentive could there be?

A "Deposit Guarantee Scheme" is a million miles away from being a guarantor for the entire duration of a tenancy! I'd be bliddy annoyed if my Local Authority chose to p1ss away my Council Tax in such a potentially disastrous way.

amarrah

Well in that case, there ARE no other options, are there?

I am very close to my sister AND nephew, and there's no way I'd have my sister's child out on the streets. I'd rather risk fraud (and, is that likely - as long as the rent got paid??) than have that happen.

I'm just trying to assess the risks - as in, if false references WERE given, how likely is it that my name would be linked with her previous adress - or not, as the case may be - do they credit check the refs, or just ring them and ask if they know the person etc.?

TrickyDicky101

You could easily end up with a criminal record if you go down this route (a police caution AFAIK would go on your record for example). It seems a very big risk for you to take with unknown future implications eg if you want to buy a place at some future point or wish to work with children or even to you in your current job.

I realise you want to help your sister out but I would suggest this needs an awful lot of thought before you do this.

Jowo_2

amarrah wrote: »

...She has only recently started paying off the arrears, as she has only recently (in the last 4 months) started work - before that she was unemployed, so on less money. Also, toddlers tend to 'eat' money, as I know from experience (I have one myself). There's always something they need

...

Rent is a priority debt.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/PlanYourWayOutOfDebt/DG_10013291

As a single parent with a child under the age of 8, she qualified for income support and be eligible to receive Local Housing Allowance so if she spent her rent on other things, this is why she is now made herself homeless.

She would have been eligible for tax credits, child benefit and council tax rebate and may have got somewhere in the region of £140 in her hand each week with no council tax and possibly not a penny of rent to pay if her LHA fully covered the rent. What on earth has she spent 2 months rent on?

Her options do indeed include staying on in that property until the landlord gains a court order, by which time, she will have paid off the sum she owes the landlord.

Since she is working, she may very well be able to borrow money to pay more rent upfront. Something like a credit union would be a good bet.

If the council do place her in a hostel, this will be as an interim measure only (but I'm not sure of the maximum duration for this, so check with Shelter).

The Shelter website is a good source of information to help her understand her options and the councils obligation to her (which could be limited as they could consider that she made herself intentionally homeless if she could have paid the rent but chose not to).

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/homelessness

Jowo_2

I'm not aware of the legal implications of the OP supplying a false reference for the tenant - would it not simply be a civil matter rather than criminal?

But as stated before, a decent tenant screening check will detect that the false address supplied doesn't match with the tenant's credit history.

Jowo_2

amarrah wrote: »

Well in that case, there ARE no other options, are there?

I am very close to my sister AND nephew, and there's no way I'd have my sister's child out on the streets. I'd rather risk fraud (and, is that likely - as long as the rent got paid??) than have that happen.

You and your hubby could move into a 3 bed property and welcome your sister and nephew into your home until she gets her financial situation more stable and repairs any damage to her credit record.

amarrah

Jowo wrote: »

You and your hubby could move into a 3 bed property and welcome your sister and nephew into your home until she gets her financial situation more stable and repairs any damage to her credit record.

Nice idea but that's simply not possible for reasons I won't be going into on a public forum.

As for the 'two months' rent someone wrote about in a previous post; what happened (this is only what I heard from my sister) is she got the forms for housing benefit when she moved in, but didn't have a tenancy agreement at the time - she paid a reduced deposit as well, I think - and mistakenly thought that she could only send the form in when she had a tenancy agreement - so she waited 4 weeks for the landlord to get one to her. Then it took another 2-3 weeks for the HB to go through, was giving the landlord the odd £50-£70 which is all she could spare at the time. The apparently she had a month around xmas last year when the HB was paid into her account, some direct debits came straight out of the cheque and she gave the LL the rest, but couldn't afford to make up the rest of the rent money. This happened again a few months later, I think. I don't know exactly how much she owes but was in the region of a month and a bit's rent and then once the HB went through she was meant to be paying £40 a month, which she didn't so that little bit has added up as well.

That's the general gist of it I think, anyway!

About the false address thing; would they really link my name to her address? Sorry to keep asking that but I'm still confused; if I said that I was her LL and owned the property that she currently lives in, then surely credit checking me would just show my credit history, and not my addresses? And even if it showed my address, where do they check that I own the property - as a LL doesn't always live at the property they own, do you see what I mean?