Credit check fees when renting - a way round them?

165721

Hi,

I wonder if it is at all possible to get round paying the fees that letting agents charge for credit checks (£35) as it only costs £2 or so to get one oneself? There are three of us and £100 seems a lot for £6 worth of information.

Has anyone had any luck with supplying your own credit search information as supplied by one of the referencing agencies? Will the letting agents accept them?

Hope someone can help,

Jack

CB1979_2

yes, but don't they reference check you?

not just a credit check, previous address, previous/current employer, ringing around, writing letters, etc??

real1314

165721 wrote:

Hi,

I wonder if it is at all possible to get round paying the fees that letting agents charge for credit checks (£35) as it only costs £2 or so to get one oneself? There are three of us and £100 seems a lot for £6 worth of information.

Has anyone had any luck with supplying your own credit search information as supplied by one of the referencing agencies? Will the letting agents accept them?

Hope someone can help,

Jack

I think the problem is that it doesn't cost landlords just £2 as it's on a different basis.
I have a contact that can get it done for £8 approx, but that's on an account basis.
One point is that if the gent is charging a fee for the checks, are you the sole (as a group) applicant?
Or are they charging a number of people, only to reject some as unsuitable and pocketing the residual amount of the fees/charges?

clutton_2

The legal basic credit check fee is indeed only £2 - BUT this takes a long time to come by post, and is not much more than a list of credit applications on a persons record. A landlord cannot normally wait several days if not weeks for this slow service. Faster service and more information costs more.

a landlord needs to have all the information on theTenancy Application verified - does the applicant live where s/he says s/he does ; does s/he work where s/he says s/he does; does s/he earn what s/he said s/he does; is s/he likely to be made redundant; what does the current landlord say about the applicant, and the landlord before that and so on and so on.

The type and number of checks that i do depends very much on the individual persons circumstances. IF i have doubts i will want a Guarantor who will also have to agree to these checks and who also has to pay me the checking fee. I would not offer a tenancy to anyone who does not agree to themselves being checked.

Dont forget that if there is more than one person on the AST that each of them is severally responsible for the whole rent should the others leave - i have to know that all the rent will be paid all of the time.

Some folks may think these forms are intrusive (driving license ID, NI number, wage slips, bank statments, ID etc) - but the many and various laundering regulations make it a similar complex matter to apply for just about anything these days.

i have heard of some agencies charging prospective tenants £350 to register and be chekced !!!!!

densol_2

If the costs is £100 for all three of you - that is not bad at all! I am sure we paid near £200 for the two of us when we had to rent a while ago.

Another thing if I was renting you a house and heard you were worrying over £100 I may a) worry you may not pay the rent if £100 is such a big deal b) worry you may cause me problems or c) not worry at all

What I am trying to say is be careful not to put the Lanlord off you over £100. As said above it is his agents fee for processing you etc. The credit agency stuff can only be sent to you direct if you go the £2 route. How can the LL be sure you have not say altered it or taken out a page etc.

All the best - what ever you do:A

Tassotti

Letting Agents in my area charge from £100+ for credit checks/referencing, so I think you are getting a bargain.

barnaby-bear

165721 wrote:

Hi,

I wonder if it is at all possible to get round paying the fees that letting agents charge for credit checks (£35) as it only costs £2 or so to get one oneself? There are three of us and £100 seems a lot for £6 worth of information.

Has anyone had any luck with supplying your own credit search information as supplied by one of the referencing agencies? Will the letting agents accept them?

Hope someone can help,

Jack

We put only my wife through rather than both of us - she earned slightly above the threshold to pay the entire rent - hence checked on one person rather than two so half the price. Since both could be wholly liable they just wanted someone they'd checked who could cover entire rent. Check just one of you if you can cover whole rent.

165721

Thanks for your input. There is a £100 fee then the £100 (3 x £35 odd) credit check fee, as told by the letting agent. They said they will check everyone. Re. not wanting to pay £200, its nearly Christmas (plus its my car tax/insurance month)!! I pay rent anyway so thats not a problem, its just the extra expense at this time of year. Not to worry thanks again for the input and the insight.

Never been credit checked for a house before (for 5 properties) so a little worried, what happens if one person is turned down?

Tassotti

If one is turned down, a guarantor will be required for that person

Kruger

We got lucky with our most recent flat that myself and girlfriend rent, we looked at 10 and only 1 was a private landlord, we went private in the end as the thought of spending £170 - £340 for agents fees, and credit checks put us off, I failed a credit check only a couple of months previously for another house we had, I failed because my earnings were not sufficient but my girlfriend could have covered it herself, we were only there for 3 months, but luckily new tenants were found, the previous letting agent wouldnt accept a guarantor and we ended up paying 6 months rent up front, throughout the whole process I thought we were treated like 2nd class citizens.

movieman

Personally I was more concerned about vetting landlords last time I moved: given how many are subsidising their tenants these days, or renting out part of their house because they can't afford to pay their mortgage, I didn't want to be in a place that got repossessed while I was living there.

Remember, in most parts of the country there are far more rental properties than tenants... there are vast numbers of empty BTL flats around here.