Renting with no references and no credit history?

Grace444

My partner is looking to rent his first home.

He has a full time job, a little savings, and plenty of ID. He can get personal references but as he still lives with parents he has no references from previous landlords.

He also has no credit history whatsoever. Every agent we have been to says they take a credit check, so this is worrying him. We read that he can use a guarantor, but there's no one willing to do this for him. I can't do it myself as my own credit history is shocking.

Before he starts making expensive applications only to be rejected, is there any hope? We naively went skipping into the estate agents thinking it would be simple, and at the moment it feels like it won't ever happen.

Any experiences or advice would be gratefully received.

HappyMJ

As he has no credit then it will be fine as there aren't any ccj's, defaults or late payments.

property.advert

Pull his files from the reference agencies. If his credit is fine, even without any positives, then it should be ok.

Standard answer for references is living with friends or parents so all fine there.

Note though that if you live with him, your crap record will drag his down into your quagmire. Do you really want to do that to him ? You need to think through how to work through damage limitation, which is possibly best done by putting a note of disassociation with you on his credit file if he sees it being hammered by your record.

Don't get bills in joint names etc, all in his.

Beware though that Hamptons for certain and I suspect others will want to reference everyone in the property. It would be up to you to make sure that all agents know you are not moving in as referencing you will blow his case out of the water.

Once referenced and in, your living there would only become a problem if you caused problems for the agent, though as they make money from referencing you, they may try to do so later. I would stand firm and refuse as you don't live there but if they find out before you move in, it will most likely screw it up.

ruggedtoast

Every landlord wants a non smoking professional with no kids or pets, an employers reference, savings, previous landlords references and perfect credit, and every letting agent promises to get them one.

Of course you can still rent without filling all these criteria, but it is likely to be less popular or poorer value places that arent shifting. Your best bet is probably to market yourselves to the agents, if they like you they are more likely to call a landlord up and ask them to take a punt on you without having all the forms.

It helps if you pester them too, unless they specifically say they have nothing for you, call them regularly to see if anything has come on the market.

It depends on where you are too, sorry not to be more upbeat but in the SE my experience of renting was of F5ing Rigthmove each day for something decengt, and then scrambling for the phone to make a viewing before anyone else could, even if it meant missing work the next day. The last time we rented we literally the first people to call, made them promise to book us into the first appointment, and still practically had to beg them to take the security deposit as they were happy to keep it on the market longer to see if anyone better came along; and we were both employed professionals with perfect credit and an amazing reference from our landlord.

Grace444

property.advert wrote: »

Pull his files from the reference agencies. If his credit is fine, even without any positives, then it should be ok.

Standard answer for references is living with friends or parents so all fine there.

Note though that if you live with him, your crap record will drag his down into your quagmire. Do you really want to do that to him ? You need to think through how to work through damage limitation, which is possibly best done by putting a note of disassociation with you on his credit file if he sees it being hammered by your record.

Don't get bills in joint names etc, all in his.

Beware though that Hamptons for certain and I suspect others will want to reference everyone in the property. It would be up to you to make sure that all agents know you are not moving in as referencing you will blow his case out of the water.

Once referenced and in, your living there would only become a problem if you caused problems for the agent, though as they make money from referencing you, they may try to do so later. I would stand firm and refuse as you don't live there but if they find out before you move in, it will most likely screw it up.

Thank you for the advice, I won't be living with him until I have sorted out my own credit, I have no CCJs or defaults so it hopefully will repair quickly. I did suspect it would ruin his chances. If I was to want to move in say 10 months down the line and I failed the checks would he then be linked to me and possibly evicted?

Grace444

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Every landlord wants a non smoking professional with no kids or pets, an employers reference, savings, previous landlords references and perfect credit, and every letting agent promises to get them one.

Of course you can still rent without filling all these criteria, but it is likely to be less popular or poorer value places that arent shifting. Your best bet is probably to market yourselves to the agents, if they like you they are more likely to call a landlord up and ask them to take a punt on you without having all the forms.

It helps if you pester them too, unless they specifically say they have nothing for you, call them regularly to see if anything has come on the market.

It depends on where you are too, sorry not to be more upbeat but in the SE my experience of renting was of F5ing Rigthmove each day for something decengt, and then scrambling for the phone to make a viewing before anyone else could, even if it meant missing work the next day. The last time we rented we literally the first people to call, made them promise to book us into the first appointment, and still practically had to beg them to take the security deposit as they were happy to keep it on the market longer to see if anyone better came along; and we were both employed professionals with perfect credit and an amazing reference from our landlord.

Thankyou for the reply, we are in the north west and there seems to be plenty of properties up for rent but then again perhaps theres a very high number of potential tenants too. I think he is so desperate to move that poor value or unpopular will still be a welcome option. We are worried that he will pay the application fee and be shunned for someone better, are they allowed to leave it on the market after you've applied and passed all the checks?

Maestro.

When I moved in to my current let, I had references, but not from any previous landlords or letting agencies as I had never rented before. I also didn't even know what a credit history was back then and I got in the doors fine.

Mrs_Z

Or you could try dealing with a landlord directly. Upad is one on-line agency (and there are lots of others) that covers private adverts from landlords nationwide. Worth a try.

ruggedtoast

Grace444 wrote: »

Thankyou for the reply, we are in the north west and there seems to be plenty of properties up for rent but then again perhaps theres a very high number of potential tenants too. I think he is so desperate to move that poor value or unpopular will still be a welcome option. We are worried that he will pay the application fee and be shunned for someone better, are they allowed to leave it on the market after you've applied and passed all the checks?

Yes, they can back out at any time and return your deposit.

At least you get the money back then, the real problems start when you give them your money, find they've totally misrepresented the property and then wont give it back.

I would get in writing what will happen to the money if you "fail" the credit check and what exactly the criteria are for this.

If you assume that most letting agents are lying thieves you wont be too surprised at anything.

rentergirl

Put your cards on the table, perhaps via 'a famous online property site' and (avoiding Nigerian scamsters) see what happens. It also depends where and what he is trying to rent: luxury family home in the south? Dream on. Two/one bed newbuild in the north? Give it a try.

tbs624

Grace444 - he should try seeking out LLs who self manage their properties. Go via the local LL association or affiliate of one of the national LL associations, or check with the Council whether they have a list of accredited private sector LLs.

As a first step ( as propertyman says) he should check with Callcredit, Experian and Equifax and see what comes up on there - MSE Martin recently had some links whereby you could even get paid for requesting your own check with two of them ( making sure to cancel the monthly fee in time afterwards).

If you wanted to share the property, it is possible for him to be the T and for you to be listed as a "permitted occupier" if you think that your own credit rating will be an issue. The main thing is to be upfront with the LL before coughing up for referencing fees etc. An employer's reference and a character reference from someone of suitable standing should help his case.

LAs can be officious twerps - bear in mind that they don't need to have any qualifications training or specific expertise before setting up in business. Dealing direct with a decent LL is often preferable.