Letting agent rent reference

dcrane

We have requested a rent reference from our letting agent a couple of times now and they have refused but will happily provide it to the organisations we need it for. I'm curious, do they not have to provide it to us under the freedom of information act?

Worriedmummy

Hello - yes if you make it clear that your request is under the data protection act then they do have to provide you with any personal data that they hold on you.. But not create new information, so they can provide your file, but not nessessarily create a reference if that makes sense. They can charge a maximum of £10 and have 40 days to comply.
The freedom of information act is a way of getting general information from a public authority.

dcrane

Not worth the hassle then, it'll be quicker if the company wanting it request it on our behalf plus I don't have to deal with their rude staff

G_M

If they have not yet 'created' a reference, then they do not have o provide it.

There is little value in a 'to whom it may concern' type reference - certainly as a landlord I would ignore it! Tenant who provide their own employer/previous LL etc references immediately become suspect.

Your next landlord/agent whoever should request the reference. Once it is supplied, yes, you could use the data FOI Act to request a copy.

rentergirl

Data protection is no the way to go. Do you have time to call in, and politely ask? Emails are so easy to ignore, and yes, LA's are evil, but also, the reference is vital to you, it's not top of their list. Have any info with you.

dcrane

There has already been one created. The initial request was when we were applying for social housing, the council ended up requesting it on our behalf, no more that 2weeks later we were given a letter to say we had 2months notice as the landlady wanted to sell. Coincidental? But that is another issue. This letter prompted an offer to help us buy a shared ownership property from my in laws, we now need the same information to complete the homebuy application

Yorkie1

LAs are not inherently evil.

Data protection is the only legal way to enforce the request given that they have already refused the 'polite' request suggested by rentergirl.

As the reference already exists then you should seek it by way of a subject access request as previously mentioned.