Income check on prospective tenants

PIppa

Hi

Thank you for the helpful posts. This is an update!

Thursday, I requested bank statements for both parties for the last 6 months and accounts or self assessments for the self-employed man. I told the agents I expected both tenants' income to be verified as it's a joint tenancy.

Friday, the agent rings me to say he has 3 months' bank statements for the woman and the credit checks that he is going to email to me. The man has asked for bank statements from his bank and they will arrive in 4 to 5 days. I asked why only 3 months from the woman and apparently that was all the bank would give her!

I asked if he had met the man and the answer was no. He had only spoken to him on the phone!

He was going to email the documents immediately so I said I would try to download to my phone but I was on the train home. He said the woman wanted a decision pretty quickly as she needed to give notice! I told him to stop right there - why would she need to give notice when she lives with her parents?! He said he would check and ring me back.

He rang back and said she has been renting for a year but uses her parents' house for a postal address. He would get a reference from the current landlord! I asked what address was on the application and it's her parents'. At that point I declined!

I have also withdrawn my house from the market. I'm not quite sure of my next step but I've made the right decision.

By the way, I'm female so the woman being pregnant isn't an issue. Continuity of income is and I have to protect my interests.

Whilst I understand that bank statements aren't necessarily my business, if I had had sight of them, it is probable that I would have seen rent payments being made which would have contradicted the ''living at home'' status.

Back to the UK next weekend - ''a certain brand of chocolate'' here I come!!

Better_Days

Thank you for taking the time to update us Pippa, I was wondering how it was going.

I think you have done the right thing. There is too much much uncertainty, especially as you would have to deal with any resultant problems from afar. I do wonder if the LA is incompetent or the prospective tenant has been economical with the truth regarding her current circumstances. I would think that if a prospective tenant could produce a letter from their landlord confirming rent always paid on time, s/he would say so at the outset.

You never know you may find a good LA, who will then find you some good tenants. Hope it goes well.

Enjoy your chocolate, and it's a good excuse to stock up too:D

tbs624

PIppa wrote: »

....Thursday, I requested bank statements for both parties for the last 6 months and accounts or self assessments for the self-employed man. I told the agents I expected both tenants' income to be verified as it's a joint tenancy.

Friday, the agent rings me to say he has 3 months' bank statements for the woman and the credit checks that he is going to email to me.........
He was going to email the documents immediately so I said I would try to download to my phone but I was on the train home. He said the woman wanted a decision pretty quickly as she needed to give notice! I told him to stop right there - why would she need to give notice when she lives with her parents?! He said he would check and ring me back.

He rang back and said she has been renting for a year but uses her parents' house for a postal address. He would get a reference from the current landlord! I asked what address was on the application and it's her parents'. At that point I declined! .......

Whilst I understand that bank statements aren't necessarily my business, if I had had sight of them, it is probable that I would have seen rent payments being made which would have contradicted the ''living at home'' status.

Thanks for updating the thread.

Remember that Ts who are students, for example, will often retain their parental home as their main address.

Early production of a current utility bill in the potential T's name would have flagged up any apparent address discrepancy as would an electoral roll check made as part of third party referencing .

From what you said in an earlier post it sounds as though the LA is the one at fault - why would he need to "check" after your more recent query when he had already told you that there was a previous rental?

PIppa wrote: »

The agents originally told me the prospective tenants were renting. When I asked who the current landlord is, they then said they are both living at home..

The passing on of potential T's personal information via email is not on btw: here's hoping that both you and this LA deal with deletion of personal data appropriately.

Bluebonnie

Jaffabiccie wrote: »

I have actually registered only as this thread shocked me so much.


I am the main breadwinner, I have one child, and took 6 months maternity leave .. Then returned to work full time .. I suffered no reduction in my income , being on full pay for the entire time i was off. I also recieved a significant return to work bonus.


But penalizing and pre judging someone because they are female and pregnant is from the dark ages.

Well, when I returned to work, full time after four months maternity leave, I was on the same pay as before. BUT from then onwards, for the following nine years, my disposable income was lower because of significant child care costs.

OP is prudent to consider this as an issue - it's not something that a credit check will take into account.

Kynthia

OP, I think you are right to be concerned if you are getting inconsistant information from potential tenants. Your LA sounds like a fool who really should be doing a more thorough job. If potential tenants are currently renting then a reference from their current landlord is absolutely key information!

I hope you get things sorted and find a really good agent to manage your property.

G_M

Tenant vetting is not just about income - the guy may have a string of CCJs, or been declared bankrupt, so always vet all joint tenants.

You've done the right thing. If in doubt, say 'no', and you clearly had doubts!

Ignore the posts moralising and judgementalising.... 'pregnant woman' etc... this is a business decision, it's your main and very expensive asset, and you need to be cautious/sensible. You have.

Plus you were not getting reliable/professional help from your agents leaving you even more uncertain.

Since you say you can afford a void, use the time to decide what comes next. New agent? Help from family/friend in UK to manage the letting? A trip back to the UK to sort things yourself?

You sound pretty clued up and level-headed, but just in case any of the info is helpful, here's a link for landlords.

Best of luck.

MissMoneypenny

PIppa wrote: »

Friday, the agent rings me to say he has 3 months' bank statements for the woman and the credit checks that he is going to email to me.

I hope you have been given permission in writing from the tenants', to send their bank statements and credit checks over a very easily intercepted transfer of data, like email? I'm amazed that anyone is stupid enough to send that by email! If you haven't got their permission, you had better hope and pray that they don't find out or their account gets fleeced or ID is stolen.

Re the handrail request: how wide are your stairs?

I remember another landlord on here saying their tenant had asked the council to inspect the property and the council had insisted on a handrail on both sides, because of the width of the stairs. I think they also said they had to replace their horiztal lats on the landing.

MissMoneypenny

Kynthia wrote: »

A lot of business felt like you which is why we have an Equalities Act to protect women from this discrimination.

I think the new employment laws to protect pregnant women and women with children, have worked against women of child bearing age.

summerday

Sounds like you did the right thing Pippa. As a fellow landlady, I've always found that gut instinct is a powerful and accurate thing most of the time. It's v important to find a decent agency who actually earn their fee, too.

PIppa

Hi

This is an update on my previous posts and a request for more advice please.

I visited the UK two weekends ago and the tenants vacated on Sunday 13th May. I actually spoke with the tenant on the phone and she told me she had contacted the agents during the tenancy several times to ask me different things yet they hadn't contacted me.

She returned the keys to them on the Monday morning and they tried to get her to return them to me but she refused as they were the agents. They apparently told her they weren't doing a checkout inventory. That afternoon, on the way back to the airport, I went to the agents to get the keys back but was told someone was on the way to do an inventory so no keys.

The tenants also paid a month's rent (set up by standing order) although the tenancy ended part way through the month therefore I am due rent for this period (the tenants are due a refund). I emailed yesterday asking for payment as it was due on 15th May and also a copy of the inventory.

Today I received a reply which referred me to their terms of business quoted below:-

''To clarify, the application was fully approved by the referencing agency after the clerical error on the original address section was rectified.

Hence we have no grounds to fail this application and the applicants are seeking full reimbursement for their £250 application fees within 48 hours.

The previous tenant is requesting her deposit back and we have 14 days from when she leaves to make any deductions. As we do not manage the property please advise.''

They haven't actually said they aren't paying but I believe it to be implied.

My understanding is they are the agents for the previous tenants - does that seem correct?

The clerical error that I'm assuming is being referred to is the incorrect address - see previous post. This was highlighted by myself and I immediately refused the application and also told them not to remarket my property so there is no reason for them to have done the ''correct'' address check.

When the applicants went to view my property the former tenant was there and apparently the applicants told the agent about their postal and residential address and he apparently told them it wasn't a problem. The former tenant is a witness to that.

In my opinion, the agents have made a complete mess of their application and misinformed both them and myself and are now trying to make me stand the cost. I haven't yet responded to their email reply but would appreciate any advice offered.

Incidentally I have also not received a copy of the inventory. I don't believe one was done as I immediately contacted a neighbour and no-one was seen going to the property that day.

Apologies for the long post.

Thanks

Pippa