Old Landlord won't provide reference that new landlord insists on

anne99

Title explains it really. Can anyone advise what to do next? This has happened to a colleague. After 2 years of being good tenants and paying their rent on time, they want to move to a different flat. The new LL/LA insists on a reference from the old LL, but he has ignored all requests. The LA through whom they arranged the old tenancy doesn't collect their rent and says they can't help. New LL/LA won't accept sight of their bank statements to prove they paid on time. Securing the new tenancy seems to hinge on old LL's reference.

Can anyone with knowledge in this area suggest what they might do?

Many thanks

It_can_get_better

Unfortunately there's no legal requirement for them to provide one.

theartfullodger

Speak to old landlord & if necessary pay him to do it

whitewing

Don't know if it would work but I would wrote to the old LL, copying the new landlord, stating all the info that new ll would expect to see in a reference, so the onus on old ll would be there to get off his backside to contradict it within a specified timescale. (So keep it factual and don't take the mick).

jamie11

If there is a landlord you rented from previously you could ask him to provide a reference, that is often preferable to getting one from your current landlord.

Any references that I get for my tenants are filed for future use and added to any reference I get asked for when they come to leave, if I have found they were inaccurate then I say so, often however I can give a tenant a reference spanning several years that will help them enormously. Five minutes of my time to help them out is hardly onerous.