Rental referencing - HELP!!

Tink22_2

Hi

My husband & I are currently looking for a rented flat to live in. My husband works full time and has a permanent job, his basic salary is £13500 which doesn't include bonuses/overtime.
I don't work, I choose not to therefore I do not claim any benefits etc. I am looking into self employment as fashion design is my passion.
We've found our ideal flat and it's within our budget..I have enough saving to pay for the first 6 months rent and after this my husband will be taking over the payments.
The flat is with a letting agency & they said straight away that my husbands salary will fall short of £1000 per year. We have a potential guarantor, my mum, she owns a house & earns over £21000 in her job where she's been for 15+ years.

We have put down a holding deposit & now waiting for the agents to get back to us...we asked before paying the likelihood of the rental going through as we need it ASAP & don't want to waste the fee if it's going to be rejected.
My concerns are, my husbands wage but more importantly my poor credit rating I don't have CCJs etc but have missed and made late payments etc which have led to the above (credit rating). My husband has a very good credit rating & so does the guarantor.
The letting agent told us that he would get it through, 'one way or another' - they were his words.

Just looking for some opinions really from people's experience & knowledge is it likely we will get through??
We LOVE this place but I don't want to get my hopes up if it's never going to happen.

Thanks

Mister_Arboreal

One thing that you might want to consider, if you have a lump sm of money, is to apply under "independent means".

Effectively this means that the referencing agency takes into account cash you have. I am not sure what formula they use, but I have previously used this method, when I was self employed and did not have company accounts to prove income.

In my experience letting agents will say that they don't take into account cash, but actually the main referencing agencies (which the letting agents use) do take cash into account if you apply through independent means. You will typically have to send scanned copies of bank accounts (or online banking screenshots).

You should be able to use a combination of income and independent means.

Sorry if this doesn't apply in your case, but I thought I would mention it just in case.

Fire_Fox

It's all very well choosing not to work if you can afford not to but you clearly cannot, you have let creditors down and are looking to put your mother at risk as a guarantor. If your husband is suddenly unable to work through illness, injury or redundancy your poor mother will end up liable for your rent. You will not necessarily get full benefits because you will be deemed to be claiming even tho you are choosing not to. Given your joint low income you sound more like a candidate for a private let.

Tink22_2

Thank you, we hadn't thought of doing that..just waiting on phone call from the letting agency to know whats happening!

Firefox, how do you know 'i cannot afford not to work'?! My low credit rating is due to mistakes I made in the past when I was in fact working, full time. I don't think you read the part of my post where i clearly stated we have savings, this money would be used in case of emergencies as you have pointed out and no my poor mother is not at risk! Thank you for your input :T

Fire_Fox

Tink22 wrote: »

Firefox, how do you know 'i cannot afford not to work'?!

Your words "The flat is with a letting agency & they said straight away that my husbands salary will fall short of £1000 per year."

Your mother will be guarantor until you both move out or are evicted not just for six months, you may not be able to downsize if your husband is out of work because landlords won't look at you. Any savings above £6K will be subtracted from means tested benefits if something did happen, it's amazing how fast savings deplete when you have almost nothing coming in.

angelbob

you say your husbands wages will fall short of a £1000 a year, why dont you get a part-time job to cover that. Why are you not working, you don't mention children so i guess your husband covers everything, very unfair nowadays.
Are all you old debts now paid, if not use your savings to pay them, it will look better for credit checcks etc in the future.

dancingfairy

At the end of the day it's not up to the letting agents. They are merely agents of the landlord. They can do their checks and make their recommendations but at the end of the day it's the landlords property and the landlords business so it's up to him/her whether they accept you or not.
You have put all your cards clearly on the table and have done everything you can to mitigate the risk at the moment so just keep your fingers crossed.
Best of Luck
df

Katherine1_2

Hi,
I am also support the point that, you have to start a part time working. It is true that, you have enough saving and it is just happened unexpectedly, but when you will do some work this will not only help you financially but also divert your attention from the problem. As you said about your good history, I think, this will be sorted out soon.

kingstreet

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