Bad Tenant Reference - Worried!!

cp33c

Hi,

Basically my wife and I rented a property for 3 and a half years. We paid our rent on time and everything ran smoothly. Unfortunately at the end of the tenancy we had payment troubles and told the landlord immediately handing him our notice to move out with family. They took our deposit to cover the last month and we moved out. Once we had moved out they started to state that the place wasn't in a good state paint wise (there were a few marks) and that a remote control for the fireplace was missing. We argued that we were not allowed to decorate/repaint the walls as specified in the tenancy agreement (we had also asked 3 months earlier and was turned down)and that we'd been there for a long time so there was bound to be marks - we have 2 young kids, very difficult for there not to be in a house that has white walls and white carpets! We also told them that the remote was left in the house, which it was. Anyway communications broke down between them and us and we never heard anything again.

Fast forward to today (7 months) and we are about to start renting again. We have got ourselves into a much better situation and have found the perfect property. Our offer has been accepted and the agent is asking for references.

My main concern is that our old Landlord refuses a reference or puts bad stuff about us and we end up losing the house. I don't want to contact our old landlord just in case it starts up the argument again. I obviously don't want to give a 'fake' reference as that would be fraud.

I suppose my question is, will a bad landlord reference affect the application (sounds like a stupid question I know)? What kind of questions are asked?

Also our landlord wasn't the best landlord in the world. Refusing to fix the boiler for 7 months until a service engineer turned up and couldn't service it because it was broken and didn't use a deposit scheme.

I don't fancy losing my referencing money.

Thanks in advance.

theartfullodger

A landlord does not have to provide a reference of any nature for an ex-tenant (or a tenant for a landlord...).

See what happens.. suggesting at this stage to LL/agent that the reference may be bad may simply raise worries in their minds...

Presumably you can show things like a record of always paying the rent on time etc etc until things went wrong??


Best wishes, hope it works out...

Fire_Fox

Scuffs and marks are dirt/ damage not wear and tear, you would be amazed what come off with sugar soap. Carpets can be professional shampoo'd: the landlord is not expected to pay the price for the way you manage your family life. Issues about the boiler during the tenancy should have been resolved then, getting Environmental Health in if needs be.

A landlord or employer is not permitted to give an inaccurate reference, he may not be willing to give you any reference at all since you left on bad terms. Where have you been for seven months, can you get a reference from the owner of that house?

G_M

I'm afraid a previous LL can say what they like (short of libel) in a reference. Or refuse to give one.

And from what you say, your ex LL is unlikely to give a positive reference.

And I'm afraid that either a negative reference, OR a refusal to provide one, will ring alarm bells for your new LL.

Your options then are
1) don't mention the previous LL at all - just say you've been living with family
2) explain exactly what happened and say it is not worth the new LL contacting the old LL because.. and hope the new LL is sympathetic, believes you, and is satisfied with other references (employer, bank statements etc)

cp33c

Thanks for all the replies.

For the past 7 seven months we've been living with family until we could get our issues sorted out. One option would be to put family for 3 years (as thats how long it asks to go back), but wouldn't the electoral roll show that to be wrong and then its fraud?

I could give the details for our previous previous landlord (if that makes sense). We left on good terms and all was well......just can't find his details .

The problem I face is the form asks for the previous landlord contact details. It doesn't specify which previous but I'm assuming that it means my most recent landlord.......

Fire_Fox

Given there was a seven month gap, maybe you have 'lost' the details of your most recent landlord? Or be honest and say the tenancy ended on bad terms.

custardy

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Scuffs and marks are dirt/ damage not wear and tear, you would be amazed what come off with sugar soap. Carpets can be professional shampoo'd: the landlord is not expected to pay the price for the way you manage your family life. Issues about the boiler during the tenancy should have been resolved then, getting Environmental Health in if needs be.

A landlord or employer is not permitted to give an inaccurate reference, he may not be willing to give you any reference at all since you left on bad terms. Where have you been for seven months, can you get a reference from the owner of that house?

after 3.5 years,marks and scuffs would be expected
A house will not be in the same condition as when they moved in given the timescales

cp33c

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Given there was a seven month gap, maybe you have 'lost' the details of your most recent landlord? Or be honest and say the tenancy ended on bad terms.

To be honest that wouldn't have been difficult. He was always changing his contact details and would be surprised if they were the same now.

after 3.5 years,marks and scuffs would be expected
A house will not be in the same condition as when they moved in given the timescales

One thing I forgot to mention was that on the day of us leaving they inspected the house and were happy with its condition. Only a few weeks later did they start to complain. We washed the house up and down and left it spotless just to show that we were sorry for the way it ended.

Fire_Fox

custardy wrote: »

after 3.5 years,marks and scuffs would be expected
A house will not be in the same condition as when they moved in given the timescales

As I understand it wear and tear is not the same as dirt/ accidental damage, if you use a house carefully you can avoid scuffing or scraping the walls. IMO it is the causative act that is the key - bashing a wall when moving furniture is careless, regardless of whether it causes a tiny scuff or a large dent in the wall. Dropping Ribena on the carpet is careless whether it causes a tiny stain or a huge one. You obviously cannot avoid flattening the pile on the carpet by walking through a doorway repeatedly.

Wear and tear are covered by things like the expectation a carpet will only last a limited number of years. The landlord cannot claim new for old from a tenant, where appropriate he can claim the full cost of a professional clean or part cost for a replacement.

Sugar soap really is brilliant, I've used it in the communal halls of a couple of blocks of flats to remove marks from people moving furniture and even kicking the walls. Marks that other products just don't shift.

cp33c

Fire_Fox wrote: »

As I understand it wear and tear is not the same as dirt/ accidental damage, if you use a house carefully you can avoid scuffing or scraping the walls. IMO it is the causative act that is the key - bashing a wall when moving furniture is careless, regardless of whether it causes a tiny scuff or a large dent in the wall. Dropping Ribena on the carpet is careless whether it causes a tiny stain or a huge one. You obviously cannot avoid flattening the pile on the carpet by walking through a doorway repeatedly.

Wear and tear are covered by things like the expectation a carpet will only last a limited number of years. The landlord cannot claim new for old from a tenant, where appropriate he can claim the full cost of a professional clean or part cost for a replacement.

Sugar soap really is brilliant, I've used it in the communal halls of a couple of blocks of flats to remove marks from people moving furniture and even kicking the walls. Marks that other products just don't shift.

I agree with what you have said, but they did an inspection on the day that we moved and was happy with the condition. They did remark that it needed a lick of paint. That then turned into something more when they couldn't find the remote.

Fire_Fox

cp33c wrote: »

I agree with what you have said, but they did an inspection on the day that we moved and was happy with the condition. They did remark that it needed a lick of paint. That then turned into something more when they couldn't find the remote.

I was making more of a general comment for future reference of you or any reader, there is no mileage in debating what happened in a tenancy that is long since over.