Getting new tenancy after student financial difficulties.

whateveriam

Hi guys,

I'm 24 and I'm looking to move out of my parents house at some point this year. For this, I have been looking at my credit details. My score is fair to good (Experian is 813, for example) and I have no outstanding debts. I'm in a decently paid job, and although it's a temporary post I suspect it may become permanent eventually.

My issue is referencing. When I was a student, I rented a flat privately from a landlord. For the first year of the tenancy, all was well and I paid on time and in full. It was only in my final term of my final year I ran into problems. I had no job, having quit for the upcoming exams and could not find another. My parents would not help and the university refused me assistance so I ran out of money. I muddled through on rent and bills until the very last month and I hit a really rough patch. I fell ill, and became very depressed and the fact I didn't even have money to pay for food just made it seem an impossible situation to get out of. I failed my exams and went back to my parents place. This was before my last month's rent was due (my tenancy ran July-July, I finished in May) but even then I was still unable to find a job/get the money to pay it. My landlord was aware I was having problems and when I asked they take the last month's rent out of my deposit but they said they would not if they could help it. When it became apparent I was going to be unable do, they did do this and I was happy for them to do it. I received a cheque for the remainder and used this to pay off my building society, which at this point had closed my account for the bounced payment and account inactivity, of all things.

At this point, I was still very much a mess, but I started to try and get my life back on track. I got a new account, and a job (Amazon over the Christmas period, hell on earth) and things started to improve. I changed jobs a couple of times and ended up in my current one, a temporary role which may become permanent but a well paying one and things are improving for me. Compared to 2 years ago, things couldn't be any more different.

My question is, if I may is how would my previous issues with the tenancy affect any reference checking now and would my landlords have had me blackballed? I know I could have done things differently, and I know I made mistakes but I have worked to correct these. I will be honest about this when I speak to letting agencies but any advice on how I broach this would be appreciated.

mrsbmartin

Be honest with the LL and letting agents, ask if your parents (or even a ver good friend) will act as guarantor. If you get no joy but are desperate to move out then consider a houseshare...it's cheaper and it's usually done on a handshake (I've lived in 6 shares and have never been asked for a reference - just the usual first months' rent and deposit). Good luck

BitterAndTwisted

What most landlords and their agents will be looking at is affordability as well as credit-checking. If you patently have the resources to be able to afford the prospective rent and can prove it with copies of your bank statements, you shouldn't have a problem.

Very, very few young people can afford to rent a place on their own when they first leave the safety of their family homes, so most go into a flat or house-share. You could find a landlord's referencing for such a situation less stringent.

Learn from your previous difficulties and try to avoid falling into a similar trap by ensuring you have plenty of savings stashed away when you finally make your move.

n.b. there is no such thing as a landlord's blacklist. Yet.

whateveriam

Thank you guys, that's been useful. Where I live rent is reasonably cheap so I could afford a flat on my own and be alright, and I have seen a few houseshares locally that look reasonable enough so I might go that route in the future despite my reluctance to share with strangers. I'm reluctant to move until I get the role permanently as I don't want to commit financially to something with that degree of uncertainty, well-paid or not.

In terms of telling them, I do intend to be honest from the off. I no longer have any dealings with my old landlord as I lost touch when I moved back and I believe they no longer live in the area anyway so a reference from them would be incredibly difficult to get hold of.

dibblersan

At uni I'd been sharing with 9 other people and I'm not sure the landlord of my student 'slum' knew or cared about our names. Tenants were switched in and out as people dropped out or couples got together or left- all he cared about was having the place full and getting his rent.

When I moved into my first flat I told my landlord I had been staying in halls the full 3 years. Most universities don't give references and once he was happy I had a well paying job, he was happy