Renting

newsworthy

Hi

We were discharged from Bankruptcy last June, due to the recession and the banks, we lost everything. We started to rent just before we went bankrupt and passed the credit checks, even though our credit must have been terrible. We then went on to rent privately where no credit checks were carried out. We need to move now and are looking at a place advertised by an agency who will carry out credit checks. i am worried sick about this. My credit is poor at the moment, 664. I will add that there is no adverse credit or anything bad since we went bankrupt. What I would like to know please is:

1. Despite this poor rating, do you think I will be ok for being able to rent.

2. Would it be adversible for me to tell them about the bankruptcy.

3. Would letters from my landlords confirming I have never missed a payment and also a reference from the bank saying that during the time I have been with them (a new bank with a basic account, opened two years ago) I have ran my account always in the black and never incurred charges actually help the situation.

4. What other things can I do to help get a place to live.

I would appreciate advice as I can't sleep at night as I am so worried. We would be renting from a private landlord but going through an agency.

We are trying to desparately build up our lives again and credit.

Thank you for your help.

PippaGirl_2

Opinions may be mixed as to whether to tell the agent about your BR, but you could at least say that there may be some markers on your credit report but that you can provide landlord references and bank statements. Ultimately they will feed this back to the property owner who will make a decision so to whether they will trust you enough to proceed, no one here can say what they'd decide.

Do you have anyone who could be guarantor for you for the initial 6 months tenancy? Or able to pay the first 6 months up front if necessary?

Experience of reading this board for a year has shown me that BR does put many agencies off, but finding other independent property owners who advertise elsewhere may be a better option as many have successfully done that.

TDMum

I live in Scotland but recently went through this. We were declared BR in March 2010. Before defaulting we moved to rented accomodation and passed the credit check. In January 2013 we had to move as the house we were renting wasn't fit for habitation any more. We found a house we liked and told the agency that we were declared BR 3 years previously and asked what our liklihood of being accepted was. They told us that they would carry out the credit check and that it may come back asking for a guarantor. The guarantor would have to earn a salary 3 times the amount of the rent. We were sure we would fail the check so we asked my father in law if he would stand as guarantor for us (we had never missed a rent payment in the last 3 years). Much to our surprise we passed the check on our own so we had 2 weeks of stress and worry for nothing.

The agency will ask for a reference from your previous landlord and ask for an employers reference stating how long you've worked at the company and your annual wage. If you have a good reference from both of these people then I think that will count for a lot.

As with everything each agency is different. To save worry I would tell the agency your situation and ask their policy on renting to BR's and get as much information as possible so you can then create a plan of action.
Good Luck

newsworthy

Thanks TDMum, we live in scotland too and are hoping to move to Edinburgh. We aim to get references from the bank and the landlord. We are both self-employed, although I do part time work for someone and they are willing to give me a reference as well as my bookkeeper. I will just bombard them with positive letters and references and keep my fingers crossed. Many thanks for your advice and thoughts.