Referencing fee refund question

runningfool

jjlandlord wrote: »

First of all, you can black out the description of whatever transactions you want.
Landlord would just be interested in seeing your average balance, income and outgoings (inc. that rent is paid on time).

If you have an IVA you should expect being asked for more than someone with a squeaky clean credit record. So you're blunt refusal is not very reasonable, especially that their request was reasonable.

Anyway you paid a fee for referencing. If they did not reference you at all because the procedure stopped at your refusal, you might have a valid argument, otherwise not.

OK - I will say it once more. Had I known before the referencing & payment that I was going to be been asked for more (bearing in mind they knew about the IVA before referencing started so could have told me when they phoned me to query it) then I would have withdrawn at that point. Yes, on principle but the reason is irrelevant.

The fact is I fulfilled all the criteria - and did not 'bluntly refuse' (where you there?) but thought it through long and hard actually.

I had no problem at all supplying the statements and pay slips etc. required because I know it's all fine. It is purely the fact that I have been refused on the basis of something I did not sign up to, and wasn't even aware of when I handed over the money.

It seems one estate agent did not talk to another - and I am out of pocket because of it.

Guest101

Think people are getting confused. This is nothing to do with the LLs property.

This is a contract between clients and provider ; ie tenant and letting agent.

The ll has rejected the la's client. The la is therefore obliged to refund the money paid.

There is currently no contract between t and ll, and the mechanisms to protect the property are in place at a later stage. Ie deposit, tenancy agreement etc.

At this stage the agent is negotiating, the tenant is not obliged to agree

runningfool

runningfool wrote: »

OK - I will say it once more. Had I known before the referencing & payment that I was going to be been asked for more (bearing in mind they knew about the IVA before referencing started so could have told me when they phoned me to query it) then I would have withdrawn at that point. Yes, on principle but the reason is irrelevant.

The fact is I fulfilled all the criteria - and did not 'bluntly refuse' (where you there?) but thought it through long and hard actually.

I had no problem at all supplying the statements and pay slips etc. required because I know it's all fine. It is purely the fact that I have been refused on the basis of something I did not sign up to, and wasn't even aware of when I handed over the money.

It seems one estate agent did not talk to another - and I am out of pocket because of it.

And - as I have said above - I realise that my IVA will provoke questions. I am not a fool. They had ample opportunity to tell me about the extra demands when they spoke to me about it. As far as I was concerned everything was fine till I was told the owner had asked for this from the outset, but the person dealing with it at the time did not tell the one that took it over. It was someone filling in at the branch apparently.

But, in my defence (though not sure why I'm having to defend myself) my IVA actually means I budget one hell of a lot better than some who may have other debts. It's pretty much a guarantee the landlord will get their payments as everything is budgeted for.

They could also see that I am on a very good wage - and my last two statements included January and December (worst two months of the year for finance I would think).

Pixie5740

I think that the LA have left themselves open if they specifically say that two payslips, two bank statements, and two references are all that is required.

I can understand that the LL would like further references from a T with an IVA that the LA has put forward but as Guest101 points out that's a separate arrangement and the LA should cover themselves by asking for the initial documentation but saying that further documentation may be required or something along those lines.

If you budget well and put money aside for Christmas then there's no reason why December and January's bank statements would be any worse than the rest of the year.

Heliflyguy

If you have it in writing that the LA wanted the last two bank statements to start referencing then I think you are entitled to a refund.

The possibility of LA's or LL's moving the goalposts after referencing starts then keeping the fee is far to open for abuse.

jjlandlord

They could have just declined the application based on the information and documents they initially asked for. (would you also be asking for a refund?)
The fact that the landlord asks for more bank statements after being made aware of the IVA suggests that he was still considering whether to accept. It was good for you!

I think a landlord's just dodged a bullet....

tumbledowngirl

Playing Devil's Advocate, how about looking at it slightly differently?
The 2 months, 2 references aren't sufficient to say yes OR maybe the point is that some parts are enough for the 'LL to say no but they want to give you the chance to change that?

I know of tenants who applied for a property but wre turned down on the references. They were then able to provide info which changed the decision in their favour.

Guest101

jjlandlord wrote: »

They could have just declined the application based on the information and documents they initially asked for. (would you also be asking for a refund?)
The fact that the landlord asks for more bank statements after being made aware of the IVA suggests that he was still considering whether to accept. It was good for you!

I think a landlord's just dodged a bullet....

Ofcourse he would be asking for a refund. That's exactly what the ll did, declined based on the supplied information. Therefore entitled to refund!

jjlandlord

Guest101 wrote: »

Ofcourse he would be asking for a refund. That's exactly what the ll did, declined based on the supplied information. Therefore entitled to refund!

No. If you pay for referencing you are not entitled to a refund if the referencing is carried out.

towanda

I think the issue here is at least in part due to the landlord actually wanting to see the statements themselves personally, rather than them being used as part of a professional referencing process...?

I wouldn't like it either and would find it very intrusive, any more than I'd like a landlord letting themselves in after I'd moved in and having a good poke around my private affairs.


I've never had an IVA or any kind of problem with debt and yet I too was once was asked to hand over my bank statements for a rental property (who had already had my credit referencing, pay slips, reference from employer, spotless references from previous rentals, etc). I wasn't happy about this either, both because I found it intrusive, and also as someone who shreds everything, I find the idea of sending off entire bank statements to random people is a good way to invite identity fraud. Surely the whole point of employing an agent and/ or referencing agency is to trust their assessment of a prospective tenant, and the landlord shouldn't personally need to inspect their finances themselves on top?