Letting agent vetting checks

rockall81

Hi,

Just thought of asking, i am going through a letting agent for two bed flat, for the first time.

I am having tough time as the letting agents tenant vetting agency is doing all sorts of checks on me.

Just thought of asking why do they do this?

i mean i ready to pay 1.5 months deposit and 1 month rent in advance.

any one had similar experience? if so how to overcome?

Finally will the tenant vetting agency can deny the letting contract?

6feet

well...if you have a clean credit rating you are ok. If you have dodgy bits...DENIED!

G_M

what about the 2nd months rent?

How does the landlord know you

a) will be able, and
b) will be willing

to pay it? He doesn't know you from Adam but he's trusting you with a property worth several hundred thousand pounds.

rockall81

Anyway its a nightmare ..thats all i can say.

GAH

Shouldn't be that difficult, most will carry out 3 checks

Employment status
Current landlord
Credit check

Depending on how quickly your referees reply to these it should all be relatively painless.

Letting agent then should have duty to inform LL of the results whether good or bad for LL to make there own decision.

The landlord is within their rights to deny a tenant even with good references a tenancy as everything will be subject to contract

jaylee3

I guess they have to be seen to be doing something to try and justify the morbidly extortionate fees they charge.

My friend's daughter just got a house with 5 friends for her second year at uni, and the agent charged them £150 EACH for the admin fee. A cool £900 in their fat greedy little hands, for what was probably no more than a couple of hours work, a few sheets of paper, and a bit of ink!

Pondscum, pure unadulterated pondcsum.

LADYXXMACBETH

I had 2 CCJs when I got this flat I'm in now. We paid our deposit (2months rent) 6 months in advance, I had to get a guarantor, flat gets inspected once a month and have had to prove the CCJs were satisfied as they weren't showing on my credit file.

chanz4

They only check trust online, its not a real full credit check. When I was renting years ago, I watched all three reports and they never searched any or even wrote to my employer. Its a big con, and needs clamping down on.

Jabberwk

I did see my letting agent's search show up on my credit file and they wrote to both my employer and my previous landlord (both were in contact with me about it). I think it depends on the agent.

rizla_king

Data on CCJs bankruptcies etc is still often obtained from the CRAs rather than the registry trust direct. Which is why the search footprint.

Pixie5740

The LL is trusting you with a high value asset so they want to make sure you can afford the rent and don't have a history of trashing past rental properties.

If you want to avoid extortionate LA fees then you could go for a private rental dealing with the LL direct.