Urgent advice required regarding renting!!!!

jjlandlord

Gwyneth2328 wrote: »

They say guarantor would also have to prove 2.5 times the rent!!!!

Well, for a guarantee to be worth anything the guarantor must be solvent, right?

Pixie5740

If your daughter doesn't earn 2.5 times the rent, can she really afford to rent these properties? Might she be better off getting a room in a house share or becoming a lodger at this point in time.

ViolaLass

Could she share a property with you? Did selling the house leave her with any money? Does she have nearly enough income or not even close?

ognum

Pixie5740 wrote: »

If your daughter doesn't earn 2.5 times the rent, can she really afford to rent these properties? Might she be better off getting a room in a house share or becoming a lodger at this point in time.

OPs daughter has two small children, don't think they would be suitable for house share or lodger!

Pixie5740

They might be, you never know.

What size of property is she trying to rent? Would it be possible to go for something smaller like a 1 bedroom? The boys have the bedroom and she has a sofa bed in the living room or something.

Edit: Is she claiming everything that's available to her? Tax credits, child benefit, housing benefit?

Gwyneth2328

Thanks, she can afford to rent but the agents will only take her salary into consideration, she gets spousal/child maintenance from her ex (she has 2 children) but they wont take any of that into consideration, we have done our sums but obviously the agents have guidelines to follow!!!

ViolaLass

Is the child maintenance official or just agreed between her and ex? You might be on stronger ground if it's the former.

ognum

Gwyneth2328 wrote: »

Thanks, she can afford to rent but the agents will only take her salary into consideration, she gets spousal/child maintenance from her ex (she has 2 children) but they wont take any of that into consideration, we have done our sums but obviously the agents have guidelines to follow!!!

I guess it's because the maintenance is in no way gaurda teed, ex could just decide not to may.

I would be surprised if a LL would allow her and her two children in a one bedroom flat.

I guess her only options are move to a cheaper area, go on the council housing list or look for something privately or perhaps use you or someone else as a guarantor.

Missme

OP some agents are @rses.


Perhaps, advise your daughter to expand her search or lower her expectations. What the agent wants is what the agent wants - can't see a way around that.

[Deleted User]

In my area where there are far more tenants than properties to rent, LA's won't rent to anyone who won't meet their income criteria. They don't have to, they have their pick of tenants. This means that rents are sky high (and rising by ridiculous amounts yearly) also. I was lucky when looking 4 years ago, I found a LL who didn't use an agency and he took me on face value, without even a guarantor.., but this was very very rare. And the place isn't brilliant., the LL has only done one repair in the four years, I've had to do things he should have done but refused. So its cheap, but that has its disadvantage. LL's know you can't afford to move to somewhere else regardless.

However, your daughter might be able to find a cheaper area where properties/tenants ratio is more in her favour and she could deal with a LL direct. This depends on where she wants to live. However, its also more of a risk that a 'low rental' LL (in my experience) might be unhelpful when they should be helpful with repairs.

Looking on Gumtree is a way of finding LL's who rent direct to tenants, but you also have to be very careful of scams, people seeming to have properties they don't actually own, taking a deposit and then disappearing with your money.., for example, so advise your daughter to be cautious.

But even with all this, if she doesn't try, she won't get anything. All she needs to find is one person/LA/LL who says yes. Just one.

What helped me (when I didn't have a guarantor and was also in receipt of benefits which usually doesn't count as income for LA's) was I had worked out my budget, shown I could afford to rent, and was prepared to show two or three years of bank statements. If you can deal with a LL direct, they tend to respect that and it tends to help show you are reliable and well organised financially.