What Income do Letting Agents Use to Establish Your Monthly Rental 'Allowance'

Queen.Bess

Hi everyone, I hope you can help.

My husband and I privately rent our current house and we are looking to move as we have 2 growing children! We've not moved in 10 years and so either I've forgotten or the rules have changed, but I understand that Letting Agents work out whether you can afford to rent a property based on the monthly rent times by a number (I've heard by 30) and if your income is more than that calculation then you can 'afford' that house.

So my question is: What income can be used for this calculation? Do letting agents accept any benefits, allowances or tax credits? Or is purely salary received due to employment?

Based on my wages alone I know the houses we could afford, but if there was any other accepted income then we might be able to look at other properties.

Any help would be much appreciated.

moromir

This entirely depends on the Agent/Referencing agent but you'll likely find that the only income considered is verifiable salaried income and private pensions.

audigex

The typical multiplier is an annual income somewhere around 28-35x monthly income.

As moromir said it very much depends on the agent and indeed the landlord: some are happy to accept benefits or other allowances, others will rent strictly to those who can afford it based entirely on their salary or pension. Bonuses can be another potential income which is inconsistently included/excluded.

Typically, though, you'll find that most benefits are excluded unless specifically stated, while tax credits are most often accepted as being part of your normal income (as tax credits are sometimes seen more as a salary top up than an outright benefit)

The only way to be sure is to discuss with the agent/landlord/refernce agency, though.

G_M

The agent will accept what he is instructed by the landlord to accepts.

Queen.Bess

Thanks for your comments everyone. I'll just have to ask each agent when I contact them to see and have my income only but also my income plus tax credits just in case!

audigex

It may be sensible to work out your maximum budget on both and then conduct two searches in parallel: one at each budget level. You should find someone willing to accept at least the tax credits, though, even if some won't.

seasideme

is it per person or per couple?

princeofpounds

They raise their little finger into the wind and see which way it is blowing...


More seriously, there is no rule. Just a collection of rules of thumb that vary from person to person, and as GM says, ultimately it is a personal decision of every individual landlord.


Suspect most agents would be quite happy to include any income that is demonstrably sustainable.


Good luck.