Do I Need To Declare My Bankruptcy In My Tenant Reference Check?

Acesare*

I am in the process of submitting my details for a tenancy reference check. The form asks whether I have ever had any CCJs and whether I am aware of any adverse credit history and I'm not sure how best to respond.

I declared myself bankrupt in 2005 and was discharged in early 2006. Until the day I petitioned, I had never missed a payment and had an excellent credit rating, but I could no longer afford the repayments when I lost my job due to ill health, so I hadn't received any CCJs to that point. Due to the time passed, this no longer appears on my credit report. I defaulted on a £300 phone bill in early 2009, but have only been threatened will court action and have never received a notice from court.

I held no credit again until taking a phone contract out in 2012 and a credit card last year to rebuild my credit rating, all payments have been made on time. I have been in full time paid employment since July 2012.

Could you please advise as to how I respond to the questions about CCJs and bad debt? I don't want to jeopardise my chances by making the wrong choice.

Thank you for your help. J

philnicandevan

if the question is asked "have you ever been or are currently bankrupt" you will have to answer yes

companies have ways & means of checking files etc and would find out if you were hiding anything etc

alastairq

The BR would have long since disappeared from your credit records.
As phil says, read the wording of the question?

Unless you have failed to clean up your credit files, and have incorrect, but outstanding defaults showing, then your credit record will be 'clean'.

However, whilst I don't expect people like Homelet [who do credit checks on prospective tenants for agencies] will scour the London Gazette for a past bankruptcy, they do have the means of doing so.

I would ignore that question for now. Bankrutpcy isn't a particular issue where tenancies are concerned, in my experience.