RENTING: current estate agent wants to give bad reference

lanceneoman

Hi all,

We recently applied for a property, which has gone through fine, apart from the referencing.

My current estate agent, has called, stating that she can onyl give us a bad reference to the new company.
Basically she has to say that we have been un reliable with our payments. This is not correct.

I have changed the payment dates due to changing job, and also I was in hospital having a large operation which at the time I did not get sick pay, but I called before hand to confirm all of this.

she said she can refuse it or send a bad reference.

Neither is fair in my opinion.

We already have a guarantor on the file, but they require a good reference.
The council will not help us, as we earn over £43000 between us. My credit rating is not good, ( hence not having a mortgage)
The company doing the referencing is Let Alliance.

we now have 3 weeks to be out of this proprerty. and we have a 2 year old. The coucil say they cannot help as we have high earnings.

I rented about 5 years ago, and never missed a payment during the tenancy.

What are the chanced of this not getting accepted now. are there ways around a reference.

alchemist.1

Calling to say that you couldn't make payments for rent on time/beforehand does not make you a reliable tenant whatever the reason might be.

Be upfront with the new landlord/Letting agency and explain the reasons for the late payments. There is nothing you else you can do.

HappyMJ

lanceneoman wrote: »

What are the chanced of this not getting accepted now. are there ways around a reference.

It's not compulsory to have a reference. Just say the landlord doesn't provide references. As a landlord myself I do not provide references for tenants.

lanceneoman

i called up, and asked to change my payment dates due to changing job. I also paid the difference to change the dates.

If this does not go through we will be homeless, and I literally have no where to go to.
I have spoken to Shelter also and they say, I earn way way too much money to be assisted.

There are no houses around I can rent privately .

I dont want to keep paying £300 to apply for a house, to be turned down and lose the money.

lanceneoman

HappyMJ wrote: »

It's not compulsory to have a reference. Just say the landlord doesn't provide references. As a landlord myself I do not provide references for tenants.

it is an estate agent who does not want to give a reference. or if they do it will be a bad one, which I do not think it is fair.

About 10 years ago I owned my own home, and rented it out for a year before having to sell. I gave a reference for the tenants, which was a good one, despite paying me a couple of days late a few times as the reasons were genuine.

G_M

lanceneoman wrote: »

...
My current estate agent, has called, stating that she can onyl give us a bad reference to the new company.
Basically she has to say that we have been un reliable with our payments. This is not correct.

I have changed the payment dates due to changing job, and also I was in hospital having a large operation which at the time I did not get sick pay, but I called before hand to confirm all of this.

So it sounds like she was correct.

When you changed your payment date (whatever the reason) did you first write and get written agreement for this from the landlord/agent?

I assume when you had the operation, you went into arrears? That is 'unreliable payment', whatever the reason, and whether or not you called beforehand.

The agent is being generous by now giving you options - she could have simply sent the reference without telling you, or giving you any option.

usefulmale

In my tenant days, when one of the letting agents wanted a rip-off £75 for a reference, I just gave the name and address of one of my friends as though I were in a private let.

HappyMJ

lanceneoman wrote: »

it is an estate agent who does not want to give a reference. or if they do it will be a bad one, which I do not think it is fair.

About 10 years ago I owned my own home, and rented it out for a year before having to sell. I gave a reference for the tenants, which was a good one, despite paying me a couple of days late a few times as the reasons were genuine.

I would say no reference is better than a bad reference so I would just tell the letting agent to tell the referencing company that they do not provide references.

lanceneoman

G_M wrote: »

So it sounds like she was correct.

When you changed your payment date (whatever the reason) did you first write and get written agreement for this from the landlord/agent?

I assume when you had the operation, you went into arrears? That is 'unreliable payment', whatever the reason, and whether or not you called beforehand.

The agent is being generous by now giving you options - she could have simply sent the reference without telling you, or giving you any option.

I gave prior notice of having the operation.

As I did when asking for payment dates to be changed inline with my current employer.
They called up to confirm it was okay, after I emailed.

I have been waiting for an oven to be fixed for 4 weeks now, when I complain they say just sue the hobs.
I had no choice in the end to complain to the council, then a few days after this, I received a section 21.
obviously linked.
And still no oven working.

I feel they are going against us.

and yes, the payment was late when i had the operation, however; they were informed before hand.

I guess what I am asking, what happens if they refuse a reference., what will the referencing company do then?

HappyMJ

usefulmale wrote: »

In my tenant days, when one of the letting agents wanted a rip-off £75 for a reference, I just gave the name and address of one of my friends as though I were in a private let.

Again no reference is much better than a false reference.

HappyMJ

lanceneoman wrote: »

I guess what I am asking, what happens if they refuse a reference., what will the referencing company do then?

You said you were employed so they'll use your employer reference instead.