Rental Issues...Need Help Please

benn25

Ill cut to the chase so wont bore you with the back story. Bottom line is my referencing has failed as the ex landlady wont sign the referencing company's declaration to confirm that what she said as in I paid rent on time and kept property clean is true and correct and she has also made some false remarks about me. (Im dealing with this separately).

Passed employment and right to rent. No need for guarantor.

After some emails to the referencing company and them mucking me about and also having to pay £10 I am now awaiting the reference that the ex LL made.

In the meantime the new potential LL has been shown the failed reference without my permission. (Im dealing with this separately). They have been told that if they accepted me it would invalidate the rent warranty because the reference conclusion came back a fail.

Reminder: The referencing failed due to the ex LL making personal, unfounded, false remarks about me NOT whether I paid on time or kept the property clean.

My questions:

1) The TA will be a shared TA between 3 people. All tenants will be jointly and severally liable. Although I can prove that I paid rent on time every month no fail for 3 years to the ex LL and that she has actually said that, does 1 person failing the reference invalidate the rent warranty generally?

2) Are referencing companies allowed to make a decision based only on personal opinion from one side. They havent even asked me any questions.

3) Can a referencing company make a decision on whether the tenant is suitable based on personal opinion rather than facts?

4) Who are referencing company's regulated by? FCA, ICO and Property Ombudsman I guess. Anybody else?

This whole experience has been a bloody nightmare. I just feel this referencing company are acting like cowboys and are doing everything in their power to road block me. Im convinced Im being treated unfairly.

Surely it cant be right that I am homeless due to a dubious reference from an ex LL making personal remarks about me.

What do people think?

haras_nosirrah

I guess it depends what the personal comments were and whether they would affect the tenancy. I evicted some tenants even though they kept the place clean and paid on time because I was so fed up about complaints from neighbours about noise, parties and them peeing in the alleyway behind neighbours house that she could see from her windows.

[Deleted User]

Its difficult to advise without any idea what the personal comments were and if they actually were things that affected your tenancy.

Maybe you need to speak to your present LL? Beg? Give some thought to why the present LL made the personal comments? Ask if another reference would be acceptable (ask the new LL if necessary). Point out to the present LL that having a bad reference will make it impossible for you to move out as you have no where to move to (if a tenancy rather than a lodger arrangement, you don't have to leave until evicted by bailiffs but if this is a shared house, it will cause problems with the people you were sharing with).

anselld

benn25 wrote: »

1) The TA will be a shared TA between 3 people. All tenants will be jointly and severally liable. Although I can prove that I paid rent on time every month no fail for 3 years to the ex LL and that she has actually said that, does 1 person failing the reference invalidate the rent warranty generally?

Yes, one fail would usually invalidate rent warranty.

benn25 wrote: »

2) Are referencing companies allowed to make a decision based only on personal opinion from one side. They havent even asked me any questions.

Yes. That is the meaning of a reference.

benn25 wrote: »

3) Can a referencing company make a decision on whether the tenant is suitable based on personal opinion rather than facts?

Yes. That is the meaning of a reference.

benn25 wrote: »

4) Who are referencing company's regulated by? FCA, ICO and Property Ombudsman I guess. Anybody else?

Surely any one of those would be sufficient if the Company have behaved incorrectly.


It might help if you told us the nature of the comments from the ex LL and the reasons why they may be giving you a bad reference. As others have stated there is more to being a good tenant than paying rent on time.

Guest101

benn25 wrote: »

Ill cut to the chase so wont bore you with the back story. Bottom line is my referencing has failed as the ex landlady wont sign the referencing company's declaration to confirm that what she said as in I paid rent on time and kept property clean is true and correct and she has also made some false remarks about me. (Im dealing with this separately).

Passed employment and right to rent. No need for guarantor.

After some emails to the referencing company and them mucking me about and also having to pay £10 I am now awaiting the reference that the ex LL made.

In the meantime the new potential LL has been shown the failed reference without my permission. (Im dealing with this separately). They have been told that if they accepted me it would invalidate the rent warranty because the reference conclusion came back a fail.

Reminder: The referencing failed due to the ex LL making personal, unfounded, false remarks about me NOT whether I paid on time or kept the property clean.

My questions:

1) The TA will be a shared TA between 3 people. All tenants will be jointly and severally liable. Although I can prove that I paid rent on time every month no fail for 3 years to the ex LL and that she has actually said that, does 1 person failing the reference invalidate the rent warranty generally?

2) Are referencing companies allowed to make a decision based only on personal opinion from one side. They havent even asked me any questions.

3) Can a referencing company make a decision on whether the tenant is suitable based on personal opinion rather than facts?

4) Who are referencing company's regulated by? FCA, ICO and Property Ombudsman I guess. Anybody else?

This whole experience has been a bloody nightmare. I just feel this referencing company are acting like cowboys and are doing everything in their power to road block me. Im convinced Im being treated unfairly.

Surely it cant be right that I am homeless due to a dubious reference from an ex LL making personal remarks about me.

What do people think?

Your barking up the wrong tree. You need to speak to your new perspective LL

you have no legal case against anyone except MAYBEyour former LL - and I doubt that!

bouicca21

When I first moved into rented I moved out sharpish when I was threatened with eviction because the LL wasn't paying his mortgage and the bank were repossessing. LL refused to supply a reference. I explained it all to the letting agency and showed proof of payment of rent, and they agreed to waive the reference.

I think you probably have to do something similar. Mind you if you can get hold of the bad reference and it is untrue, then you may have sufficient evidence to threaten an action for defamation. This might get LL to issue a new reference. Equally he or she might know that such actions are expensive and call your bluff. Or he or she might simply argue that the reference is not untrue as such but contains matters of opinion.

Mulder00

1. Yes, it should invalidate it since you are jointly and severally liable. It means that you can be held liable for all the rent in case of issue. If you are a bad payer, then it would be foolish of a company to issue a rent warranty on this basis.
2. You mean you want to provide your own reference? That defeats the purpose.
3. Probably. Where there's smoke, there's fire. People don't generally make negative remarks about others without some sort of reason behind it. If it was in your ex-LL's interest to go further than "yes, good payer, thanks", there must surely be a reason for it.
4. Not entirely sure it is an industry that needs regulation.

Your way around this is to get a guarantor for yourself if your new LL will agree.

The thing about your post is that you don't elaborate what those "personal" remarks are. A reference is not just about whether you paid on time and cleaned up when you moved - it is also about how you behaved as a tenant, whether you were good neighbours, whether you made unwarranted demands and complaints, whether others complained about you, whether you stuck to your lease agreement and so on. The point of a reference letter is to give the new LL an idea of what to expect or not expect.

G_M

benn25 wrote: »

.... my referencing has failed as the ex landlady wont sign the referencing company's declaration.....

.........

In the meantime the new potential LL has been shown the failed reference without my permission. (Im dealing with this separately). They have been told that if they accepted me it would invalidate the rent warranty because the reference conclusion came back a fail.

Not going to comment on the other points as I agree with what others have said.

However, what do you mean by "the new potential LL has been shown the failed reference without my permission."?

The entire tenant vetting process (references, salary checks, credit checks) is done by the referencing company for the benefit of the landord. Of course it is shown to the landlord. Why would it not be?

benn25

Hi folks. Thanks for the input. I was an excellent tenant imv. I think its the LL being vindictive or nasty, because I just cannot understand why this has turned out like it has. I was there for 2.5 years and I had to complain about several issues, for eg no heating for 3 months, no hot water for 2 weeks, no cooker for a month, overcrowding, my deposit not being in a deposit scheme, no broadband for a week or two on several occassions. I also had a disagreement with her, because although she lives in Canada, she decided to blame me for some ladders going missing. Incidentally the neighbours stole them and out of the goodness of my heart I got them back for her. Theyve gone missing again and she thinks I stole them. Im not going to stand for being accussed of something I havent done. The final straw.

@anselld - I know what referencing is, but it needs to be qualified and fair. Otherwise you'd have LL's making false remarks left right and centre. Causing people unnecessary stress.

@Guest101 - Please expand. Why do I not have any legal case. One of the codes of conducts for the TPO is treating potential applicants with fairness. Imv this hasnt happened in my case.

@bouicca21 - I thought this myself until I saw the costs. Unbelievable how hard it is to get justice in this country. Absolute disgrace.

@Mulder00 - I dont want to get my own reference. I want fairness. Askl me about the comments made. maybe I can shed some light on why she made those comments. But at least then the company can make an informed decision based on 2 sides of the story.

@G_M - the LL can see the conclusion but to see actual details the company need to seek my permission. I had to pay £10 for a subject access request to see details about myself so the landlord would be in the same position.

G_M

I obviously don't know how the tenant check started in your case, but certainly before I instruct any checks, I get the applicant's consent on a standard form.

Why would I bother with checks if I could not see (all) the results?

Did you sign nothing when you put in your application for the property?

Guest101

benn25 wrote: »

Hi folks. Thanks for the input. I was an excellent tenant imv. I think its the LL being vindictive or nasty, because I just cannot understand why this has turned out like it has. I was there for 2.5 years and I had to complain about several issues, for eg no heating for 3 months, no hot water for 2 weeks, no cooker for a month, overcrowding, my deposit not being in a deposit scheme, no broadband for a week or two on several occassions. I also had a disagreement with her, because although she lives in Canada, she decided to blame me for some ladders going missing. Incidentally the neighbours stole them and out of the goodness of my heart I got them back for her. Theyve gone missing again and she thinks I stole them. Im not going to stand for being accussed of something I havent done. The final straw. - No offence but what did you expect to be in your reference?

@anselld - I know what referencing is, but it needs to be qualified and fair. Otherwise you'd have LL's making false remarks left right and centre. Causing people unnecessary stress. - Which is why I said you might have a case against your previous landlord.

@Guest101 - Please expand. Why do I not have any legal case. One of the codes of conducts for the TPO is treating potential applicants with fairness. Imv this hasnt happened in my case. - In what way have they not been 'fair'? I mean it's not as simple as that anyway, but clearly your reference has not met the standards.

@bouicca21 - I thought this myself until I saw the costs. Unbelievable how hard it is to get justice in this country. Absolute disgrace. - How so?

@Mulder00 - I dont want to get my own reference. I want fairness. Askl me about the comments made. maybe I can shed some light on why she made those comments. But at least then the company can make an informed decision based on 2 sides of the story. - It's nothing to do with the company it's to do with the LL.

@G_M - the LL can see the conclusion but to see actual details the company need to seek my permission. I had to pay £10 for a subject access request to see details about myself so the landlord would be in the same position.

Absolute rubbish. The LL needs to see all the information. How else does he or she make a decision of whether to let to you or not.


The LL does not need a SAR.