Unable to rent new flat because of "adverse" UNFAIR reference.

ciderboy2009

OP - what proof have you got that they agreed to changing the date?

If it was just agreed over the phone then there's a strong possibility that the letting agents don't have any record of it - hence the reference they have provided.

If you haven't got anything in writing from them then I feel that it's unlikely that they will change what they have said.

LandyAndy

Cakeguts wrote: »

You need to check that you are not 5 days in arrears. If you had been paying on 25th and you changed to the 30th there are 5 days that you have not paid for.

It could be that you are in rent arrears as well as paying late. If this is the case then the referrences are stating something that is true and they are not unfair.

My interpretation is that the OP moved from paying on the 25th for the period ending the next 25th to paying on the 30th for the period ending the next 25th. That ties in with the 18 months of payments constituting 'multiple late payments', every one late by 5 days but still for the period ending on the next 25th. What was changed was the payment date not the rent due date.


I don't believe there are any arrears. The reference would have stated '5 days in arrears' not 'multiple late payments'.

Cakeguts

The problem with all of this is that there is no evidence to support the fact that the agent agreed to change the date. There is also no evidence that agent told the landlord what had happened or even that the person at the letting agent told anyone else at the agency that the date of payment was changing. This is why it is important to get all changes in writing otherwise it comes down to your word against their's.

This has happened a few times with our tenants. Our letting agent asks us if we will agree to change the date of payment. We could say no although we haven't.

In this case there is no evidence that the landlord was even aware that the date had changed because there is nothing in writing.

Someone who knows that a letting agent only has 1.8 stars is already aware that they are not very good so why risk them not being very good when it matters.

We are only getting one side of the story. It is quite possible that the letting agent didn't agree to the date being permanently changed but only changed once to the 30th and then to return to payments on the 25th. Who knows?

Smoothape

I spoke to both parties and was able to get it sorted after a lot of diplomacy and back and forth speaking to the director of the agency. Happy to confirm I'll be moving. Just takes some persistence and tact sometimes to get what seems like a hopeless situation sorted.

I assumed my current letting agency would be as presumptuous uncompassionate and brutal as cakeguts but I'm glad they weren't and that I was able to get this sorted.

Cakeguts

marliepanda wrote: »

There is literally nothing wrong with asking to change a payment date!

Not sure what cakeguts and moneyistooshorttomention are so upset about. He didn’t just start paying 5 days late, he asked and got permission from the landlords agent, so as good as from the LL himself.

Literally nothing wrong with asking, getting permission, and then doing.

This actually isn't the complete problem. The problem is that there is no evidence that he got permission from anyone because it was a telephone call and as he said he didn't think the agent was very good. So instead of getting evidence that a change had been made he assumed that a telephone call to the not very good agent was enough.

It is recommended that contact for repairs is in writing to the landlord. Photographs of condition on moving in and moving out for proof of condition. Yet for a change to a legal document all the proof needed is for the tenant to say "I made a phone call." What the tenant needed to do was to write a letter to the agent to confirm that the change had been made. In some cases they might need to also write to the landlord to confirm the change.

If you don't get permission in writing you are opening yourself up to problems because you don't have any proof that a) you made the phone call and b) they gave permission for the change.

The person who took the phone call at the agents office didn't add the change to the record so when it came to reference time it became a case of the tenant saying they made a phone call and the agent saying that there is no record of it? A letter of confirmation of the change would have solved this.

marliepanda

A sudden change from 25th to the 30th, with no complaints from the landlord. I reckon they’d have a good chance that it was agreed to.

I mean, if it wasnt, the landlord/agent will be able to evidence months of ‘late payment reminders’

saajan_12

Goodness, all this right to pay late, verbal permission etc is irrelevant! The current agent / LL is under no obligation to provide any reference, let alone a favorable one. They cannot outright lie to defraud you, but as the end result was you paying later than initially agreed, they could reasonably have considered it late (they simply accepted there's little they can do about it). So legally the current agents have done nothing wrong. The new LL/agents can specify any requirements they choose before letting a flat, and are under no obligation to accept anything less than a formal reference. So legally they have done nothing wrong.

The bottom line is you want to move to a place requiring a formal reference. Your options are
1) Convince the new LL/agents to accept the explanation without the formal written reference
2) Convince the current agents to amend the reference stating the 'late' payments were by agreement.
3) Find another property - not all will be so rigid in their referencing process.

But remember these are all negotiations, you're requesting they do it your way but they don't have to so no point arguing!

PersianCatLady

saajan_12 wrote: »

Goodness, all this right to pay late, verbal permission etc is irrelevant! The current agent / LL is under no obligation to provide any reference, let alone a favorable one. They cannot outright lie to defraud you, but as the end result was you paying later than initially agreed, they could reasonably have considered it late (they simply accepted there's little they can do about it). So legally the current agents have done nothing wrong. The new LL/agents can specify any requirements they choose before letting a flat, and are under no obligation to accept anything less than a formal reference. So legally they have done nothing wrong.

The bottom line is you want to move to a place requiring a formal reference. Your options are
1) Convince the new LL/agents to accept the explanation without the formal written reference
2) Convince the current agents to amend the reference stating the 'late' payments were by agreement.
3) Find another property - not all will be so rigid in their referencing process.

But remember these are all negotiations, you're requesting they do it your way but they don't have to so no point arguing!

I agree.

Whatever the situation was regarding the payment dates, as long as a reference does not contain inaccurate information, the LA / LL has done nothing wrong.

harrys_dad

I wonder what the landlord of the new accommodation thinks. When I have had potential tenants "fail" a reference check I have been informed why, and asked if I still want to take them. I have done this twice, and both became really good long term tenants with no problems at all. Sometimes reference "failures" are just bureaucratic tick box stuff. Common sense should be applied.