Renting while in probationary period at work

JSUK_2

I'm 35, looking to move back out of home, having recently returned to full time work after about a year out. Rents in my hometown are a little out-of-control - while the LHA is £505pcm or so, a one-bedroom flat with a separate kitchen and a bath is usually a good £600pcm (and where I work is worse, being nearer to London). For medical reasons I can't really compromise on the need for a bath, but can sacrifice one of the other two things (not both - the idea of cooking and sleeping in the same room gets to me a bit). I can just about stump up a deposit, month's rent and the usual fees (although I probably would slip into my overdraft until my next payday).

The problem is, most landlords insist on you being beyond the probationary period before they will take your salary into account. As I see it, I have a few options:

1) Stick it out where I am for the three-month probationary period, which is financially the best option but an effort on my sanity at times. That'd open up flats up to about £550pcm, which would be okay but not perfect.

2) Pay six months up front - this would mean using most of my overdrafts, which would clear over the six months if the job continues to go well - but if the worst happened and I did lose the job, would mean a £50-£100 monthly shortfall, and probably living in the red until I've been working again for a while. Also, can you claim Housing Benefit if rent has been paid in advance? Possible grey area?

3) Get a guarantor, and I do have a possible option although I'd rather not ask. Similar to option 2 beyond having that £3k overdraft there as insurance.

4) Wait for my salary to rise (which it will later this year, all being well) and get somewhere really nice, having saved up for all the advance costs - if everything goes well, and I'm not loving the job so far, and changing jobs would put me back to square one probation-wise

5) Move to a cheaper town nearby which is still within travelling distance for work, where I'm not 100% without connections - but what happens if I lose the job, could I claim Housing Benefit there?

Advice?

Voyager2002

I never heard of a landlord so much as asking whether someone is still in their probationary period at work: see if you can just wing this.

The idea of moving to a cheaper town sounds good, so long as you don't need to spend a fortune on travel. If you needed to claim LHA or other benefits there you would be in exactly the same situation as in your home town: it is only if you want a council or housing association house that they start asking about your connections to the region.

eddddy

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I never heard of a landlord so much as asking whether someone is still in their probationary period at work:

I've definitely heard of this.

Very recently, when a prospective tenant said he had only been with his employer for 1 month - the agent's immediate follow up question was whether he was in a probationary period.

The prospective tenant said 'Yes'. The agent went on to get a reference from the employer, so lying about the time with the company and/or the probationary period would not have worked.

The probationary period meant the prospective tenant had to have a guarantor.

JSUK_2

I haven't tried not mentioning the probationary period to a letting agency, but it seems that's unlikely to work. The cheaper town in question wouldn't cost much more to get to each day, but would take 30 mins out of my morning and 20 out of my evening, so even less of the week would be my own, so I'm not sure that's the best idea.

Mahsroh

I've had this before when I moved into my current house.


Passed all the agencies reference checks etc. No problems with affordability. Letting agent made a "passing comment" to the LL that I was moving to the area due to a change in jobs. This made the LL nervous and he demanded a guarantor. My Dad duly obliged (and set up fees were paid by the LL on the basis that I'd already passed all the checks)


6 months later when the AST was renewed I had my Dad removed from it. The Irony of it is, I've changed jobs twice since!

aneary

I started a job in a different town the LA and LL knew that I had only just started my new job but didn't even ask about probationary period.

I had a reference from my job which stated that I was in a probationary period nothing was mentioned about this and I didn't need a guarantor or 6 months up front rent.