Is this Letting Agent abusing my privacy and mis-handling my personal data?

MartyCH85

Hi,

My wife and I are in the process of moving house and are experiencing some troubling issues with the letting agent whose handling the property we're trying to rent, and we're trying to figure out of he's been mishandling our personal information or invading our privacy at all.

We had our offer for the rental price, slightly lower than the asking price accepted and a move-in date, slightly later than they were expecting, agreed, pending credit and reference checks - I understand this to be a regular part of the process. We also supplied 3 months of bank statements and paid a £600 reservation fee to take the house off the market.

The letting agent is now trying to claim that there's an issue with my bank statements which he says might indicate that I'm not financially stable enough to afford the rent. He's specifically highlighting the fact that I recently took out a loan to pay off some old credit card debt. It seems irrelevant to me given that my statements also show that I have consistently paid my rent on time, that I've never missed any bills, that I have a steady and decent income (plenty enough to afford the rent), and that the rent I've been paying at my current house is higher than at the place we're trying to move to. He started to imply that I was trying to cover up having prior CCJ's, which I've never had, and that I was somehow lying about my financial situation, by saying things like "The truth will come out during the credit checks." When I pressed him to please carry on with the credit checks and references, as they will actually prove his assumptions to be false because I have an excellent credit rating and employment history. He said he was refusing to carry on with the credit and reference checks until he's presented his "findings" (his exact words) to the landlord and was awaiting confirmation to proceed with further checks.

I have my suspicions that the letting agent is trying to hold out for a better offer and so is deliberately derailing our application by providing the landlord with incomplete data, to intentionally paint a maligned representation of my character and financial stability.

The big kicker here, is that in order to meet their requirements for the agreed moving-in date, we've had to already hand in our notice at our current house - The letting agent knows this, in fact he attempted to coerce us to break our current tenancy agreement entirely, which would have left us open to legal action from our current landlord. He's fully aware that his actions could potentially leave us homeless.

Do we have a leg to stand on here? Is he acting within the law? Is there any way we can demand that the letting agent process our application fairly?

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

G_M

Sadly

1) he acts for the landlord, so passing your information to the LL for a decision is his job

2) unless you and the LL (or agent) have actually signed a tenancy agreement /contract, neither is legally commited to the tenancy

3) whether any holding deposit pad (you don't say) is refundable depends on the terms under which it was paid. Generally itt is not if he tenant wiithdraws, or fails the credit check/referencing. But there is often an issue around definition of 'fail'...... There is no legal definition of pass/fail - it is ssubjective,

anselld

There is no miss-use of data in that you provided the bank statements for this purpose and if the agent or L find something on them they don't like then they are entitled not to rent to you.

Having said that, you have presumably paid a referencing fee so, yes you should have an expectation that the referencing process is carried out in full based on that fee.

You should know, however that very little "truth comes out" in a full credit check. It will confirm the absence of CCJs but that is about it. Agents can only see public records (CCJs Bankruptcies, etc). They cannot see the details of payment histories, etc.

MartyCH85

Hey, Thanks for your reply, it's much appreciated.

I agree that he should be passing information to the LL, but surely he has an obligation to be presenting all the data accurately? Not just cherry-picking things to intentionally make me look bad? How can the LL make an informed decision if he's only getting one side of the picture? Don't letting agents have some kind of legal obligation to treat people's personal data responsibly?

Thanks again ^^

Cakeguts

It isn't the loan to pay off the credit card itself that is the problem it is the fact that you didn't pay off the debt without getting a loan to do it. What stops you from getting more credit card debt and another loan to pay that off?

He isn't bothered all that much by the fact that you have paid your rent on time up to now he is trying to assess if you will continue to pay your rent on time.

notafan

Firstly you shouldn't have supplied them with bank statements in the first instance. It's not required to check income nor credit check. Its not the landlords nor the letting agents business. You wont be the first person to have a loan renting somewhere - what you have it for is your business.

If they are refusing to carry out the credit check ask for a refund of the money they are undoubtedly charging you to carry out the check.

You would expect the letting agent to advise if the tenant was suitable based on salary information, affordability, results of credit check and referencing.

Although i do wonder how the letting agent is "presenting" ( storing, sending, sharing and distributing?) your bank statements to the landlord, because i suspect that likely falls foul of data protection rules - (how can the letting agent guarantee what the landlord is doing with that info? Additionally how is it managing it themselves).

Either way the agency sounds like poor.

They either need to credit search you and make a decision OR refund you.
If its a decline then you'll need to read what you've signed regarding any refund due.

[Deleted User]

I am afraid that a consolidation loan to pay off credit card debts will look bad. You surely can appreciate this? It can be the second or third step to a 'non payer' situation. The LA is now wondering if there are already or going to be further debt problems leaving you unable to pay rent.

Its never going to be a good sign.

He may now be wondering if its even worth doing credit checks on you and is going to check with the LL. Although I do agree he is being a bit OTT with this. You submitted your bank statements so basically said, "have a look at them" to him, he didn't steal them. He is allowed to discuss financial issues with the LL. The only thing I would suggest is asking if you can speak to the LL but I'd be surprised if this would be allowed and might not help given the way you have written.

It might be an idea to approach other agencies or something like OpenRent which usually involves you dealing with the LL direct. If refused I hope you can get your holding fee back as suggested above.

FBaby

The problem is that the LL doesn't know you. They don't know that despite your debts, you are a person who will always prioritise rent and that you are in a stable position to pay your debts and rent regularly.

The LA business is to provide the LL with the least risky tenants. If they identify that there is a risk, they will want to share it with the LL. For all you know, the previous tenant of that LL appeared fine too but ended up not paying rent because of debts.

It is very frustrating as a tenant and it feels very unfair. You are caught in between two barrels as you have to give enough notice to your old LL and understandably, you don't want to end up paying rent at both places.

Unfortunately, the LL is looking after their own interest and that is to secure the least risky tenant as quickly as possible.

You don't know the relationship between the LA and the LL. It could be that the LL goes with every word they say, or they might just use them to do the checks but they review the information themselves and decide whether they think the prospective tenants are ok. Hopefully this is the case for you, but in the end, it is very much outside of your control at this stage.

davidmcn

MartyCH85 wrote: »

Hey, Thanks for your reply, it's much appreciated.

I agree that he should be passing information to the LL, but surely he has an obligation to be presenting all the data accurately? Not just cherry-picking things to intentionally make me look bad? How can the LL make an informed decision if he's only getting one side of the picture? Don't letting agents have some kind of legal obligation to treat people's personal data responsibly?

Data protection doesn't mean you can dictate how people interpret your personal data. The landlord may well have asked the agent to give them a recommendation based on the agent's view of what they've seen.

theartfullodger

MartyCH85 wrote: »

Is this Letting Agent abusing my privacy and mis-handling my personal data?..................

Possibly: I suspect most/many do most of the time, but without seeing what you signed up to in this case, hard to say.

Marty: The agent required you to provide certain info for the process to proceed: You did not have to agree, you could have gone elsewhere..,...

You were at liberty to require certain info regarding either/both-of agent, landlord for you to do such checks as you see fit - eg evidence agency staff have no criminal records, have been trained in landlord/tenant law, agents tax-returns, measurement of customer satisfaction of their tenants; or for landlord checks that he had permission to rent the property out, had no property-related criminal history, copy of his tax-return to check he's declaring his rental income. Any reason you didn't bother with these, please?

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!