Credit checks when renting

Annastin

We recently moved home, renting through a national chain agency. It was a nightmare, we were asked for all sorts of ridiculous information over and above the usual documents like bank statements, pay-slips, etcetra. It took almost two weeks and the idiots left two hard footprints on our creditreports when they had promised it would be just one.

Our previous landlord also needed referencing but it wasn't as thorough.

dh1989 wrote: »

Hi

My wife and I have been homeowners for the last 5 years.

We are about to sell and are looking for somewhere to rent. My credit rating is not good and I just wanted to check what kind of check is carried out when applying to rent a property?

Is this a soft check for CCJ's and to check identity or are they full checks that lenders carry out?

Advice is appreciated,

Thanks, Dave

tom9980

In defence of Landlords, when someone mortgages a property the lender requires at least a 5% deposit usually a five figure sum (£10,000+). They also place a charge on the property to secure their mortgage so there are assets they can sell should non payment occur. They ask for pay slips, bank statements and do credit checks.

Someone who rents pays a deposit that is only 5 weeks rent, generally less than £1000. Typically have no assets worth a great deal to secure any future debts against and can easily move on and not give a forwarding address. A Landlord takes a lot of risk renting a property worth on average £230k and they have to trust the tenant will not treat it badly so really is it that unreasonable that a Landlord should require the same level of checks as a mortgage lender?

letitbe90

muhandis wrote: »

Please see below.

He refers to a full credit check as a hard credit search as opposed to a soft credit check - not a full report.

muhandis

Apologies, I'm not sure what you mean.

letitbe90 wrote: »

He refers to a full credit check as a hard credit search as opposed to a soft credit check - not a full report.

cado1

I have recently moved from one rental property to another and I am currently on a DMP with 2 defaults on my credit file. I was very worried about passing the credit check but I am happy to say I did as the previous information I received on here was correct in that the 3rd party my letting agent used didn't do a full credit check.

muhandis

That's good to hear! It would be a tragedy if all the LAs started using a computer-says-no kind of approach to tenant referencing.

cado1 wrote: »

I have recently moved from one rental property to another and I am currently on a DMP with 2 defaults on my credit file. I was very worried about passing the credit check but I am happy to say I did as the previous information I received on here was correct in that the 3rd party my letting agent used didn't do a full credit check.

lookstraightahead

We had to prove we could afford our rent by providing an income that was at least 2.5 (?) times the annual rent. Payslips, bank statements, reference from old landlord, confirmation of employment. Nothing the other way to show that the landlord had paid the mortgage on time, was a good landlord, etc. Absolute tosh but keeps people in jobs.

tom9980

lookstraightahead wrote: »

We had to prove we could afford our rent by providing an income that was at least 2.5 (?) times the annual rent. Payslips, bank statements, reference from old landlord, confirmation of employment. Nothing the other way to show that the landlord had paid the mortgage on time, was a good landlord, etc. Absolute tosh but keeps people in jobs.

So ask? Still amazed a tenant has never asked for proof of ownership of property I rent out. I would also be happy to provide references from previous tenants and confirm I could afford to perform expensive repairs.

lookstraightahead

tom9980 wrote: »

So ask? Still amazed a tenant has never asked for proof of ownership of property I rent out. I would also be happy to provide references from previous tenants and confirm I could afford to perform expensive repairs.

How exactly would a tenant do that officially as agents don't work on behalf of tenants. Would you provide the tenants with your bank statements?

That's good by the way, I just don't think many would.