Viewing A Rental with Landlord

macfan21

My wife and I are viewing a rental property tomorrow and the letting agents have said it will be the landlord that is doing the viewing. 

We are quite anxious as we’ve been looking for the perfect house for a while and this house ticks 9/10 boxes. There’s a lot of interest (so much so that the letting agents have already marked it as let agreed on Rightmove to stem the flow of interest), so I expect there will be a fair bit of competition. The letting agents have said that in cases of multiple applications, they all get presented to the landlord for the landlord to decide. 

Now, the problem is that my wife and I have ccjs from when I lost my job 5 years ago. Mine date back 4 years and my wife’s 2 years. 

We are in a position to pay the rent 6 months up front and also have a guarantor available. We also want to offer to pay the rent 6 months at a time throughout the tenancy, but I’m not sure whether it’s better to be open with the landlord at the viewing or just relaying it to the letting agents at application stage. 

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. 

MovingForwards

Are the CCJs satisfied or outstanding?

macman

Firstly, you don't know for sure that the LL will run a credit check. But, if they do, which tenants would you take? One with both parties having CCJ's on their history, or ones that are clean?
Some LL's will love the idea of 6m rent upfront, others will run a mile because it's often an indication that the tenants will be using the property for pharmaceutical production, or as a brothel. You have no way of knowing how this particular LL will view it. I'd just be honest and answer the questions that are asked, no more.
Offering large wodges of cash upfront just smacks of desperation.

theartfullodger

Be honest and upfront about such things.  I had a very good tenant who went bankrupt whilst in one property, kept paying.  Some Landlords can use their brains.  But sadly that's not a necessary qualification for being a Landlord (indeed no training, no qualifications, no criminal records check required:. You could be dealing with any incompetent crook..)

Come on England, bring in better regulations for landlords (and agents)!

macfan21

MovingForwards said:

Are the CCJs satisfied or outstanding?

They are satisfied but only recently so not showing as such on credit reports yet. 

macfan21

macman said:

Firstly, you don't know for sure that the LL will run a credit check. But, if they do, which tenants would you take? One with both parties having CCJ's on their history, or ones that are clean?
Some LL's will love the idea of 6m rent upfront, others will run a mile because it's often an indication that the tenants will be using the property for pharmaceutical production, or as a brothel. You have no way of knowing how this particular LL will view it. I'd just be honest and answer the questions that are asked, no more.
Offering large wodges of cash upfront just smacks of desperation.

One letting agent we spoke to said that the only way around ccjs (for them anyway) was to pay 6 months rent upfront so I think it’s fairly normal where poor credit is concerned. 

I agree that we don’t know if the landlord will run a credit check but the house is a 5 bed detached and he’s going through a letting agent so I’d be surprised if not (however the letting agency do advertise that there’s no referencing fees to pay). 

MovingForwards

I had one CCJ, being paid by instalments due to size, mentioned it to letting agents when trying to find a new rental and if I could get past them not slamming the phone down when I said about it, it was slammed down when I didn't have a guarantor.

What's wrong with the info on your other thread(s)? Nothing has changed since you last asked:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6273670/renting-a-house-with-ccjs#latest

MovingForwards

I also wouldn't recommend you sell to rent, it's a huge shock going from being able to do anything in your own home to having to ask permission to paint, not able to hang pictures and other things:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6276011/mortgage-with-ccjs-and-recent-late-payments#latest 

macfan21

MovingForwards said:

I had one CCJ, being paid by instalments due to size, mentioned it to letting agents when trying to find a new rental and if I could get past them not slamming the phone down when I said about it, it was slammed down when I didn't have a guarantor.

What's wrong with the info on your other thread(s)? Nothing has changed since you last asked:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6273670/renting-a-house-with-ccjs#latest

I’m more specifically asking whether to have the conversation with landlord vs letting the letting agents tell him. If you see that thread, the last post was asking this very question but had no response. 

If it were me, I’d remember the prospective tenant that was honest about their situation rather than someone that didn’t have the conversation with me but that’s likely just because I’ve been in the situation. 

[Deleted User]

Making a random disclosure about historic negative finincial information to a landlord when viewing is unnecessary, unless asked.
I secured a previous let by handing a positive previous landlord reference to the estate agent on the viewing.
Send details of satisfied CCJs, proof of savings and employment income at the point of credit checks.
Im not sure offering 6 months rent  upfront will be relevant.

[Deleted User]

macfan21 said:

macman said:

Firstly, you don't know for sure that the LL will run a credit check. But, if they do, which tenants would you take? One with both parties having CCJ's on their history, or ones that are clean?
Some LL's will love the idea of 6m rent upfront, others will run a mile because it's often an indication that the tenants will be using the property for pharmaceutical production, or as a brothel. You have no way of knowing how this particular LL will view it. I'd just be honest and answer the questions that are asked, no more.
Offering large wodges of cash upfront just smacks of desperation.

One letting agent we spoke to said that the only way around ccjs (for them anyway) was to pay 6 months rent upfront so I think it’s fairly normal where poor credit is concerned. 

I agree that we don’t know if the landlord will run a credit check but the house is a 5 bed detached and he’s going through a letting agent so I’d be surprised if not (however the letting agency do advertise that there’s no referencing fees to pay). 

Landlords and letting agents aren't able to charge tenants fees any more so advertising the property as such does not mean the landlord or letting agency will not run a credit check on you and your wife.