Referencing -Letting Agents

Tori_Bellatrix

svmitche wrote: »

I think you'll just have to try it out with this agency and see what happens - at least then you'll know! References from former landlords seem to go a long way in my experience though - could you provide those?

Yeah, I'm just loathe to lose over £300 (including holding fee if I am get rejected).

My current landlady has said she will give me a reference - I've rented from her nearly 18 months and always paid my rent on time :A

eyespy

I'm about to move in January I had to pay £117.50 for my credit check even though the estate agent I am renting with has rented to me before and credit checked me before grrrrr makes my blood boil these fees. My credit is pretty pants I know I was checked with rentshield this time and passed. My poor partner had to bring in a load of his wageslips though as Morrisons apparently don't have the technology to produce 3 months wages on a form!

PasturesNew

I have no idea of my credit rating, or if I have one.

I don't have any credit cards. I have no debts, no previous defaults, no CCJs. Clean as a whistle!

I sold my house, banked the money and moved. I had no job (didn't need one as I wasn't sure where I really wanted to be as I set out to find work).

Without a job, I was asked for 6 months' rent up front + 1.5 months bond. So I paid that all up front. So I paid over £2000.

Credit checks on just me were £150+VAT.

These credit checks/deposits/6 months up front are a real limiter to people moving about looking for work. I had the money. I bet most don't.

Mr_Bear_2

we were going through an agency but they insisted on a gurantor who earned 3 times the yearly rent

we couldnt do it so have gone private - a lot happier
LL seems very good

Tori_Bellatrix

Mr_Bear wrote: »

we were going through an agency but they insisted on a gurantor who earned 3 times the yearly rent

we couldnt do it so have gone private - a lot happier
LL seems very good

3 times the yearly rent! I know people who do but they wouldn't want to be my guarantor ...

samf1971

Glad I saw this post as I was going to ask a similar thing for us. We're planning to move in May/June and have always rented privately without a problem but I know for sure our credit history is a big rough, although we've always paid rent ok. We're probably moving up to Scotland so DH might not have sorted out a job in time for the move and I guess from reading your posts if we have to find 6months rent it would be a nightmare so I'm going to have to try some private landlords I think. We've certainly no-one who could guarantor for us so i think private is again the only way to go.

Tori_Bellatrix

Well I've submitted my forms and paid the fee now so it's a case of hoping for the best .... ...

joolsybools

Good luck!

Tassotti

Go Private..show the prospective Landlord payslips, (affordability factor)...May work

Tass

scrummy_mummy_2

Be careful...this assumption that a private LL won't ref and credit check you you to the extent an agency may be a falsehood.
I use MARAS to fully reference and credit check all of my propsective tenants. They will score each prospective tenant applicant and let me know their rating, A, B or C and advise if a guarantor is necessary. MARAS is a national company used by many letting agents and so the referencing and scoring process at my request is the same as that of an agent.
They charge me £35.75 per tenant applicant and a bit less if I have to have a guarantor referenced as a result of the first set of checks. Included in this fee is the fee to the agent I have to use because MARAS do not deal with the 'general public' directly. These figures should give you some idea of how much the referencing processs ACTUALLY costs....if an agency charges you £70 per reference, then some of that fee is margin. Legally, they must declare how much of the fee they are actually charged for the referencing process otherwise it is called 'hidden profit'....however, they will easily be able to justify the 'fee' being 100% overinflated, because they will claim it supports the admin time necessary to complete the paperwork and process necessary!

I am a member of the NLA and fully subscribe to the new tenancy deposit scheme TDSL.
The big difference with me is that I don't fleece my tenants with ridiculous fees because I don't operate a 'lettings agency' so don't have those overheads, staffing costs,profit margins etc to take into account on my P&L!
If I had a flashy office and staff, I'd have to recoup the costs somehow....

In my humble opinion, if a private LL is not operating professionally and to the same level of stringency (questionable!) that a lettings agent does, then, although you may get the tenancy, what other problems with ill informed private landlords are you going to encounter? Perhaps they won't know that they have to protect your deposit? Perhaps they won't know how to correctly complete and inventory, perhaps they won't know yours annd their legal obligations, perhaps they won't have the correct certification for gas appliances, perhaps they are cheapskates?

Devil...deep blue see I'm afraid.