Renting query

ceri123

Well, DH & I went BR last week and house is likely to be repossessed sometime soon. Sadly we were not organised enough to sort out rented accommodation prior to going BR. I presume we're now going to struggle, particularly as we are both on benefits. Will having DH's dad as a guarantor make it any easier? Or have we got no hope of living with our daughter anywhere but a nice comfy cardboard box?

Ceri

Scarlett.1974

Hi Ceri,

Have you tried your local council / housing associations? I'm afraid that you will probably struggle with private renting unless you can offer 6 months rent in advance and/or a guarantor One thing to note with a guarantor - we couldn't do this because all the EAs we contacted (but it might be different where you are ) wanted the guarantor to be earning 3 x the monthly rent and as our parents are all retired this was a no-go for us.

Best of luck

Richard_S

ceri123 wrote: »

Well, DH & I went BR last week and house is likely to be repossessed sometime soon. Sadly we were not organised enough to sort out rented accommodation prior to going BR. I presume we're now going to struggle, particularly as we are both on benefits. Will having DH's dad as a guarantor make it any easier? Or have we got no hope of living with our daughter anywhere but a nice comfy cardboard box?

Ceri

Hi Ceri, (again:D )

That answered my question on your other post. Renting when bankrupt is hard but not impossible; we managed it when we were both recently declared bankrupts. A guarantor will make a big difference; some agencies require a guarantor to be earning over a certain amount, but not all.

What is renting likely to cost compared to your mortgage payments plus a contribution to the arrears? If you're only two or three months behind they'll almost certainly settle for the arrears being cleared over a period of five years. If they refuse and it goes to Court then Judges are even more accomodating.

Richard

ceri123

Richard_S wrote: »

What is renting likely to cost compared to your mortgage payments plus a contribution to the arrears? If you're only two or three months behind they'll almost certainly settle for the arrears being cleared over a period of five years. If they refuse and it goes to Court then Judges are even more accomodating.

Richard

To be honest, renting would be far cheaper for us. With the equity release loan on top of the mortgage, regular payments are just over £800/month. Plus then there's buildings insurance, maintenance costs, life assurance for the mortgage... plus it's an old fairly big house (bigger than we really need) so bills are high. Renting a smaller house would be £500-600 so we'd be a lot better off.

If there was any equity in the house, I might be more likely to consider it, but there is nil. Plus the street/area the house is in, isn't overly desirable and we were looking to move asap anyway, although thanks to a recent news story that hit national headlines and is still lingering in local news (woman in the street murdered her disabled daughter and killed herself by setting fire to the car they were in, because they were hounded by the ASBO kids in the street) we'd struggle to sell anyway.

A question... if I were to approach a private letting agent... do I have to tell them I'm bankrupt? I don't quite know how to go about it all for the best result. Do I just be honest and say "OK, I'm bankrupt, I'm on benefits and will get housing benefit plus have a guarantor available"?

Confused and worried.

Ceri

misscomickat

I wouldn't even bother telling them. If you go to a landlord direct, they won't run a credit check on you but they may want to see your contract of employment.

Agencies are another matter.

Richard_S

ceri123 wrote: »

A question... if I were to approach a private letting agent... do I have to tell them I'm bankrupt? I don't quite know how to go about it all for the best result. Do I just be honest and say "OK, I'm bankrupt, I'm on benefits and will get housing benefit plus have a guarantor available"?

Confused and worried.

Ceri

Hi Ceri,

The only tme it's worth not saying anything about your bankruptcy is if you're sure the agent is not going to find out. Most estate agents run a credit check which is likely to reveal your bankruptcy. In that case it's pointless not saying anything, and given that you've got a possible guarantor your bankruptcy wouldn't make any difference.

A landlord advertising a property through the local paper is far more likely to be concerned about whether you'll be a good paying tennant, not whether you're bankrupt or not. Don't forget that somebody with a mountain of debt could get a positive credit search despite the fact they're struggling to meet their commitments.

You by contrast are completely debt free, so that's worth emphasising if you do decide to tell a private ladlord about your bankruptcy. The house we rented was through an agent, but he let us write an accompanying letter to the landlord, explaining why we would be good tennants. It was a very persuasive letter,:D and we got the property.

It'll be a long slog but the more "no's" you get the more chance of getting a "yes".

Any other questions then "fire away"

Richard

squirrel_pigeon

Richard_S wrote: »

Hi Ceri,

The only tme it's worth not saying anything about your bankruptcy is if you're sure the agent is not going to find out. Most estate agents run a credit check which is likely to reveal your bankruptcy. In that case it's pointless not saying anything, and given that you've got a possible guarantor your bankruptcy wouldn't make any difference.

A landlord advertising a property through the local paper is far more likely to be concerned about whether you'll be a good paying tennant, not whether you're bankrupt or not. Don't forget that somebody with a mountain of debt could get a positive credit search despite the fact they're struggling to meet their commitments.

You by contrast are completely debt free, so that's worth emphasising if you do decide to tell a private ladlord about your bankruptcy. The house we rented was through an agent, but he let us write an accompanying letter to the landlord, explaining why we would be good tennants. It was a very persuasive letter,:D and we got the property.

It'll be a long slog but the more "no's" you get the more chance of getting a "yes".

Any other questions then "fire away"

Richard

What did you put in the letter Richard? If you don't mind me asking...?

dappanumber1

hi, just browsing thru when i came across this.

i live in your area, well hinckley to be precise, (grew up in shilton) and my mum lives near where your talking. weird!

anyway, both my sister in law, and father in law, who both have awful credit, got there dad/grandad to be guarantor on a both their rented properties, and there was no problems at all. in fact after the initial six months they got a new contract at the house they'd rented cos they'd paid their rent up on time etc.

be warned tho they will want £500 ish deposit and month's rent up front.

these were both with connels in hinckley, but they were a nightmare with giving the bond back. (in fact they didnt get it back)

also have you put yourself on council list? we waited four years for our property with 2 kids, but rented in the mean time.

there are also quite a lot of private landlords in the hinckley times who dont credit check. i know as a friend has just started renting with them. as long as the rent is paid and you look after the property there shouldnt be a problem!

adam.

ceri123

Thanks Adam. Very encouraging.

The good news actually...

We found an ideal rental property through a private landlady, ideal cheap rent, gorgeous refurbished little 2 bed cottage. And the best bit... she doesn't want a deposit, just first month's rent! Think she was chuffed that DH offered to tidy up the garden for her! Plus I reckon she'd be OK with DH's dad as guarantor, gonna give her a call tomorrow.

Ceri

tigerfeet2006

:T :T Yaaaay!!! well done Ceri. Hope it works out for you.

fiveyearplan

Well done Ceri. That was a great early Christmas present. I hope it all works out for you.