Affordability checks for renters paying out of capital/investments

Justi

I want to rent a house inbetween selling and buying but because my money is in investments and not income I am having a lot of trouble passing the affordability checks. The agents seem to use automated tools like Canopy which don't seem to understand things like investments held with professional wealth managers. Even if one has savings Canopy  will only accept them if the money has been in the same account for >3 months. So money from my house sale won't count. Result is you can be sitting with hundreds of thousands in capital and unable to rent a place for 6-12 months! What on earth do people do? I offered to pay upfront but the agents still make me go through Canopy which rejects me.

theartfullodger

There is no (legal) requirement for any landlord or agent to do any such checks, nor indeed take references: (Indeed my best ever tenants had recently arrived in UK - so no financial history nor much savings - and nobody to provide any "normal" reference: A neighbour of mine told me "Mr Artful they very nice people" - I took them on on her recommendation and they were. )  Such checks might be required however for (unpaid) rent insurance.  IMHO many agent's staff simply follow an idiot ticksheet, s*d all intelligence applied. 

Suggest prowling the internet for landlords advertising directly, and visit - in person - local agents and see how you get on.

You presumably have evidence of good credit rating and regular significant payments (eg mortgage etc etc ?? ) - use them!

Trouble is the current Tory caused renting crisis means landlords and agents really can take their pick...

Good luck, hope it goes well.

MikeJXE

It's a problem 

I don't have the required income to rent however I do have savings, I'm on my 4th in 5 years but the first needed a guarantor which I was able to provide, the next 2 were 6 months up front 

The one I am in now wasn't a problem at all so I guess I came recommended as I have not missed a payment in the previous 4 years 

Justi

theartfullodger said:

There is no (legal) requirement for any landlord or agent to do any such checks, nor indeed take references: (Indeed my best ever tenants had recently arrived in UK - so no financial history nor much savings - and nobody to provide any "normal" reference: A neighbour of mine told me "Mr Artful they very nice people" - I took them on on her recommendation and they were. )  Such checks might be required however for (unpaid) rent insurance.  IMHO many agent's staff simply follow an idiot ticksheet, s*d all intelligence applied. 

Suggest prowling the internet for landlords advertising directly, and visit - in person - local agents and see how you get on.

Trouble is the current Tory caused renting crisis means landlords and agents really can take their pick...

Good luck, hope it goes well.

Thank you! That's the impression I get - the agents sign up to Canopy or whatever and then mindlessly press buttons. I'm lucky in that I am pretty much a perfect tenant (I am a landlord too but only with tenants I know personally and would never dream of subjecting them to the awful Canopy) and the house I want to rent is quite expensive so it doesn't have hundreds of people chasing it. In the end I had to threaten to walk away. Miraculously that seemed to unblock the system.

BJV

We used to use an EA and god they where terrible.

We use open rent now, not sure what referencing system they use, but even when someone fails the checks we always speak to them and find out. There is always a good reason and we have so far never had to say no after talking to the tenant. ( who all thankfully pay on time every month). 

Justi

BJV said:

We used to use an EA and god they where terrible.

We use open rent now, not sure what referencing system they use, but even when someone fails the checks we always speak to them and find out. There is always a good reason and we have so far never had to say no after talking to the tenant. ( who all thankfully pay on time every month). 

Very interesting, thank you BJV. You sound like a really decent, humane and intelligent landlord. Shame about the EAs as so many people have to use them.