Renting judgements please help!

Loopylottie22

Hello,

I hope everyone is well and pleased January is over! 😆

I feel like I’m in a hopeless place and really need some guidance.

My family and I have been renting for almost ten years. Prior to this I was married and living in military accommodation with my ex husband and our four children. I struggled to find a rental that would accept me being a single parent with four children (do they all have the same father!!!?? Questions!) despite me working as a teacher full time. I then met my partner of 8 years and had a little Covid surprise bringing the head count to seven of us! Since meeting my partner securing a rental was never a problem…… until now! 

We’ve lived in our current rental for 3 years, landlord has served a section 21 as he wants to move back in giving us an 8 week notice period. Since living here I was in an RTA and sustained injuries whereby I had to give up work as a teacher and now receive LCWRA (I’m hoping to get back to work once all surgeries are done!) My partner teaches and earns a good income, we also receive u/c top up, child benefit and maintenance from my ex husband. Because of giving up work I found I was in a fighting fire with fire situation financially and had to enter a DRO which was discharged in Dec 24. 

We need a four bedroom ideally five but not being greedy. My children are 18, 16, 14, 11 and 4. 

Despite explaining our situation to estate agents we can’t help but feel we’re being “put off” We have found a perfect home, the estate agent was all for it when filling out the proposal form I was transparent about my credit score (my partners is very good) their whole attitude changed. They said they can’t do the credit referencing as it would come back as a fail for both of us, I asked if I could get a guarantor they said it would still come back as a fail. Our only option would be to offer 6 months rent up front and after four months pay the remaining 6 months? Fortunately my partners parents are willing to cover the first 6 months and we pay the “monthly rent” back to them. 

So we’ve put our offer in, along with a family CV to prove we’re not a “benefit street” family (which is how I feel we’re being viewed) my eldest is going to Cambridge in a few months my others all studying hard. 

I just want to know is this ls right? Fair? We can prove our income, prove all rent payments have been made on time over the past ten years and have exceptional landlord references. 

I’ve been in touch with other estate agents and they too don’t seem to want to know as soon as I’m transparent with our situation. 

I’m so scared as the clock is ticking with only 6 weeks left before our eviction date with nowhere to go! 

Sorry for the long read! I’m in a bit of a pickle! 

MikeJXE

Someone will be along soon telling you you havent got 6 weeks you could have 6 months or more 

Listen to what the say 

Loopylottie22

MikeJXE said:

Someone will be along soon telling you you havent got 6 weeks you could have 6 months or more 

Listen to what the say 

Sorry Mike I don’t quite follow 😆

MikeJXE

As far as I know section 21 doesn't get you out, there are ways round it

Wait for someone more knowlegable

user1977

It isn’t an “eviction date”. You only get that if and when a court orders your eviction. That’s a separate process which would take months. You can sit tight for the meantime.

FlorayG

First of all don't panic about 'eviction' you cannot be evicted in 6 weeks time your LL has to go to court for that. As long as you continue to pay the rent you cannot be removed without a court order (which takes a few months to get usually) so stay in contact with the LL, keep paying the rent, keep the house in good order.
As for the agents, they should do an Affordability Check and if your partner passes this on their own then your personal financial problems shouldn't affect it. Lots of agents don't really understand what they are doing in my experience ( I'm a landlord) and only want the 'easy' clients. Go back to this agent and ask if your detail with your previous rental history, can be forwarded to the potential LL and the affordability checks done; they shouldn't just say "You won't pass them" how do they know if they don't do them? Most LL are most interested in a decent, long term tenant who has a record of paying the rent on time and in full and less interested in their credit history elsewhere

anselld

As othes have mentioned you can take more time if you have to although it might incur some additional cost and obviously loss of goodwill with the L.

As far as renting with poor credit history is concerned...

The Agents tend to be risk averse , sometimes on behalf of their clients, sometimes because they need rent insurance which is well nigh impossible unless referencing can pass and sometimes to make their own lives easier.  Referencing is also a computerised scoring system so there is no room for negotiation or persuasion;  if computer say no that is the end of it.

Six months rent up font is fine if you have it but it is probably going to be banned in the imminent rent reform legislation.  Also if there is competition for a property and you are up against a "clean" candidate you will still lose out.

You could try to look for properties direct from Landlords, for example those advertised via OpenRent or possibly approach your local Landlord association if there is one.  You have more chance then of explaining your situation and appealing diectly to the Landlord rather than being up against a computerised agent mentality.

Flugelhorn

agree try going directly to Landlords our local facebook groups often have people letting places

GDB2222

Flugelhorn said:

agree try going directly to Landlords our local facebook groups often have people letting places

But, beware, as some of these advertisers are fraudsters. 

https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/identity/rental-fraud.html

I rented out MIL's bungalow for her. I could easily have rented it out 10 times to 10 different tenants, and pocketed 10 deposits etc. Nobody checked my credentials, and indeed if they had checked the land register they would have found that the bungalow was in MIL's name, not mine. 

RHemmings

While it's true that a S21 doesn't get you out, please take note of the advice above that you will lose the goodwill of the landlord. Part of the checks that a new landlord will reasonably likely undertake is to get a reference from your current landlord. Making the landlord pursue you through the courts to evict you may of course affect this. And, this may make it harder to find a tenancy in the future, e.g. if you move out into somewhere without a landlord. Though, as you have five children between you, staying with friends and/or family may be more difficult. As it would require a lot of space. 

I very much agree with looking to contact landlords directly. Another place to look for lettings is OpenRent. If you're not familiar, it's sort of like an automated platform for connecting landlords with tenants and it handles some of the documentation etc. OpenRent has a tenant credit check/verification process, but I see landlords saying that it often misses things. So, it doesn't seem very strict. 

If you think there's a chance of you staying on beyond the end of the S21 and your landlord having to go through the courts, then I would definitely discuss this with the landlord. Say that you really don't want to cause them inconvenience and you're doing the best you can but you are having these problems. Perhaps ask them if they know any other landlords who might have suitable problems. If I was your landlord, I would continue the eviction process, with apologies, but I would continue giving you good references in the hope that helps you find a place and therefore end the problem. Of course, different people think differently. You will know your landlord and will have an idea what approaches might work and which ones won't. 

FlorayG

Most LL that I know don't have a problem with taking on a tenant who is resisting a S21 because we all know WHY they are doing it, it's that or be on the street. As long as the tenant is keeping the current property nice and is paying the rent and is clearly trying their best to find an alternative and not just digging in their heels and refusing to go