Renting 'problem' - can anyone advise?

Scarlett.1974

Good morning all,

I have a bit of an issue/problem and I'm hoping someone may be able to advise me

I'll try and keep this short, but will need to give a little background information

We moved into our rented house on 9th Jan this year. Due to our very poor credit rating we had to pay 6 months rent in advance. We were under the impression though that after the first 6 months had passed that we would be able to go onto normal monthly rental payments. However, the day we went to sign the tenancy and pay the rent & bond/deposit we noticed immediately on the first page of the tenancy agreement that it stated all future rents to be paid 6 months in advance also. We questioned this right away and the letting agent assured us it would not be a problem to go onto normal monthly payments. However, naively maybe, we did not get anything in writing at that time, but the LA assured us he would send something within the next few days.

We never did receive anything from him, despite me sending a couple of emails to ask for this confirmation.

Fast forward to yesterday when I spoke to the LA office (not the guy we originally were dealing with) about something else. I mentioned this to the woman I spoke to and she was quite adamant that she knew nothing about it, there was no notes on her file or anything and that we WOULD have to pay 6 months in advance in July, unless we can pass credit checks. Which we won't. Not a hope in hell. She said she would contant the guy who had made the promise to us and get back to me. She didn't.

I'm now worried out of my mind about this. It's his word against ours isn't it?

We have no way of raising another 6 months rent by July because we borrowed the first 6 months from my mum and are paying her back at the monthly rental amount - obviously the plan was to pay her for 6 months and then commence rental payments to the LA.

I think I know the answer, but thought I'd ask anyway - is there anything we can do? Have we got any choices or options? Can they make us leave if we can't pay another 6 months rent in July? Would it be the LL's decision at the end of the day? Might it be worth writing to him, appealing to him to allow us to do monthly rent? Would he laugh at us? We *might* be able to get a guarantor, but this is not definite.

Sorry for all the questions, but like I said, I'm worried sick about this now and really want to try and get it all sorted. I've tried ringing the LA this morning but there was no answer. Am going to try again in a minute, I'm sure they are open on Saturday mornings.

Thank you and sorry for the essay.

Scarlett x

Gorgeous_George

The problem is that with a poor credit rating, the LL needs to know that the rent will be paid in good time.

Six months seems excessive to me personally. However, if that is what the LL was advised, he would have problems in the future should he need to claim on his LL insurance (if things went wriong and you failed to pay) if he didn't follow the advice.

Put another way, if he needs six months' rent in advance now, why would that change to five months' next month and four the month after?

Sorry. Hope you find a solution. It might be worth negotiating with the LA/LL with the aim of agreeing perhaps three months'.

GG

SwissLe

I know it's too late for you but you should never sign an agreement you are unhappy with. Iron out the issues first before putting your paw print on it. Letting agents are there to make a profit from you, to 'sell' property - we all know some sales people will say anything to get you onboard.

There may be some other options to consider, however, the written contract will take priority over the spoken promise from the agent.

The first option would be to pursue the written confirmation that you may continue to pay on a monthly basis for the duration of your contract after the initial six monthly period. This is the ideal situation. The fact they required a six month pre-payment does suggest your credit rating is very bad, the normal recommendation is three months prepayment in most cases. I would be surprised if this will be approved.

The next option would be to consider offering the landlord to start paying your rent now on a monthly basis. This would transfer your prepayment into almost another deposit amount. Your account would then run in a 3/4month credit basis, leaving enough time for the agency to take action if you stop paying.

As suggested above, you could try and negotiate a smaller prepayment amount and as you would be in a stronger negotiation position then request after this period you move onto a monthly schedule. The landlord will not want you to leave the property, you don't want to leave so this sounds like the ideal compromise. If you get no joy from the agency it might be worth contacting the landlord direct - agencies are sometimes keen to move tenants on to reep the rewards of administration fees, finders fees etc - depending on how desirable your property is.

The final option would be to look for another property through a private landlord that does not ask for a credit check. The least ideal option.

Scarlett.1974

Thank you Gorgeous George and SwissLe for your replies and advice, it's much appreciated.

I've spoken to the LA (another different person this time) and she was very nice and helpful but ultimately we have 2 options only, either pay another 6 months in advance or find a guarantor. She said we would not be allowed to go onto monthly rental without a guarantor unless we passed a credit check because otherwise the LL's insurance is not valid in the event that we didn't pay

Raising the best part of £4k by July is going to be impossible, so finding a guarantor now seems to be our only choice. I suppose (trying to stay positive) at least we have plenty of time, I'm glad we're sorting this out now and not in May/June time. We have 2 possible guarantors in mind (both family members) and are hopeful that 1 of them will agree to do it for us.

Thanks again