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Advice on Renting Rejection

thomt93
thomt93 Posts: 2 Newbie
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,

I am looking for some advice as google has not produced any great answers for me! My partner and I moved in together and out of our parent’s houses about 6 months ago. My partner’s boss owned the flat we moved into so apart from a contract and the usual stuff we did not have any checks or fees to complete.

The owner now needs the apartment back for her elderly mother so we have to leave by the end of June.

We have both been in full time work for 6-7 years (currently ages 23 and 24) have no debt at all and have saved around £32,000 towards buying a house in the future. I have only been in my current role 2.5 months (probations ends end of this month) my partner has had her job for 6 years however switched from employed to self-employed and has just 1 year of accounts. I should also mention our credit rates are way above average, combined we take home just under £60,000 and the properties we're looking for are £900-£1000 PCM

We've applied for several houses now and been rejected due to my probation period or due to her 1 year of accounts. We are as lost as what to do, the estate agents say they can’t prove our affordability and that we won’t be able to rent anything until I have passed probation and she has 2 years of accounts. We are a little concerned we will not have anywhere to live come end of June now.

I've offered to show work history over the last 6 years, bank statements proving we have money saved and just hit a brick wall constantly.

Anyone had a similar situation and found a resolution or any suggestions?

Thanks
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Comments

  • spadoosh
    spadoosh Posts: 8,732 Forumite
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Anniversary First Post
    The easiest way for you to show your affordability is to tke some of the £32,000 savings and pay in advance for your rent.

    They cant say you cant afford it if youve paid them for it.

    Suggest paying 6/12 months up front.
  • letitbe90
    letitbe90 Posts: 345 Forumite
    Pretty much as spadoosh said.

    Strange, I recently got a property rented (£1200 pcm) and I had just started contracting (so became self-employed) with less than 6 months of accounts. They could see money was coming into my account - they did that whole homelet referencing malarky. In the end I got accepted without much issue.
  • Oleander
    Oleander Posts: 24 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Hi there

    I was in a similar position to you and just paid six months rent in advance. Once I'd offered that there was no need for any credit checks.

    Good luck!
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 14,588 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    You don't have to go by June. Landlord needs to serve valid notice (many are wrong) then court then bailiffs. Months and months.
  • MrWB
    MrWB Posts: 17 Forumite
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    You don't have to go by June. Landlord needs to serve valid notice (many are wrong) then court then bailiffs. Months and months.

    The OP's partner's "boss" owns the flat (now their customer that makes the purchase decisions. If notice has been agreed by both parties for the end of June, then it's probably in the OP\s best interests to stick with that rather than turning it into a legal wrangle that lasts months but results in the OP leaving and their being bad blood, and the OP's partner potentially losing their contract.

    OP - have you tried different estate agents? If your credit files are clean, once you're out of your probation in a month then I would have thought that you should be okay. I'd suggest that for some landlords it's a combination of your probation period plus your partner only having one year's worth of accounts that's the issue.

    That said, having £32k in savings means as others have suggested that you could pay 6 month's rent upfront and that solves the problem. You can replace your savings with what you would have been paying out monthly for rent for the first 6 months.

    Another option would be to look for landlords on Gumtree and other places advertised rather than going through Estate Agents. Dealing with landlords directly, they may be more open to listening to your situation and making a decision with you.

    Estate Agents often sell expesnive searches, insurance policies, etc that stipulate certain requirements. I'm not saying that's a bad thing from a landlord's perspective to have those protections, but it does remove a personal element between landlord and tenant and can boil down to "third party's comptuer system says no".
  • need_an_answer
    need_an_answer Posts: 2,812 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    You don't have to go by June. Landlord needs to serve valid notice (many are wrong) then court then bailiffs. Months and months.

    I agree with this to some extent but given the fact that your LL is also your's or your partners boss I would tread lightly in deciding whether or not to leave in June. Pushing to the limits of bailiffs in my mind would end up being counter productive and only antagonise the boss and potentially jeopardise the working status quo.

    You are in the position of having savings behind you and at the moment that would seem the best action to offer a lumpsum of rent upfront.
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  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 14,588 Forumite
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    Ah, the old "for my elderly mum" line eh?
  • gingercordial
    gingercordial Posts: 1,681 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    Ah, the old "for my elderly mum" line eh?

    Regardless of whether or not this is true, the OP's partner has recently moved to being self-employed (and I'll leave aside whether that is something HMRC would necessarily agree with if they're doing the same job as they've done for the previous five years...) and therefore does not have the benefit of employment rights. As a contractor they could be let go on very little notice by the boss/landlord without needing to give a reason or go through a formal warning/grievance procedure. So whilst I agree with you it's not exactly the first time that's been used as an excuse, in this situation I wouldn't question it.
  • thermal2844
    thermal2844 Posts: 118 Forumite
    Combo Breaker Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Since you have savings, all that you need to do is pay the required months in advance. You should have no problems at that point.
  • thomt93
    thomt93 Posts: 2 Newbie
    Thank you for all your replies, it is honestly helpful and gives me some things i can suggest to the managing agencies/landlord

    Just to add some context.
    We are not bitter about having to leave our current flat; we were privileged to be given the opportunity to move out into a brand new flat in the centre of Oxford at a much-discounted price. The property owner!!!8217;s mother is 100% moving into the flat, we know the family quite well and wouldnt want to create any tension :)

    This post was purely about how we could bypass some of the rejection issues.

    Thanks again!!
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