to not declare a discharged bankruptcy

[sevenkeystomysoul]

Was discharged from bankruptcy at the beginning of this year. Am now filling out one of those FCC Paragon reference forms for the new flat I'm going to be renting next month. One of the questions is 'Are you or any intended occupants aware of any adverse credit history?'. Shall I say yes or no? Have been discharged, never defaulted with my current rent in the two years DD and I have been living here and have already paid £180 to the letting agent. The new flat is lovely and I don't want to lose it, or my £180. Anyone with any experience/advice?

I don't have any experience or advice, but if you are supposed to tell the truth then you should. I'm a LL and the rent I get is a very important part of my family's income. I'd be really upset to think that someone knowingly let me risk being able to provide adequately for my children just because they felt like being selfishly dishonest.

Can't you tell the truth and get a reference from your old LL to say that you are going to reliably keep up the rent?

You will need to check your credit reference records. Apparently after 6 years of being discharged the courts will remove it from their records and so SHOULD credit reference agencies, but they may not. If you don't mention it and it comes up in a credit reference check you won't get the new flat!

Credit check will show it up anyway. So no point lying.

Better to be straight with them. Perhaps offer a guarantor (sp?) or extra deposit as gesture of good faith.

Don't lie because they WILL know and they will decide what sort of person you are based on the fact you tried to hide it. They won't see the real (desperate) you.

Try it, if you fail there will be other flats.

Don't lie as it will come up on the credit check.

Yes, I will be giving a reference from my current landlord/letting agent, and one from my employer and I also have a guarantor, so my future landlord's income is guaranteed. Like I said, I have never defaulted on the rent, even when I was bankrupt, and I have been a model tenant (even paid to have a new kitchen floor laid because the one here previously was so grotty). But, I don't want to potentially lose the new flat, or the money I have paid so far, because of the bankruptcy. I don't know, it might not even be a problem, given the other references etc, but would it be more of a problem to not declare it and then the references agency report it? Anyone who has been in this situation and has advice would be welcomed most gratefully.

I was in this situation.

And my advice is above.

It's on your crf for 6 years, so it WILL show up on your crf.

So will all your defaults etc for 6 years from the date of BR, so no point whatsoever in lying at all. All your accounts will have been defaulted from the br date.

You also need to clean your credit files to make sure the debt accounts are settled, ask on money saving expert forums they'll tell you how.

Thank you Hectate and others, I will declare it then and just hope that it won't be a problem given that it's discharged and I have good references. I just want to have a nice place for me and DD to live in, I had less trouble getting a mortgage (back in the day before I was an impoverished single mum) than I've had trying to rent a decent place.

If the future landlords rent is guaranteed, they will probably snap you up as a tennant! Most don't have guarantors, so I would say that that, combined with you being upfront about the situation will get you the flat.

Can you not go on the council waiting list?

I'll be honest with you - most of the private rented places we applied for refused to touch us! We got one in the end that took refs but didn't do a credit check!

Then we got a HA house

But I tell you this - you can't hide it. So if you don't declare it, they'll know anyway, know that you hid it and decide that you are dishonest. That's far worse and far more likely to go badly for you than if you say look, this is what happened but...

Thanks Hectate, I know what you mean about private renting. Most of the time you call up about a place, arrange a viewing and then the letting agent says casually 'Oh yes, and usual rules apply, no pets, no smokers, no DSS'. I don't even know what DSS means! I work part-time (DD is a pre-schooler and I'm a single mum) and get partial HB and it seems that makes me a rent-defaulting chav who is going to burn the place down with my 80-fags-a-day habit while in a lager-induced daze . In reality, I was made redundant from a professional job, set up on my own, which didn't work, and ended up losing my home and credit rating in bankruptcy. Just a normal, non-lager-swilling, non-chav who is struggling to bring her daughter up in a decent environment. I really don't think it's worth going on the council waiting list, we're hardly high priority, it's just me and DD and I work. I'm currently studying as well to become a teacher, so I'm hoping not to be in this situation in a few years time anyway. I should imagine I'll get offered a council house just about the time I'm retiring!

Don't lie. They'll see you as a bancrupt AND
a liar!!

No, I'm not going to, I've just written in the relevant bit of the form 'Bankruptcy - discharged March 2010'. Better to be a former bankrupt than a liar .

there is a public register of current and discharged bankruptcies freely available online - you are right not to lie, they would only find you out!

No DSS means no housing benefit so if you get help with your rent you need to declare it to the landlord, many have clauses in their mortgages/insurance that forbid tennants that claim it.

Don't give them any cause to zap you. We had some incredibly snotty estate agents for our recent rental. This was even without any financial irregularities on our side (really sorry if that comes across as patronising; I hope you know what I mean) so God knows what else they would have said if there had been a problem with our credit check!