To ask for help with a referencing check as a tenant?

[LittleWingSoul]

Hello!

Hope someone may be able to help me...

DP and I handed over a holding deposit/fees this morning for a rental property (that was highly coveted, we are seriously lucky to have got the first viewing!)

I am now really worried our referencing checks won't go through for some reason or other, probably being silly but... We have a decent joint income that is the stipulated 2.5 x annual rental cost of the property. All fine.

But on the referencing forms they have suggested we are each liable for 50% of the rent.

Is this normal? Regardless of us being a married couple with kids so it's all family money? My income makes up around 15% of our annual income, at a push...

Will we be likely to fail reference checks even though we have good credit, semi professional jobs and have been with the same landlord for 5+ years and never defaulted on a rent payment?

Thanks in advance!

it shouldnt affect you my other half earns approximately 11 times what i earn and we both passed our credit checks when we moved in together. all they mainly want is references from your job to say you have a job and the job is classed as permanent not temporary and from previous landlord or agency to say you have been good tenants and usual normal credit score i think the 50% thing is to cover them if one of you left and the other tenant didnt pay the rent they could get you or him out on that clause

Eek I am in my 5th year of employment for a university but it is a temporary rolling contract (I sign a new contract every September). I'm scared now! I think our current landlord didn't even credit check us... Or maybe I was this worried back then too!

But on the referencing forms they have suggested we are each liable for 50% of the rent
I think the point that they are trying to make is that if you don't pay the rent and accrue arrears then they can come after both of you for the money.

Would you mind posting the exact wording of the text that has worried you or is it a bit rude of me to ask??

They mean you are jointly and severally liable for the rent OP.

You should stipulate on the credit check how much you want to be liable for - it doesn't need to be 50/50, it can be 80/20. You can also not be named on the tenancy if your DH can pass the check on his salary alone.

Oh really? The estate agents didn't mention that to us. Why shouldn't my name be on it? My income is only 15% of our joint annual income but without it we wouldn't get by.

Persian it says
Total Monthly Rental Amount:
£XXXX
Applicant Share of Rent:
£XXX

My applicant share is half of the total monthly rent amount.

That bit has already been filled out for me Giselaw, I can't change my applicant amount.

Thanks for answers so far... This worry is in addition to the 6 week deposit, fees and first months rent which all has to have been paid and cleared 5 days prior to our moving date... so approx 10 day rent overlap with our current property and god knows how long we'll have to wait for our deposit back from current LL (who is a gem bur I understand there are procedures for releasing the deposit).

All of this right after Xmas but really can't complain as we were lucky to have got the property, as I said before. Meh renting

You can also not be named on the tenancy if your DH can pass the check on his salary alone
Make sure that you are on the tenancy OP.

I have known of people in situations just like yours whose relationship hits a rocky patch and without being on the tenancy they have no right to be in the property.

Well yes you can. Estate agents don't do the credit checks, an independent credit check company does. They don't care what it is, and if you want to pass, I suggest you make it reflective of your salary, otherwise yours will come back negative and your DH's positive. The credit company looks at it as an independent application and whether you can afford the amount shown on your income. They're not evaluating you and DH as a family.

A Landlord would want all adults living in the premises to be parties to the tenancy otherwise there are issues should they ever need to evict!

Persian, if she can't pay the rent on her own, then being on the lease and responsible for 100% of the rent is hardly ideal should the relationship break down. Her DP could theoretically move out without notice and rent elsewhere. She'd need to find another place anyway and be stuck paying rent she couldn't afford during her 1 or 2 month notice period. I would agree with you if she could afford the place on her own, or even 50/50. But 85/15?

All the best, what issues?

Just curious as I was a landlord once and rang Shelter for advice about this scenario. They could see no issues.

A Landlord would want all adults living in the premises to be parties to the tenancy otherwise there are issues should they ever need to evict!
No they don't, you can have tenants that are bound by the tenancy (payment of rent) and then you can have permitted occupiers who are allowed to live there as long as the tenant agrees.

Persian, if she can't pay the rent on her own, then being on the lease and responsible for 100% of the rent is hardly ideal should the relationship break down
It is hardly ideal for the OP but it means that the LL can go after either her or her DP for any money owed.

What I am unsure about is say for example the pair of them owe the LL £1000, does the LL have to sue each one individually for £500 or can he sue either of them for the full £1000?

Shelter
Joint tenants are all jointly and individually responsible for paying the rent. This means that if one of you moves out without giving notice or is not paying their share, the other joint tenants are responsible for paying it for them. If none of you pay your rent, your landlord can ask any one of you to pay the outstanding rent.

Alorsmum I hope my new landlord has as much foresight as you!

Giselaw I didn't realise we could choose the ratio on the reference check... On the form it looks like they've already stipulated but will contact them tomorrow morning and hope they don't charge us -probably will charge us- for changing it (assuming we are allowed to!)

Persian We are not on rocky ground so the scenarios of one of us leaving the other high and dry and rent not being paid or something like that is not one I am concerned about, although I appreciate a LL might assume that a couple who are forced to rent are the 'type' to cause them these sorts of issues

Only MN regards tenants as a lower form of life. (see horrific thread the other day proving it!)

For landlords, tenants are the customers, and a long-term stable couple are a very good prospect. Especially ones with kids who will want stability and so have every incentive to pay the rent and treat the place as normal people treat their homes.

as you will be aware, the reasons for the checking are England/Wales tenancy law; once you are in you can stop paying and nothing can be done for months, and you will commit no civil or criminal offence. So it is in everyone's interest to do as much as possible to reduce this risk.

MN oversensitivity disclaimer - not suggesting you would do this!

bTW deposit can be returned within 10 days if paperwork moved along.

Ask for the ratios to be changed. If you are over 18 then you must be included on the tenancy agreement. What will cause problems is your employment. If your tenancy starts in January and is due to run for 12 months but your job is only guaranteed until September this will be an issue.

We are not on rocky ground so the scenarios of one of us leaving the other high and dry and rent not being paid or something like that is not one I am concerned about
But you still need to make sure that your name is on the tenancy.

Most people aren't on rocky ground when they start a new tenancy and pretty much every one in your situation would say the same as you just have but sadly relationships sometimes do go rocky later on.

I really hope that yours doesn't.

If you are over 18 then you must be included on the tenancy agreement
As either a tenant OR a permitted occupier.

I didn't realise we could choose the ratio on the reference check...
I don't understand why the ratios actually matter as joint tenants are all jointly and individually responsible for paying the rent.

Shelter link about joint tenancies -
england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/private_renting/private_renting_agreements/joint_tenancies

Although I appreciate a LL might assume that a couple who are forced to rent are the 'type' to cause them these sorts of issues
I hope I didn't make it sound as if I thought you were like that because I certainly don't think that you do.

TBH you seem like an ideal tenant as you have read the paperwork and you care that things are being done properly.

I just want to make sure that you have everything done in the best way possible for you.

I AM on the tenancy, I signed it this morning! I'm not a first time renter either, I've rented through private landlords for 10 years and never ever defaulted on a payment, I just can't remember ever doing a credit check/reference where it split our supposed contribution as 50/50. A different referencing company maybe? Or perhaps I have conveniently forgotten the horrors of moving from rental to rental having had such a fantastic laissez-faire landlord for the last five and a half years.

Only MN regards tenants as a lower form of life. (see horrific thread the other day proving it!) I am probably quite over sensitive so thanks for the disclaimer but i feel the whole rental/estate agent systemis designed to make me feel this way... Nevermind being told on MN my DP (DP with a very capital D) is likely to leave me sometime before the 6 month break clause

Jellyshoes ratio changed is what I'll try to sort out tomorrow. Hopefully they'll magically not notice my contract is a rolling zero hour contract HA!

The shame of having to ask my Dad to be the guarantor for me and my husband, with our joint income of 70k and in our 30s. Hope it doesn't come to that. Fucking hell!

Actually that's a point though... Dad knows he won't have to actually stump up cash as my guarantor, but could I leave my 50:50 split as it is and have a guarantor? Just for me, the little woman? Just to pass the referencing without bothering the estate agents?!