Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

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

47 replies

LittleWingSoul · 30/11/2016 17:07

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!

OP posts:

Backingvocals · 30/11/2016 20:27

I think changing the ratios would look off and would make me wonder about your viability as tenants because it would suggest to me as a stranger that you are not sure about your relationship and are trying to limit your liabilities in the event of a default. This doesn't seem to reflect where you actually are as a couple. I'd just sign up to the 50:50 which is very normal.

Original poster

LittleWingSoul · 30/11/2016 20:30

Very normal but I couldn't afford 50% of the rent on my own, on paper! He pays the majority of bills and all the rent and I pay for everything else. Neither of us would survive without the others input (as a couple living in a bloody expensive rental)

X-post persian thank you, obviously you don't know me so would never know, but I was a bit put out by some of your comments! Thanks for clarification though

OP posts:

Backingvocals · 30/11/2016 20:32

I think that's normal in a marriage though. As a LL I'd think you as a married couple were a better bet than two sharers.

Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet · 30/11/2016 20:33

50:50 is fine if your guarantor will pass the reference for your 50% of the rent.

Hellmouth · 30/11/2016 20:35

We just completed referencing for a property and all they cared about was that our combined annual income was enough. The forms we had, only the agent needed to complete the ratio, but our tenancy agreement doesn't mention that. I'm sure they won't care about your individual salary, they'll just want to confirm that you're working and haven't lied about your own income.

Hellmouth · 30/11/2016 20:36

Also, don't guarantors usually have to cover all the rent, not just 50%? Checks will be done based on them being able to pay it all.

Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet · 30/11/2016 20:51

A guarantor can be used for one tenant, they don't have to cover the whole tenancy.

PersianCatLady · 30/11/2016 20:51

I was a bit put out by some of your comments!
I can see that now and I am sorry, I did not mean to sound like that.

I am a very blunt person and like to get my facts straight but so often it comes out as harsh, especially when it is written down.

I am going to try and work on being not so blunt.

PersianCatLady · 30/11/2016 20:56

A guarantor can be used for one tenant, they don't have to cover the whole tenancy
That is completely wrong as under a joint tenancy the guarantor will normally provide a warranty and be responsible for the actions of all the tenants. It does not matter whether the tenant they are liable for was responsible for any damage or failure to pay the rent.

LifeLong13 · 30/11/2016 20:57

I'm married to my husband and was pregnant by him when we moved into this property. Only he had the credit check as his salary was more than enough for the rent. However I am a named tenant and if he was to leave would still be responsible for 50% of the rent IYSWIM

Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet · 30/11/2016 21:12

I'm a letting agent, the guarantor can sign a limited liability agreement to cover one tenant.

PersianCatLady · 30/11/2016 21:27

I'm a letting agent, the guarantor can sign a limited liability agreement to cover one tenant
Yes the guarantor can sign an LLA but the LL doesn't have to accept it and TBH it would make me question the situation.

PersianCatLady · 30/11/2016 21:29

if he was to leave would still be responsible for 50% of the rent IYSWIM
If he were to leave you are still both joint and independently liable for all of the rent.

In practice if you do default on the rent the LL will go after the person who has the money.

There is never any point in suing a penniless person.

Original poster

LittleWingSoul · 30/11/2016 21:30

Ah, Jellyshoes, you are a letting agent - you have the inside info then! So, if I were your tenant/client and I called you tomorrow and said...

"The reference check you have asked me to do says I am liable for half the rent. We are more than able to pay the rent as a couple, but I doubt I will pass a reference check on my salary alone."

What would you advise?

If I were to fail a check based on my employment status, what would be the next step? Could I provide proof that I've been in employment with 'no break' (other than the academic summer holiday) for the last 5 years?

Would we have to pay the £75 pp reference check again if I failed?

I know you are not at work right now so might not want to think about this sort of stuff...!

I know it will probably all somehow be fine and in a few months I won't even have to think about this until next time we move again... the landlord approved us today based on what (honest) information about ourselves we provided the estate agents, and the estate agents have sent a confirmation letter and drawn up our invoice... so hopefully someone will be on our side!

OP posts:

PersianCatLady · 30/11/2016 21:43

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
When you think about it that really takes the piss that they need you to have a guarantor at all.

Original poster

LittleWingSoul · 30/11/2016 21:53

Quite! I don't think they will just drop us after taking a holding deposit and fees and given written confirmation, or at least I hope they don't... we've got this far (got the only advance viewing for a coveted property ahead of a block viewing this weekend - how?!) so it looks like they 'like' us but isn't it a bit of a joke... all this uncertainty about a home to call my own with (caveats and uncertainties) for the next year?!

IF, and only IF (not when) we can ever afford to buy a home I'll be glad to put these sorts of worries behind me. Then we'll just have to work out where to get the cash to replace an old boiler, re-wire vintage electrics and sort-out-the-damp-patch-in-the-spare-room. We may well be OAPs by then anyway, the way things are going. Might just give myself a for all my woes

OP posts:

Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet · 30/11/2016 22:07

I would change the ratios for you, it happens all the time. As agents they should do everything they can to get you through referencing. I'm not sure there is a way to pass the referencing with a zero hours contract that ends before the tenancy is up. This would usually be down to the landlord. If you fail referencing and need to go with another property you will most likely have to pay the fee again if the amounts involved are different. Could you pay any rent in advance? The landlord may accept a few months rent in advance to overcome any worries about your job. Or what about a six month contract initially so your tenancy doesn't end before your current contract does? Hope this makes sense, I'm typing on my phone!

Original poster

LittleWingSoul · 30/11/2016 22:43

It does make sense! But also... feels like red tape when we have been paying the same amount as this property asks for 5+ years with no issues at all. If it's just a question of passing reference checks we just have to do that somehow, even if it means rigging my poor old DF (guarantor to many, including my best friend!) into it. Hell, if we owned our own home we would probably be in a position financially to guarantor someone else. Just makes no sense!

Thanks for your help jelly appreciate the out of hours advice!

OP posts:

Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet · 01/12/2016 06:21

You're very welcome. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Original poster

LittleWingSoul · 09/12/2016 18:07

So... called to change the ratios to swing massively towards DH 80:20, the letting agent said it was a really normal request and they just assume 50:50 unless you say otherwise.

We passed the reference check no problem. We're in, whoop!

OP posts:

Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet · 11/12/2016 08:23

Fantastic! Good luck in your new home.

Original poster

LittleWingSoul · 07/01/2020 01:44

Aaaand... 3 years later are moving out! Into a house we have bought with our own money, just round the corner as we ended up making good friends on this street and love the area. So, look how things can change! OK we are really poor and in a lot of debt as it is a Victorian semi which needed EVERYTHING doing but I had literally forgotten the worries and woes about renting and now very glad and hopeful we won't have to do it ever again.

@persiancatlady We haven't split up, I still totally love him, and we are now a family of 5, rather than a family of 4

OP posts:

Flip

1 2