To be shocked at the incompetence of the estate agent industry?!

Oh EA are very frustrating! They are especially risk averse on the lettings side but I think like the Police they have seen too many cases where things go bad so now see rent arrears, eviction, bailiffs as the possible ending to everything.

The thing is if you pay one year then don't pay after that - the landlord still has to evict you which could cost a lot. So they won't feel so reassured.

Unfortunately renting really sucks. They won’t want the hassle of dealing with you. Most landlords like someone to stay for more than a year even if it’s a 12 month contract, if you pay up front they’ll assume it’s for that time only and you’ll move on and they have the cost and bother of finding new tenants. Plus if you damaged the property they may assume you couldn’t pay etc.

YANBU they really are the worst of society.

So from their point of view, you're both unemployed and have no secure income stream to show you could meet the rent commitments?

Surely it's not that difficult for you to understand why they might be wary.

@HayzCo

Why are you offering up 12 months rent in advance?

It's probably more to do with not having possibly dodgy people in the property. Large chunks of money are difficult to account for and historically may have indicated money laundering.

I've had tenants who paid 12 months in advance, the letting agent holds onto it & pays us monthly.

Offering to pay a year in advance probably makes you sound a bit suspect too. You must have seen news reports of people doing similar and then turning properties into cannabis farms or subletting?

too many LL have had bad experiences it seems, but i would be wary too if i was one tbh. no matter how decent my would be renters appeared to be.

Yeah. You have an insecure income. Your lump sum implies a risk that you'll be out after a year. And these arrangements are often a warning sign of bad tenants, in particular in relation to cannabis factories.

I'm not a landlord but an experienced enough tenant to know that you are not the attractive prospect you think you are.

We’ve recently done this. Similar situation. Sold our house and we are now renting in a new area while we decide where to buy next. Husband is self employed and I’m a SAHM. We paid one year upfront (and it was quite a lot more than the figure mentioned above!) no one questioned where the money came from because we’ve obviously just sold our house so it’s not difficult to figure out why we have the ability to pay in a lump sum Every estate agent we dealt with told us that in order to do this we would have to evidence that we had x times the monthly rental rate in our bank account, on top of the amount needed to pay 12 months in advance (I can’t remember what this amount was unfortunately.) but it wasn’t an issue for any of them... we also had to pass a credit check. It really didn’t seem that unusual to anyone, considering our circumstances

Also before anyone jumps on me, my point about what we paid is to show that they really weren’t questioning why we had that amount of money to hand - we absolutely aren’t rolling in it or anything but we do live in the South East and it’s not particularly cheap to rent a family home. (Although it’s still less than the rent we paid on a one bed in London zone 2 several years ago!)

Oh I agree! Selling EAs are bad, but they seem to put the most useless ones on the lettings side... less money involved I suppose.

I have spoken to the loveliest (but useless) ea lady three times today about sending me some paperwork. It's still not arrived in my inbox so I'll chase again on Tuesday. And this is not an isolated occurrence with just her.

Now DH and I had this when we were PhD students. We were 25 and 23 with guaranteed income and yet because we were students they couldn’t show us anything that wasn’t a student property. We eventually found one who would, LL was happy and his DM described us as model tenants when we moved out four years later.

You are not “offering the landlord more security” by offering 12 months upfront

What happens at the end of 12 months ? It is a known risk that potential tenants are offering blocks of money are 1) trying to evade comprehensive referencing 2) are trying to circumvent inspections for nefarious reasons eg. setting up a marijuana farm

I am a landlord and I would not consider you because you are trying to push money upfront

Paying rent up front is a massive red flag in terms of money laundering or using the property for illicit purposes.
It doesn’t lump you into the category of drug dealers, stop being so bloody dramatic, but estate agents have a duty of care to their clients and may well be once bitten, twice shy, and prefer to take someone with stable employment. It’s much less risky for them especially given the fines for misconduct.

@HayzCo I completely agree with you - anyone can lose their job and everyone’s circumstances can change. As long as you can pass a credit check then it really shouldn’t make any difference. We’d been paying a mortgage for years, why would we suddenly be more unreliable because we are renting? At the end of our 12 months, we switch to a rolling monthly contract; subject to exactly the same rental conditions as anyone else. We also know that the previous tenants only stayed for 8 months because they were from overseas and he was recalled back home by his company. The house was the empty for a month while they found another tenant. So at least our landlord now has the security that no matter what, they have 12 months rent.

I didn’t “jump to conclusions” about anything

The agents don’t know you. I am sure you are wonderful people. But your situation is high risk for a landlord. If a CV professional advised you to sell and go into rented in your current circumstances they want sacking. It was a bad idea I am afraid.

I’ve been self employed for nearly a decade and rented for five years of that, and I was never treated like I was unemployed or asked for accounts. I had to produce accounts for my mortgage, but never to rent...

Upfront payments just aren’t popular. Most landlords prefer the money coming in monthly, and it’s harder to account for the lump sum upfront. It’s also perceived to increase the risk of letting to you, rightly or wrongly.

I’m not sure if the accounts thing is a Covid thing, and related to the speed of the market right now, but I don’t think it’s normal across the board. I’d be trying to find an EA happy for you to pay normally.

I don’t know where “CV” came from there

I’m a LL. I have experienced this a few times. EA are very odd about this.

I had a tenant who had divorced and was looking to rent for a short time while she got herself together and was ready to buy. She had the cash in the bank from her divorce, but the EA wouldn’t let her rent as she didn’t have an income.

I said look this is bonkers. I’m happy to let to her. EA said no it’s too risky. I said I’m fine, go,ahead.

Then I had someone who needed to live somewhere for 6 months for work, but no more. The company gave me 6 months rent in advance. Worked out fine.

I’ve had tenants with low income jobs, lose the job and have nothing. I don’t understand the way EA work out risk. To me it’s all a risk. I’m happy to let a property to someone if I think they are going to be a good tenant regardless of the financial situation.