Renting property with CCJ

[Chelsey8]

Hi,

My Partner and I have been on the search for a few weeks now and have found beautiful properties that we would like to rent.

Unfortunately, we are constantly being turned down due to a 'satisfied' CCJ. I know this doesn't make a difference to the landlords (as, as soon as they see a CCJ it's a red flag), but the original CCJ was through no fault of his own, but as he got a loan out for a friend my partner was ultimately liable for any missed re-payments.

We are offering a guarantor (even though we didn't particularly want to) as well as a larger deposit and or 2-6 months rent upfront.

We both work full time, have a small child and are very good at keeping up with our monthly rent payments (3 days in advance nearly every month) but agencies and some landlord do not seem to want to take any of that into consideration instead bat us away because of a paid CCJ.

We earn 4x what the property is worth, so affordability is not an issue.

Can I please have advise on anyone who has been through this situation how to overcome this barrier? :)

We are due to move out of our property in 2 weeks!!

Is there any way you can stay where you are? Can your current landlord give you a glowing reference? Maybe approach your local Council - you won't be eligible or council housing probably but they may have a list of landlords prepared to accept non standard backgrounds.

Rent privately. Look on open rent/Facebook/gumtree.

This is going to be incredibly difficult - you probably won’t find anywhere in two weeks, sorry. I’d try and stay where you are. But give these a go:

1. Be upfront about the CCJ from the start. This will not only save you time, but landlords appreciate tenants who appear honest. Make it clear in the same breath that it wasn’t for rent arrears.
2. Try and get a six month lease, and offer all the rent upfront.
3. If you’re reasonably young or haven’t been renting for that long, you could compile a complete history of you and your boyfriend’s renting history, and get all your former landlords to confirm that you have always paid rent on time and didn’t trash the place. Being able to say (and prove, if it comes to that) that you have a perfect renting record may convince some wavering landlords.
4. Maybe even offer over-the-odds rent. You’re basically a riskier investment for a landlord, and some may be persuaded by a higher rate of return.

Your earnings will be of no interest, I’m afraid. Debt is usually either due to poverty or financial incompetence. And I hate to say it, but the fact your partner got a loan out for a friend and ended up in such a mess would suggest he’s not very financially competent (if a very good friend). If you want to convince a landlord to ignore the CCJ, you may want to avoid using the ‘it wasn’t his fault’ line (we do hear this a lot from non-paying tenants), and instead say ‘he made some stupid choices by trusting this friend, he accepts that, but he’s learned his lesson about being financially responsible... bla bla bla’. Everyone says that a CCJ isn’t their fault, so you’re not helping yourself.

I do wish you the best of luck, and hopefully you’ll be able to convince someone to take you on.