How hard will we find it to rent with no references?

[bubbleandsqueaks]

We are going to be selling our house and renting for the first time.

We have never rented before so have no references, how much of a problem will this be?

I don't think you need your references to be frm a previous landlord. maybe you could get them from a neighbour?

Speak with an estate agent and ask

If you have a mortgage at the moment, a prospective landlord/letting agent will probably ask for several months'-worth of bank statements, to prove that you paid your mortgage regularly, and this will act as a reference.

So it shouldn't be a problem. They will also check for evidence of regular income etc. They will have a good old nosey through your bank statement - be prepared!

Well we haven't missed a payment so that wouldn't be a problem, not sure I'm happy about them know everything on my bank statement but guess I won't have a choice!

They will be checking for regular income and mortgage/rent payments, not payments to Pizza Hut / Ann Summers / Boden (or whatever floats your boat) and they don't judge you on your spending habits, don't worry

It is horribly personal, isn't it? You might be able to offer them your mortgage statement instead ...

Regular income from both of us and mortgage payments not a problem thankfully.

Does it make a difference if you through agents or a private LL?

We own our house but are renting elsewhere. We just had a credit reference check and that was it. No references or bank statements were requested/ provided.

Well the credit check will mess it all up as we are in a debt management plan.

Never been asked for references, and we're serial renters. But the credit check is vital (via angency anyway) and most will turn you down without either a clean record or a guarentor (sorry, can't spell tonight).

Good LL might be more understanding, but personally prefer to rent via agencies as have found them to be better at dealing with routine maintaince issues etc.

So it looks like we won't be able to rent

bubble I am a landlord and if your reference showed that you had paid your mortgage payments, had a regular income and could afford the rent as well as paying your debts each month, I would have no problem having you as a tenant

Speak to a couple of letting agents on a hypothetical basis before proceeding.

Thats reassuring Matts. I think worrying about all this will drive me up the wall

We had trouble after selling the house as we wanted to rent due to not knowing our new area. One letting agent was truly shit and just kept saying they needed a reference from our previous landlord despite the fact that we hadn't rented in 15yrs, since uni!

The other one accepted a reference from work but we needed to have a credit check and supply statements and proof of income. However, they didn't need to be bank statements. We gave out mortgage statement instead which showed the previous years payments all going out on time.

If you are on a debt man programme because you contacted them and have agreed new payment terms then, although it will be noted on your credit check, you will not be blacklisted or anything. Though they may ask for a larger deposit.

Due to not having rented for so long, as well as the months bond, we needed to pay 3mths in advance rather than just one. I thought that was ridiculous but you're kind of at the mercy of these things when you rent.

Does that mean you do not pay rent for 3 months then?

I'm a landlord and we take references pretty seriously. However, if mortgage payments have been up to date then that will come through in your credit check so you will be fine.

You'll probably get asked for two references though. I'd give the other as a work reference.

LLs are realistic and know that there are lots of reasons people may want to rent. It's people coming from rented properties that won't provide their previous landlord as a reference that ring alarm bells.

Yes, we had to give them a months rent as a bond plus the first 3mths up front. We were told that it is normally just one month in advance but they wanted 3 because we'd not rented before. This was despite just selling a house where the mortgage was double the rent and also owning another house which we rent out. Still not as good as renting references apparently.

It's all such a headache isn't it.

We won't actually have any money for a deposit etc till the money from the house comes through, that would be too late wouldn't it?

Usually yes but there may be a couple of things you can do. Once you have exchanged, ask the bank if they will help. Hopefully they will take a reasonable viewpoint with it.

The other thing I was wondering was the deposit paid by your buyers after exchange. I'm not sure if this is legal or not though (with check with DH as he is a lawyer).

Usually, they agree to 5-10% deposit on exchange which is theoretically held until completion. However, in reality, the money never usually changes hands until completion usually because buyers don't normally have the cash until their own house sells or their mortgage is released. You could ask for a 5k cash bond on exchange and use this as deposit. This is definitely your money as long as you don't pull out. If they pull out after ex, you get to keep the deposit so if you know you definitely wont pull out then speak to your solicitor about this.

Think is, you legally can move house without a solicitor so who would hold the bond then? So I'm sure you must in these circumstances be allowed to access it.
Sorry not to be more help.