First time renters

[ldnstb123]

Need some advice if possible from someone who's been in a similar position..

Me and my boyfriend are currently looking for somewhere to rent, we are both first time renters and today put a holding deposit down on a flat we like.

The next step is referencing, I'm employed and my partner is recently self employed, I've read that most reference agencies want at least 6 months worth of taxes if you are self employed which my boyfriend doesn't have as he only went self employed last month.

We can more than afford the rent for this particular place our combined salary is around the 50k mark and the rent is £1025 per month.

I have an average credit rating and my boyfriends is quite bad due to a disagreement with a phone bill earlier this year which has now been resolved however has affected his rating badly.

I am worried we are going to struggle with our references as he has no proof of taxes yet and also had bad credit history, he does however have a guarantor - does this help at all?

We are also in a position to pay 3 months rent in advance if needs be

Am I overthinking and worrying about passing the referencing? Has anybody been in a similar position and managed to get the flat they wanted to rent?

Thanks in advance.

To be honest your timing is odd. Why not just rent the month before he became self employed or in 6 months time?

You might be OK if you have someone to act as guarantor, but it will depend on the agent, and the bad credit history may work against him.

DS plus his girlfriend and another friend rented a flat together a few months ago. DS had just graduated and didn't have a job at the time he signed the contract (he got a job soon after they moved in); his girlfriend is still studying and not British, and the other flatmate is also a student. The flat was not a student rental, and obviously none of them had all the financial history documents required (though no actively bad credit either), but the agents were fine with it as long as I signed up to guarantee the whole thing. Good luck!

Because we was hoping to buy but then he went self employed last month due to his previous company shutting down and was advised by a mortgage advisor that we need 2 years worth of tax returns to buy as he is now self employed.. hence why we are now having to rent somewhere... we need to move out of parents house now not in 6 months time

There are newish laws on the amount of deposit that can be taken without checking I the limit is 5 weeks?