Renting without references?

[renterneedshelp]

Need some advice

We're council tenants living in a minuscule 1 bed flat - there is currently 3 of us (myself, dh & ds1) but soon to be joined by dc2 in a couple short months. We've been on the council transfer list since I was pregnant with ds1 over 2 years ago and it doesn't look like we'll get transferred to a bigger property any time soon as there is too much demand and not enough properties. Plus babies don't count as people apparently.

We're thinking about potentially subletting our current 1 bed and private renting a 2 bed as we're desperate for the extra room. The reason for this being we don't want to lose our place in council housing and we can't afford to rent privately without subletting (although fully aware subletting is a big no no).

My question is, can we rent a property privately without references and thus letting the council know what we're doing? Could we say we're living with family atm or something so the landlord/managing agent doesn't ask for references?

Not looking for any judgement here - just some advice as we're in a desperate situation.

I rented somewhere last year having been out of the country for a long time so had no references. I needed a guarantor (a homeowner) and also had to pay 12 months rent upfront………

I don’t think it’ll be easy for you to do this in normal circumstances, let alone dodgy subletting!

If you sublet
First its illegal to do this as a council tenant & if they find out you will be ousted off the list
Second renting to some random illegally will cause you all sorts of issues - First renting means you have to obey & pay for all sorts of things first & give copies to your tenant & if you don.t do this they could squat & not pay you & refuse to leave.
I would suggest you try to do an exchange - you may have to go out of area but you could have a choice & its legal

& you would have to pay tax on any profits & if you have any form of HB or any other benefit this will be affected
In short op
Don't!

You want advice on how to commit fraud?

This won’t work on many levels. You need to keep bidding on anything remotely suitable and/or try to organise a swap.

What most people do in your situation is have children in the bedroom and parents on sofa bed in the living room. It’s crap but you will get by until a more suitable property comes up

I'm not sure it will be as easy as you're imagining. Most landlords will ask for proof of address and income which is usually crossed referenced with your credit file and/or voting register. Some may ask for bank statements and may question any rent payments you're currently making.
Typically if you don't have references, they'll ask for a guarantor and more rent up front.

What about council tax and rent on your new place? You'd still also be liable for the rent and council tax on your current place so that could potentially become complicated and problematic.

Also, if you sublet how will you manage repairs or problems at your property or allow access to the council for any routine repairs/inspections?

Furthermore, if reported or the council find out you will be kicked off the housing register completely and could also get into trouble. Locally to me, a couple was prosecuted for this.

I understand you're desperate to move but I would seriously think of alternatives to illegally subletting your council home. Instead could you look at local help to help you move to a bigger place? Some places will help with deposits and some councils have a discretionary fund to pay towards rent etc.

You run a significant risk of losing your council house doing this it would seem a high risk strategy.

Being a landlord has a long list of legal obligations with it, I rented my home out until recently so know this. Failure to comply comes with significant fines. If you are renting out a house that isn't yours you are going to struggle to carry out these legal obligations.

Renting a house yourself is the least of your problems here but will be difficult as part of your income is going to be from illegal subletting. Would you pass a credit check? Do you have a guarantor? These are the basics you would need.

You cannot sublet a council house. How do you think you would manage to register as a landlord this way end not get caught or do you plan to do this illegally?
Your post literally points out the lack of housing yet you want to keep on to a council house whilst you can also private rent?

Regarding your question about references, just tell them it's a council property and you don't have previous landlord references. We get it all the time and it's fine, same with those living with parents or those who have sold and are now renting and didn't have a landlord

What PP said especially @NetflixAddict. Any decent credit check agency will ask for 3 months bank statements to do affordability checks. They will then want the paperwork for your rental income - tenancy agreement etc. But presumably you won’t have any because you will be subletting illegally .

You will also have to pay the council tax, TV license and utilities on both properties.

What about all the landlord duties on the council property that you are letting out? Will you pay for gas safety checks, EICR etc? Or just not do any safety checks because it’s all illegal anyway ?

If you/live in Scotland you will have to register as a Landlord with your council, or face a fine of £10,000.

You will have to submit a tax return and pay tax on the rent.

So yes, many reasons why it’s a stupid idea. As well as immoral and illegal.

OP I'm sorry that your situation is so difficult. There's lots of tough talk above but I think the gist is correct, unfortunately.

I had a friend who sublet in a similar situation and her tenant (someone she'd known for years and trusted) ended up refusing to pay rent, changed the locks, didn't pay for utilities either so my friend got in huge trouble with unpaid bills... In the end she had no choice but get the police involved and then she got caught out, obviously, and lost the flat anyway PLUS had a ton of the tenant's debt to clear.

She got into that mess because she had no leg to stand on to demand good behaviour because it was all illegal - and the tenant knew that going in and really exploited it!

So my advice, like PPs, is to either find a way to make the space you are in work, or be prepared to swap to a cheaper area to get the space you need. Best of luck with it all.

What would happen if you ended up with tenants in your council property that trashed it, refused to pay rent and stopped paying the bills?

You would be liable for all of it. You'd be totally fucked on many levels.

Just don't do it.

Sorry you’re feeling a bit desperate.

The thing is, you have secure rental housing, which is a HUGE benefit most people in private rentals don’t have. Even if it’s small, that security is worth it’s weight in gold - ask someone who’s had to move multiple times in a short space of time.

You will get caught if you do what you suggest and then you will lose the security of your council home.

Your baby might not ‘count’ for bedrooms immediately but soon will and you should get re-housed. You will just have to wait. As others say, you may well need to put child in bedroom and sleep in living room or to all squeeze in together and just creep in when it’s bedtime for you. Not ideal, but that security is worth loads. There are spots all the time of people desperate for any social housing property for the security as much as anything. Don’t jeopardise that security.

Agree with those advising against - too much risk of out of he frying pan, into the fire. E.g. when the council offer you a bigger place, you have to give back the current place ... which you've sublet, so what if you can't recover it on a timely basis? There's a long list of things that could trip you up, and even if you believe the risk is low (and lots of people successfully sublet), the consequences of getting caught are high. And don't underestimate the stress of worrying all the time that you could get caught. It's just not worth it. Sit tight, you're situation is far from ideal, but it will resolve itself with time.