Renting with bad credit

[Moneyordream]

Our landlord of 16 years has decided to sell up, so we have to find a new house. This had turned into a stressful nightmare. My credit is appalling with a CCJ. Now everywhere tells us we wouldn't pass a check and we can't get somewhere! Just so upset with all the uncertainty for our family. Any advice? We have a guarantor but even that is apparently not good enough.

That must be so stressful for you. Following this with interest. I too have poor credit and I'm currently selling my house for several reasons, one being paying off a dmp. I'm trying to get a mortgage in principle but that may not happen so I might probably have to rent too. So this is a worry of mine too. Is there a possibility for you to pay a larger deposit or pay for a few months rent upfront ?

Unfortunately we don't have the savings for a large upfront payment. We have 1500 which is for our holding fee then our first month rent. Our town is about 1000 month rent for 3 bed old terraced house. I worry about paying holding fee as If we fail credit check it is forfeited. I just don't see a way out

Is it worth being upfront and explaining that you will fail the credit check ?

yes you definitely don’t want to lose that money. That’s about the going rate for rent round here. I’m just outside Bristol where are you ?

rental agencies can’t see much of your file. But they can see CCJs.

is this definitely showing on your file or eg over 6 years ago so not showing.

Have you both got bad credit? or could one of you take the rental agreement.

It does showy CCJ, and now I know it's on there I'm going to sort out to pay it off. Unfortunately my husband can't be on the tenancy alone as when they work out affordability the salary has to be 3 times the rent for the year. My Husband alone wouldn't pass that check, so we stuck.

Terrifying
Surely something has to give?
More and more people will be defaulting and messing up their credit with the cost of living crisis.
No advice, but I feel for you.

I would be up front and honest. Good Landlords are thorough and if a family/couple want to rent but in one name only that will be a red flag and alarm bells will ring. If you have been a Tenant of the same Landlord for 16 years you must have been a good Tenant. Could you get him to give you the great reference you must surely deserve? If he was to include that he was willing to speak to any potential Landlord that may help.

The issue is private landlords at an all time low, and the estate agents just won't touch us. We go in be totally honest, have a glowing reference from our landlord, never missed a rent payment, yet we not even getting viewings sometimes as they feel we won't pass the credit check! We don't want to end up in homeless accommodation when we have the funds to pay for private rent but no one wants us

The problem is that the landlords rent guarantee insurance (most have something along those lines) won't be valid unless their tenant has a satisfactory credit check. So it's not even a case of getting through the door, the landlord would have to forgo insurance (which is risky).

You may have to move somewhere smaller that you're DH could rent by himself until your CCJ is sorted.

We can only get something for around 600 mark on my husbands wage, that doesn't even get a 2 bed flat near us! We have a guarantor but they don't even look at that really now

It doesn't really make sense that having a guarantor doesn't help. The whole point of a guarantor is that they shoulder the credit risk.

Have you tried finding landlords who rent directly and not through agents? They're often more pragmatic and less "box-ticky".