I’m hoping someone will be able to point me in the right direction.
I am 34 with a long term partner of 36 and we have a 2 year old son.
We have recently decided it’s time to find our own space after living with parents in a very large house.
On looking for a place and going through my own personal referencing it has come to light that I have a old CCJ from 2019 where I was the victim of fraud.
I have taken steps to do a N244 form which I paid the court for this to be reviewed and hopefully struck off my file. The strange thing is I can also provide a clear report from the online trust Stating I have no CCJs I was told this may be due to a wrong address although I don’t understand this fully.
Me and my partner have a combined income of 53k as my partner only works part time as she is looking after our son. We have also tried to explain we are able to get 2 guarantors being parents and work references, bank statements showing regular good income but still not having any luck whatsoever. I am being very upfront and honest and have asked if anything more can be done to prove us trustworthy.
I suppose my question is am I coming across difficult lard lords or am I deemed not good enough?
We are hoping by speaking with some landlords we may be able to get some honest answers.
Can I go somewhere that can assist us further maybe?
I don’t think you having another “credit report” is doing you any good. It just comes across dodgy. If there is, in fact, a CCJ in your name then it should rightly be on your credit report. Why can you show one without - are you upfront with your past addresses/names?
It is probably very hard for a landlord to believe (I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth) that you have had a fraudulent ccj on your record for 2-3 years and you haven’t known about it/done something about it. This would ring alarm bells for me. Mentioning the word fraud also rings alarm bells.
Having guarantors is the last step really. I think the circumstances surrounding your ccj not being dealt with stops you from getting to that point.
Thanks for the feedback and I thought I had blurred my details out so thanks for pointing this out! The letting agent told me I have a CCJ whist we were doing our referencing I had no knowledge up to this point it even was a thing! given the debt apparently originated from a women’s clothing catalog and previous debts come around for pay day loans whist my bank was also stolen from its obviously a case of fraud the others were previously sorted but this has obviously slipped the radar and is hopefully going to be struck off
I am unable to blur it so I have removed the picture as it contains my personal information.
The county court told me to do the check on trust online which is what I’ve done. I have been given a case number which is how I’ve managed to find and hopefully sort this CCJ it was under a different address even tho I’ve lived at my address for 24 years. Maybe a error on someone’s behalf or something that why I’ve said I’m not sure how this can be
Also mentioning fraud my be alarming but it’s fact and I’m a honest person so what are you saying I shouldn’t mention this??
I have no intentions to mislead anyone this is a very strange situation I find myself in and only through being a HMCTS agent in my past do I know about doing N244 forms etc
I have done a set it aside which is the n244 form as I’m aware this is the only way I can get it removed from file as if I pay it it remains still for the 6 years which is still penalising me for something that is not my fault realistically
I’m not saying you shouldn’t mention it as it would come up but it’s something that you say but can’t prove so why would the LL believe it? The most common explanations for having an unpaid CCJ are: I didn’t know about it and It’s not mine (fraud). Very rarely are those genuinely the case.
If they have two tenants interested in a property, one with no ccj and the other with an unpaid ccj they claim is fraud LLs will pick the first.
You asked for advice from a landlord. My honest opinion is I would discard the application (again, not saying you are lying!) because it is hard to believe:
That you haven’t been found by debt collectors in 2 years since the ccj
That the claimants / debt collectors did not contact you / did a address trace before going to court
Again, not saying you’re not honest, but we have so many applicants with explanations that it’s hard to tell what is truth and what is not
Thank you for your advice per! Yes as hard as it is to believe my circumstances are truthful and genuine!
I was very shocked when this came about on my first referencing but have now moved down the correct channels to hopefully sort this matter.
Given this is my case would your advice be to explain I have a CCJ and offer guarantors? Given this can take up to 4 months for a judge to review the CCJ I’m in a position where I can remain where I am with family but I am obviously keen to move forward to my own space now.
Or would a CCJ be looked at differently if I paid it it’s a £1600 debt not a massive sum but I’m reluctant to pay for it if it’s not a guarantee to help
Hi Mike
I also found out I had a CCJ by surprise from a referencing process. At that stage it was nearly 2 years old.
It took some searching around to find out what it was for and who went through the court process in order to inflict that. Turns out it was one of those private parking cowboys - I had stayed more than 2 hours in a Tesco carpark after shopping there and then doing a crossword at the Costa Coffee next door. That was my crime!! Well maybe not seeing or noting the signs was the real crime.
Nearly three years later I had moved from the address used for the court papers and when I went back over my tracks the house had been sold and the new owners told me that they had been returning mail. This means that the the private parking cowboys could go ahead with the court action in full knowledge that I would be unaware which is what they did and knowing the matter would be uncontested as I would be unaware of the process.
It’s now 41/2 years old. I have not cleared it although it is only £376 and I could easily do so. I did ring the cowboys but they would not engage. I was going to do as you suggested and go through the process of having the decision set aside but sometimes life takes over and other things are more important. Touch wood the bailiffs have not been knocking on my door - am I tempting fate here Per?
Per has given an opinion of 1 landlord. He may not represent the majority of landlords, then again he just might. The mob who discovered my CCJ refused me as a tenant without discussion although the rent was a lot less than the CCJ and they also became aware that I was earring many multiples of that a week and could easily pay.
Mike - you do not need these people in your life.
It may be worth mentioning that this mob suggested that I should have disclosed the CCJ at the beginning of the process as they take each case on its merits. Bit difficult to disclose when you are not aware, but now we both are. You have taken the added steps in order for having the decision set aside, disclose that also.
You also should be able to write a letter to the credit reference companies stating the facts that you have disclosed above which should go in your favour should anyone look at your file and look at you on a case by case basis. Write that letter.
You should not be penalised for a debt that is not yours. Do not pay it - this will cause more problems.
While 4 months seems like a long period to wait and in the current crisis could be much longer your options for your own space may be less due to your current situation however if you keep looking with the steps you have taken and the letter on your file you just may find somewhere to call your own.
Good Luck
As a landlord, if you were upfront about the ccj (just factual, that it exists, no other detail would be required), I would not write you off immediately. One of my 1st questions when pre vetting tenants is do you have adverse credit or ccj. I don’t need to know any more. If all other checks, affordability, references and the ability to provide a homeowner guarantor stacks up, I would rent to you.
Oh, and if I met you face to face and don’t get the bullshitter vibe.
If people do as they should and update any changes of address with DVLA , utility companies , mobile phone companies ,catalogue companies etc plus redirect mail by an instruction and payment to the post office ( not just ask for it to be forwarded by the LL or new tenant ) when they move property they then wouldn’t be unaware of any claims against them that then end up with a CCJ as they would be able to contest the claim in court or just pay up therefore avoiding a CCJ.
‘I never got any letter about it ‘ is either an outright lie or is true but is the result of incompetence ,laziness or a deliberate aim to avoid being traced the latter being very common by ex tenants owing money,
Even with this I still don’t rule out tenants with CCJs automatically as long as I know their present financial situation in great detail ie outgoings as well as earnings especially when there is a Guarantor available too.
I had two prospective families for a property. Both had CCJs. One lied and let me find out about it through referencing, the other was upfront about it and explained how they were dealing with it. Guess which family got the tenancy. CCJs happen. It’s how you communicate that matters.
Anyone with a CCJ has done the dirty on someone. Any creditor has to go to great lengths and expense to have someone awarded a CCJ. So I and many LL simply wont touch them with a barge pole.